Vitor Pamplona isn't a doctor. He's not even an optician. Still, he's pretty sure he's going to disrupt the $75 billion global eye-care market. At EyeNetra, the startup he cofounded, goofy curiosities like plastic eyeballs line the shelves, and a 3-D printing machine whirs in the background. It's printing out prototypes of a device that will attach to your smartphone and, in a minute or two, tell you what kind of eyeglasses you need. The device, called the Netra-G, is based on some clever optics and software Pamplona came up with?a way to measure the refractive error of the eye using a smartphone screen and an inexpensive pair of plastic binoculars.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Implacable Republican opposition to Obamacare has Congress once more veering closer to gridlock. In the House, more than 60 conservatives support tacking a one-year delay in implementing the health care law onto a bill needed to prevent a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1. Senior leaders warn the GOP could suffer significant political reverses if the party goes along with the plan and President Barack Obama and Democrats resist, as they have made clear they will, but it is strongly backed by senators with tea party ties and their influential allies outside Congress.
MIAMI — As many states prepare to introduce a linchpin of the 2010 health care law — the insurance exchanges designed to make health care more affordable — a handful of others are taking the opposite tack: They are complicating enrollment efforts and limiting information about the new program. Chief among them is Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature have made it more difficult for Floridians to obtain the cheapest insurance rates under the exchange and to get help from specially trained outreach counselors.
Among the most troubling questions facing consumers as they shop for insurance under the Obama administration's new health care law is whether the plans will cover the drugs they take — and how much they will have to pay for them. But with less than two weeks remaining until enrollment opens on Oct. 1, the answers are still elusive and anxiety is growing for consumers whose well-being depends on expensive medications. States running the marketplaces where the plans will be offered have not released details about which drugs will be covered.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Hutchinson Regional Medical Center has reached a settlement over allegations it submitted false claims to the Medicare program, agreeing to pay $853,651 to the United States, the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday. The payment is in addition to the money the hospital has already refunded the Medicare program for the claims, resulting in a total payment of $1.7 million. The hospital, formerly known as Promise Regional Medical Center, has also entered into a "corporate integrity agreement" with the Department of Health and Human Services' fiscal watchdog
Patients are pushing physicians for more online access to their medical records and to the doctors' practices, and they're starting to get their way, according to a new survey of patients and providers by the research and consulting firm Accenture. More than a third of U.S. consumers say that their current medical providers allow them online access. Capabilities offered include prescription refill requests (48%), access to medical records (43%), appointment requests (43%), e-mail with providers (36%), and electronic reminders (36%). Depending on the item, between 28% and 40% of doctors say these electronic services are available to patients, Accenture reported.