Oregon is set to become the first state to drop its ObamaCare exchange and transition into the system managed by the federal government. The decision follows months of severe technical issues that have made Oregon's marketplace one of the worst in the country. About $130 million has been spent on Cover Oregon, but it is the only ObamaCare enrollment system that won't let registrants buy coverage and qualify for tax credits in one sitting. It had not enrolled a single person online as of early March, and remains mired in glitches almost seven months after a rocky launch.
Vaccines given to infants and young children over the past two decades will prevent 322 million illnesses, 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths over the course of their lifetimes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines also will have saved $295 billion in direct costs, such as medical expenses, and a total of more than $1.3 trillion in societal costs over that time, because children who were spared from sometimes-devastating illnesses will be able to contribute to society, the report shows. These calculations may underestimate the full impact of vaccines, the study notes, because authors considered only the early 14 routine childhood immunizations typically required for school entry.
The agency that oversees the Medicare program should be able to consider the cost effectiveness of drugs and medical devices when making coverage determinations, according to a new report by the RAND Corporation. But study authors acknowledge that this recommendation — a significant change from current practice in which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is barred from considering cost – has little chance of being implemented because it would require Congressional action. "My impression is that changing Medicare will be very difficult. It may have to wait until more people believe we're in a crisis," said Steve Garber, a RAND senior economist.
One of the biggest challenges American hospitals face right now is adopting electronic medical records systems. It's costing tens of billions of dollars, eating up tons of staff time and it's especially tough for the country's 2,000 rural and small town hospitals. Rural hospitals are typically cash strapped, and people with information technology skills can be hard to find outside of big cities. That means a lot of small hospitals are turning to bigger hospitals for help, and giving up some independence in return. The hospital in Red Lodge is one of these. A historic mining town just outside Yellowstone National Park, Red Lodge is about 60 miles west of Billings.
A growing number of healthcare practices are finding that cloud services, once feared by security-conscious providers, are now proving to be a safer option than on-premises alternatives. While only 4% of healthcare providers adopted the cloud in 2011, use of the vertical cloud is now growing by 20% annually, according to MarketandMarkets. By 2017, the researchers predict, healthcare organizations will spend $5.4 billion on cloud services. Security demands are driving some of this growth. Stronger HIPAA laws penalize organizations that breach patient data -- and many breaches occur when an employee loses a laptop.
More than 30 Maine doctors have reported to the Maine Medical Association that fraudulent tax returns using their names and Social Security numbers were filed this year. The cases could be linked to a broader breach of doctors' personal information that the U.S. Secret Service is investigating. Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, said in a phone interview Thursday that approximately 35 physicians have notified him of fraudulent tax returns that were filed using their personal information. George Ogilvie, spokesman for the Secret Service, which investigates cases of credit card fraud and identity theft, confirmed in a phone interview Thursday that the agency is looking into the matter.