FDA Addressing Safety Issues

Companion diagnostic tests are used to help physicians select appropriate therapies for individual patients and commonly used to detect certain types of gene-based cancers. FDA announced on July 31, that FDA is issuing a final companion diagnostic guidance for the development, review, and approval or clearance of companion diagnostics tests. (more…)

Legislation Introduced on Capitol Hill

Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Gregg Harper (R-MS) last week introduced bipartisan legislation to expand telehealth services under Medicare. The bill, titled the “Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2014” puts telehealth services under Medicare on the path toward parity with in-person healthcare visits. (more…)

ACOs in Rural Areas: Policy Brief

The RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis policy brief “Facilitating the Formation of ACOs in Rural Areas” (www.ruralhealthresearch.or/publications/931) discusses how little is known about rural sites included in ACOs and how to attract more rural providers. Authors include Jure Baloh, MHA: Xi Zhu, PhD: Tom Vaughn, PhD; A. Clinton MacKinney, MD, Keith J. Mueller PhD: Fred Ullrich, BA: and Matthew Nattinger, MS. (more…)

MHA Partnering with ArborMetrix

The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) Keystone Center has selected ArborMetrix’s cloud-based analytics platform EpisodeMetrix to identify care improvement and cost reduction opportunities in hospitals across the state. ArborMetrix’s cloud-based solution is able to provide analytics and reporting based on state-wide hospital discharge data. (more…)