Recent Stories
Innovations: Testing a digital pillbox to improve medication compliance

Startup company TowerView Health aims to make it easier for patients to manage their medication regimens. The company has developed software and hardware that reminds patients and their clinicians about medication schedules, and warns them when a patient is falling off track.
Lobbying groups hungrily eye fast-moving FDA overhaul bill

Why is the nation's capital suddenly obsessed with biomedical innovation? And why is the fruit of that obsession, the 21st Century Cures Act, moving like a greased pig through the usually deadlocked Congress—even as some experts warn it could undermine the FDA's ability to protect the public from unproven and potentially unsafe new drugs and medical devices?
healthcare.gov, open enrollment, insurance
HealthCare.gov to get new contractor; Optum steps away

Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group, is walking away from its role overseeing the performance of HealthCare.gov. Experts say a primary focus for the government and the next contractor will be to improve the back-end systems of the website that sells insurance as part of the federal health law.
21st Century Cures bill advances with House debate down to quibbles

A House subcommittee voted unanimously to advance the sweeping package of measures aimed at fostering medical innovation, many of which would make significant changes to federal oversight of drugs and devices.
Stiff interoperability penalties in new 21st Century Cures Act

Electronic health-record vendors would have until Jan. 1, 2018, before facing stiff penalties for a lack of data-sharing in the newest version of the 21st Century Cures Act.
Interest groups seek to add goodies to fast-moving FDA overhaul bill

The House Energy & Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a legislative markup session Thursday on the 21st Century Cures Act, which would overhaul federal regulation of prescription drugs and devices. Nearly every sector of the healthcare industry has gotten involved in lobbying the bill.
Getting the data stream flowing: Hospitals want monitoring devices and EHRs to communicate

Connecting monitoring devices and EHRs is likely to become a growth business over the next decade. Once they do start communicating, together they could also help clinicians improve care and raise hospital productivity.
Dr. Karen DeSalvo to leave ONC if confirmed for new HHS post

The White House has nominated Dr. Karen DeSalvo to be assistant secretary for health at HHS. If confirmed by the Senate, DeSalvo would leave her post as head of the department's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
UPMC-backed tech firm Evolent Health files for IPO

Evolent Health, a company that helps providers adopt value-based payment models, plans to raise as much as $100 million with an initial public offering.
EHRs alone don't improve stroke care

Installing an electronic health-record system doesn't by itself appear to improve quality of care for strokes, according to a large study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
House Democrats want more FDA funding in medical innovation bill

Having secured a funding boost for the National Institutes of Health in the 21st Century Cures legislation, House Democrats now say the Food and Drug Administration would be ill-equipped to handle the new burdens under the bill without more resources.
Teladoc files for IPO

Virtual visits company Teladoc has filed for an initial public offering, seeking to cash in on investor interest in the burgeoning telehealth field.
New medical innovation bill draft boosts NIH funding

A new draft of House legislation that creates significant new regulatory leeway for drug and device companies now includes more funding for the National Institutes of Health. The revised draft represents a compromise with Democrats who withdrew support for the initial bill.
House panel scheduled to release FDA overhaul bill

The House Energy & Commerce Committee this week is expected to unveil a revised version of controversial legislation overhauling the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process, with a hearing scheduled for Thursday. But as of late last week, there were still unresolved issues.
More docs get incentive pay, but many opt to take penalties

WASHINGTON—The CMS paid out more than $380 million in incentive payments through its Physician Quality Reporting System and electronic-prescribing incentive programs, but more than 400,000 providers chose to accept pay cuts rather than participate in the quality reporting system.