Hospitals secured a $2.2 billion increase in Medicare payments for inpatient services in 2024, according to a final rule issued Tuesday.
Why it matters: The 3.1% increase is slightly higher than the rate the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed in April. However, the agency did not grant hospitals' request to raise payments further to account for previous underestimates in hospitals costs.
The estate of Henrietta Lacks settled a lawsuit against a biotechnology company that allegedly profited from cervical cells that were taken from her in the 1950s without her consent, her family's attorney said on Tuesday.
Why it matters: The cells, harvested when Lacks, a Black woman, was treated for cervical cancer, have allowed breakthroughs in modern medicine as the first immortal human cell line.
The Biden administration's new effort to improve insurance coverage for mental health services is on a collision course with the nation's shortage of behavioral health professionals.
Why it matters: More than 160 million Americans live in areas lacking enough mental health professionals to meet the need.
Some 450,000 people in the U.S. may unknowingly have a tick-borne condition that causes a red meat allergy, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
Driving the news: Since 2010, the number of suspected alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) cases in the U.S. has increased substantially, according to two new CDC studies published last week.
The Biden administration on Monday rolled out a new Medicare pilot program aimed at improving the quality of life for people with dementia and reducing the burden on unpaid caregivers.
Driving the news: The new payment model from Medicare's innovation lab will test a standardized approach to providing coordinated care to patients with dementia, who often have complex health care needs.
The National Institutes of Health is launching clinical trials to test four possible treatments for long COVID, including administering the antiviral Paxlovid over a longer course than is used for treating new infections.
Why it matters: The efforts announced Monday are part of the $1.15 billion RECOVER research initiative that seeks to define and study the long-term effects of the virus.
Some Americans are being hit harder than others by the extreme heat wave baking swaths of the country because they can't get enough to eat or drink.
The big picture: Food-insecure households are among the most at risk of health and financial hardships during blistering temperatures. They face unique exposure to dehydration and costly relief that further strains dwindling food budgets.
Even as encouraging data fuels hype around a new class of obesity drugs, regulators and experts are racing to better understand possible health risks that are still emerging in a market projected to be worth tens of billions of dollars.
