Multiple brands of frozen strawberries and fruit products sold at Walmart, Costco and HEB stores are being recalled after being linked to a Hepatitis A outbreak that has sickened nine people.
Overpayments to insurers administering Medicare Advantage plans now exceed $75 billion a year due to aggressive coding of patients' health conditions and easily-achieved bonus payments tied to quality, researchers with the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics found.
Why it matters: More seniors are choosing private Medicare Advantage plans over traditional Medicare, and continued overpayments could threaten the long-term viability of the program.
A critical shortage of chemotherapy drugs is fueling calls to fortify the U.S. drug supply chain, which advocacy groups and lawmakers say too often relies on a handful of manufacturers to churn out products in highest demand.
Driving the news: Cancer drugs, including widely used cisplatin and carboplatin, are in such short supply that doctors are rationing care, asking patients to drive long distances for treatment, or turning to alternative treatments with riskier side effects.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday maintained a freeze on a ruling that struck down the Affordable Care Act's mandate that employers and insurers fully cover preventive health services while the case continues to wind through the courts.
Why it matters: The decision from the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeal means that over 150 million people's health care coverage for certain cancer screenings, behavioral counseling, HIV prevention and other services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force will remain in place for the time being.
Having a baby isn't cheap anywhere, but there are some states in the U.S. where it's far pricier to give birth than others, according to data provided first to Axios from FAIR Health.
Why it matters: FAIR Health's new Cost of Giving Birth Tracker — which uses data from more than 41 billion private healthcare claim records — offers a glimpse at how much variability there is in the cost of one of the most common health care services.
The push to make food part of medical care won a prominent endorsement on Tuesday as Uber Health launched of a new grocery delivery service for patients recently discharged from hospitals and other settings.
Why it matters: It's the latest expansion of Uber's health care arm and part of part of a broader push by investors and companies that see opportunity partnering with providers to address nutrition and other social determinants of health.
Safety net hospitals will soon learn how the government plans to reimburse them for nearly $10 billion resulting from underpayments from the federal drug discount program. The question is whether it will come at the expense of other hospitals.
Where it stands: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is poised to reveal a repayment plan to facilities in the 340B program, after the Supreme Court found the agency made illegal program cuts from 2018 to September 2022.
