Patient Engagement

Lawmakers are imploring Mylan Pharmaceutical, the manufacturer of EpiPens, to scale back price increases that have seen the cost of the life-saving emergency allergy treatment swell from $100 to $600 per package, according to published reports.

If the poorest areas utilized healthcare at the rate of the most affluent, overall utilization and spending could be as much as 30 percent less, according to a new book published by the late Richard Cooper, MD.

New research suggests a path forward that could save money while also improving patients' health.

Geriatric ERs have the potential to lower health care costs as staff can more carefully discern who needs to be admitted and who can be cared for outside of hospital walls. That tends to reduce hospitalizations among the elderly.

Many people don't know about sepsis. Meanwhile, health care providers struggle to identify it early.

A preliminary analysis by from the CVS Health Research Institute in fact shows that payers could save approximately $38 to $63 million per 100,000 members.

Instead of the usual "deny-and-defend" approach, they are revamping their policies to be more open.

Many doctors and nurses need the assistance of interpreters not only to overcome language barriers but also to navigate cultural differences. Opportunities for miscommunication with patients abound.

Nurses said health plan would have put too much burden for cost increases on nurses.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 6.7 million people who filled prescriptions in January 2012 and followed their patterns of medication use and out-of-pocket spending through December 2014.