Mary Mosquera

As the investigation into a fatal outbreak of fungal meningitis continues, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration proposed Friday that the agency gain new authority to regulate pharmacy compounding, including charging fees to fund an expanded safety framework.

The payment of higher Medicare rates to physicians and hospitals in regions that have good health outcomes and lower costs, while reducing payment rates where there is lesser quality and higher costs will not drive individual providers to deliver care more efficiently reports the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Cancer drug shortages are forcing treatment changes and delays that for some patients have led to worse outcomes, more therapy-related complications and higher costs, according to a national survey of health professionals published Thursday.

When Premier healthcare alliance officials announced this week that their data-sharing collaborative saved 92,000 lives and $9.1 billion since 2008, the emphasis was on the data, but in a briefing Wednesday about the private sector's role in Medicare Susan DeVore, Premier president and CEO, explained that one of major drivers behind the collaborative's success was the culture change that took place among the healthcare providers.

Providers will drive the overhaul of the health system when they focus on the value of their care delivery to produce measurably better outcomes for patients.

The Congressional Budget Office's reduced estimate of the cost of an SGR repeal may offer an opportunity for the Congress to act, MedPAC said in its annual report to Congress.

With some healthcare providers now into their second year of meaningful use reporting, Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments were estimated at $12.3 billion paid to a total of 219,000 physicians and hospitals through February since the program's inception.

Healthcare reform and financial and operational pressures will shape how hospitals and systems define and act on ambulatory care unit (ACU) strategies, according to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle.

Health reform is driving changes in the make-up of California healthcare markets, whether it's more construction in San Diego County or more integration and affiliations in Los Angeles County.

Women in a number of counties located primarily in the South and West have higher mortality rates than those in other regions, and the reasons extend beyond access to medical care, according to research published in the March issue of Health Affairs.