Friday Five: Top 5 healthcare business news items from the MCOL Weekend edition

By Claire Thayer, September 14, 2018

Every business day, MCOL posts feature stories making news on the business of health care. Here are five we think are particularly important for this week:

New Medicare Advantage Tool To Control Drug Prices Could Narrow Choices

Starting next year, Medicare Advantage plans will be able to add restrictions on expensive, injectable drugs administered by doctors to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, macular degeneration and other serious diseases.

NPR

Friday, September 14, 2018

Here’s the data behind the new Apple Watch EKG app

When the new Apple Watch heart monitoring app can get a reading, it can accurately detect that a person has an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation 99 percent of the time, according to a study of the new device that Apple submitted to the Food and Drug Administration.

Stat News

Friday, September 14, 2018

Calling teen vaping 'epidemic,' officials weigh flavor ban

U.S. health officials are sounding the alarm about teenage use of e-cigarettes, calling the problem an "epidemic" and ordering manufacturers to reverse the trend or risk having their flavored vaping products pulled from the market.

ABC News

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Hospital Operating Margins Slide 39% After ACA Expansion

The three-year stretch between 2015 to 2017 saw widespread income deterioration along with declining operating margins, according to a new study.

HealthLeaders

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

ACA about-face: Insurers keeping premium increases lower than last year, RWJF and AP studies find

The Affordable Care Act market has turned around for 2019, according to two studies, and that means premiums are not increasing as much as they did in 2018.

Healthcare Finance News

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

These and more weekly news items on the business of healthcare are featured in the MCOL Weekend edition, along with the MCOL Tidbits, and more, for MCOL Premium level members.