The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Monday that it will distribute an additional $25 million to expand access to home- and community-based services (HCBS) through Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) program. The $25 million will be going to new states and territories, increasing the total number of states and territories participating in MFP to 41. […]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is trying to ease the pain of vasectomies by making them free for millions of residents. Federal law and state law require most health insurers to cover prescription contraceptives at no cost to the patient. But those provisions apply to only 18 FDA-approved birth control options for women, so anyone with testicles is out of luck. […]
The use of marijuana and hallucinogens reached an all-time high among young adults in 2021, according to the results of a new study released by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The latest results from the NIH’s Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel, which has been ongoing since 1975, found the rate of marijuana use among people aged between 18 and […]
Later this month, my daughter will have her first virtual dentist appointment. Let that sink in. The days of sitting in an orthodontist chair for hours bonding metal braces with cement, tooth by tooth, are largely over. They are instead replaced by an impossibly simple process of receiving Invisalign retainers in the mail, sending pictures to the dentist to monitor […]
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Virginia is partnering with tech behavioral healthcare provider Confidant Health for addiction treatment services, the companies announced Wednesday. Bethel, Connecticut-based Confidant Health offers a variety of services for mental health and substance use disorders through its app, including medication management, therapy, counseling, health and recovery coaching and group support. In its partnership with Anthem […]
The Cost of FHIR API Adoption in Healthcare Carmody explains that at UPMC, there are many different interfaces and data exchanges currently in use. “You already have those costs to support the current environment from an infrastructure perspective, and now you’re taking on new capabilities that warrant some investment to make them happen,” he says. That includes investment in additional […]
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyses of federal, state, and local data have shown that people of color have experienced a disproportionate burden of cases and deaths. This brief examines racial disparities in COVID-19 cases and deaths and how they have changed over time based on KFF analysis of data on COVID-19 infections and deaths from CDC. It […]
Number of Republicans who say they support Trump over GOP rises: poll The Hill’s Morning Report — Midterm jitters grip GOP Anthony Fauci will step down from his positions in the Biden administration in December. Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the president and longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he will be leaving […]
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert who became a household name — and the subject of partisan attacks — during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced Monday he will depart the federal government in December after more than five decades of service. Fauci, who serves as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, has been the director of the National […]