News from other sources

Information​ technology

Anthem to launch Engage, a new digital hub | Mobihealthnews

Anthem's new digital health platform is thanks to the insurer's partnership with Castlight Health. On the platform, employers will be able to work with all members, not just the ones with chronic conditions.

Employee wellness programs under fire for privacy concerns | Health Data Management

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee discussed engagement programs, with some committee members raising concerns that employees who don't want to share their protected health information are penalized.

Only 14 percent of organizations report "deep interoperability" when sharing data with differing EHRs | Medcity News

Last year, just 6% of organizations reported "deep interoperability," according to KLAS. The vendor doing the best on interoperability is Athenahealth, with 23% of its customers saying they have "deep interoperability" with other EHRs.

Pharmaceuticals

Merck plans to lay off 1800 sales staffers in U.S. commercial shakeup | Fierce Pharma

The company is getting rid of three sales teams and starting a chronic care salesforce, which will include up to 960 employees—some of whom will be the people who are being laid off, if they qualify.

Cancer drug prices have been rising much, much faster than inflation | Stat

Between 1996 and 2012, injectable cancer drug prices had an average increase of 25%.

In​ other​ news

Pollution linked to 9 million deaths worldwide in 2015, study says | CNN

Almost one in six deaths in 2015 were related to pollution, according to a new report in The Lancet. That amounted to 9 million people. Air pollution had the greatest effect, with ties to 6.5 million deaths in 2015.