Morning Headlines 7/29/14
Lawmakers reach $17B deal on VA bill
House and Senate lawmakers announce a $17 billion plan aimed at addressing appointment wait times. The bill would provide $10 billion for veterans to seek medical treatment from non-VA providers, with another $5 billion going toward hiring additional medical to help the VA keep up with appointment demands.
Almost half of Kaiser Permanente members book appointments, request refills and send messages online
A new Kaiser Permanente report claims the health system’s portal and mobile app saw 131 million visitors during 2013. Kaiser ties their web presence to impressive gains in medication adherence rates and chronic disease management.
Early Q2 financials show reform benefiting hospitals’ bottom lines
The ACA is generating increased patient volumes, and thus having a positive impact on quarterly earnings for publicly traded hospitals, according to Modern Healthcare.
Geisinger Health System CEO Glenn Steele, MD, will retire next year after 12 years leading the organization.
Weird that Google can acknowledge its crowdsourced medical advice was wrong, but escape penalties for doing it wantonly at scale.