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Study: Little evidence that integrating hospital, physician care improves quality or reduces costs
When health system executives tout the benefits of acquiring hospitals or physician groups, they often say the combined entity will…
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Does UnitedHealthcare’s prior-approval rule mean more ‘mother-may-I’ medicine is coming?
The nation’s largest health insurer will require physicians and hospitals to request prior approval before doing most hysterectomies, a move…
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Four insurers reveal what they pay for 70 health care services
Health insurers are taking incremental steps to release information on what they pay to health care providers. Each month, they…
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A problem with precision medicine: It’s not quite precise – at least not yet
At a conference last year, Michael Laposata, M.D., Ph.D., one of the nation’s best known pathologists, explained how clinical laboratories…
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Price transparency gains momentum in N.C., but it’s not consumer-friendly
Health care consumers in North Carolina got some welcome news last month when the state Department of Health and Human…
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HHS faces daunting challenge in moving away from fee-for-service payment
Finally, we may be seeing the beginning of the end of fee-for-service payment. In an announcement Monday, the federal Department…
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Reporter finds nonprofit hospital’s suit against uninsured patient was just one of many
In January 2012, EMTs took Ignacio Alaniz by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital, one of the largest nonprofit medical centers…
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Journalists’ coverage of prenatal screening uncovers big gaps in what we know about genetic testing
Last month, journalists from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting raised serious questions about prenatal genetic screening tests, saying…
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DC journalists dig into secrets behind AMA’s physician payment committee
A secretive committee of the American Medical Association exaggerates how much physician time and effort is involved in performing many…
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Report reveals the challenges behind covering patient safety
Patient safety is a critically important topic for health care journalists. Yet collecting the data needed to report on it…