Online donation sites are booming as patients with little or no health insurance turn to strangers to help pay medical costs
Reported by FT.com 5 hours ago.
Why are so many Americans crowdfunding their healthcare?
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United States: Thank You IRS - Foley & Lardner
Employers will have until March 2, 2018 to furnish Form 1095-C ("Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage") to employees.
Reported by Mondaq 19 hours ago.
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Trump administration will allow states to test Medicaid work requirements
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday it would allow states to test requiring some Medicaid recipients to work or participate in community activities such as volunteering or jobs training as a condition of eligibility for the government health insurance program for the poor.
Reported by Reuters 23 hours ago.
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Major shift as Trump opens way for Medicaid work requirement
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major policy shift that could affect millions of low-income people, the Trump administration said Thursday it is offering a path for states that want to seek work requirements on Medicaid recipients. Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said work and community involvement can make a positive difference in people's lives and in their health. Still, the plan probably will face strong political opposition and even legal challenges over concerns people would lose coverage. Medicaid is a federal-state collaboration covering more than 70 million people, or about 1 in 5 Americans, and that makes it the largest government health insurance program.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 23 hours ago.
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Trump administration to allow states to require some Medicaid patients to work to be eligible
The Trump administration cleared the way Thursday for states to impose work requirements on many Americans who depend on Medicaid, the mammoth government health insurance program for the poor.
The much-anticipated move would mark the first time in the program’s half-century history that the government... Reported by L.A. Times 23 hours ago.
The much-anticipated move would mark the first time in the program’s half-century history that the government... Reported by L.A. Times 23 hours ago.
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HHS Will Let States Require People To Work For Medicaid
Ten states have already asked the Trump administration to add work requirements to the popular health insurance program for low-income people. But many recipients are already working.
Reported by NPR 21 hours ago.
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Kids’ Health Insurance Program Faces Uncertainty
A state senator is warning Florida will not able to keep a major children’s health-insurance program running if Congress doesn’t authorize additional money.
Reported by cbs4.com 20 hours ago.
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Health secretary: Funding for CHIP will last until February in Delaware
Funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program in Delaware will last until the end of February, the health secretary said Thursday.
Reported by Delawareonline 18 hours ago.
Reported by Delawareonline 18 hours ago.
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UST Global and OpsHub partner to help enterprises promote digital transformation through an integration platform for product development and customer experience ecosystem
UST Global will offer OpsHub’s flagship integration solution, OpsHub Integration Manager, to its customers looking for a robust and reliable business integration solution.
MADRID (PRWEB) January 11, 2018
UST Global, a leading company in digital technology services, and OpsHub, a leading supplier of integration and migration solutions for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), today, announced a strategic agreement to help enterprises promote a fast, collaborative and efficient digital transformation.
By integrating ALM, DevOps systems with the customer experience environment, OpsHub Integration Manager helps enterprises create a highly-productive and collaborative ecosystem. In an ecosystem like this, there is no gap between the ideas coming from the customer-oriented business teams and the execution of these ideas by the development/engineering team. The real-time information exchange, facilitated by OpsHub Integration Manager, within each work team’s preferred system removes all possible communication barriers and other issues that might delay the delivery; and therefore, allows enterprises to make wiser commercial decisions in a short span of time.
OpsHub Integration Manager is a comprehensive integration and migration solution for the unification of an ALM ecosystem. It supports the integration of over 50 ALM, DevOps, IT Service Management (ITSM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Integrating these systems increases the overall efficiency of the delivery ecosystem as it results in enhanced collaboration between cross-functional teams, increased transparency in the ecosystem, and complete traceability for all work and non-work items.
OpsHub Integration Manager can be hosted on-site or on the cloud of a customer (Amazon Web Services EC2, Microsoft Azure).
"By incorporating OpsHub Integration Manager to our solutions portfolio, we have come closer to meeting our commitment of providing our customers the means to accelerate their digital transformation, taking advantage of a collective experience,” said José Luis Rivero, Director of Digital Solutions & Consulting Services at UST Global. He also added that, “OpsHub Integration Manager allows real time two-way synchronization between systems for requirements management, version control, and CRM, enabling our customers to build a complete DevOps pipeline.”
Baldo Rincón, VP Business Development, Europe at OpsHub, explained: “A development organization always strives to deliver superior products to its clients, as quickly as possible and at competitive prices. With OpsHub Integration Manager, UST Global customers will be able to create highly productive ecosystems with best-of-breed systems that will lead to creation of quality solution and also, accelerate the delivery timeline.”
Vibhuti Bhushan, VP Marketing, OpsHub, said, “Scalable integration solutions act like a catalyst for successful digital transformations. We are happy that this association has managed to reach a point where we can all help enterprises to take advantage of their cross-functional richness and swiftly progress towards an enabled, digital world.”
About OpsHub Inc.
OpsHub is the leading provider of integration and migration solutions for the ALM, CRM, and DevOps tool chains. OpsHub improves the efficiency and effectiveness of agile teams in ALM and DevOps environments by making necessary and current data available to each user, in that user’s preferred system, with full context, in real-time. OpsHub’s solutions for integration and migration speed up development processes, reduce errors, improve decision-making, and result in delivering innovative products and services faster, with higher quality at a lower cost.
About UST Global
UST Global® is a fast-growing digital technology company that offers advanced IT and digital services to large public and private companies around the globe. Driven by a broader purpose of Transforming Lives and the philosophy of, “less customers, more attention,” we offer our entrepreneurial spirit in the search for the quickest way to provide value in today’s digital economy.
UST Global has its seat in Aliso Viejo, California, and it operates in 21 countries. Our customers include Fortune 500 companies in the areas of Financial and Banking Services, Health, Insurance, Retail, High Technology, Manufacturing, Logistics and Telecommunications. UST Global believes in building long-lasting, strategic commercial relations through agile participation models focused on the customer, combining local experts and resources with the advantages of cost, scale and quality of global operations.
More information:
Vibhuti Bhushan, OpsHub: marketing(at)opshub(dot)com
Antonio de la Cruz, UST Global: +34 629 250 693, Antonio.DeLaCruz(at)ust-global(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 17 hours ago.
MADRID (PRWEB) January 11, 2018
UST Global, a leading company in digital technology services, and OpsHub, a leading supplier of integration and migration solutions for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), today, announced a strategic agreement to help enterprises promote a fast, collaborative and efficient digital transformation.
By integrating ALM, DevOps systems with the customer experience environment, OpsHub Integration Manager helps enterprises create a highly-productive and collaborative ecosystem. In an ecosystem like this, there is no gap between the ideas coming from the customer-oriented business teams and the execution of these ideas by the development/engineering team. The real-time information exchange, facilitated by OpsHub Integration Manager, within each work team’s preferred system removes all possible communication barriers and other issues that might delay the delivery; and therefore, allows enterprises to make wiser commercial decisions in a short span of time.
OpsHub Integration Manager is a comprehensive integration and migration solution for the unification of an ALM ecosystem. It supports the integration of over 50 ALM, DevOps, IT Service Management (ITSM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Integrating these systems increases the overall efficiency of the delivery ecosystem as it results in enhanced collaboration between cross-functional teams, increased transparency in the ecosystem, and complete traceability for all work and non-work items.
OpsHub Integration Manager can be hosted on-site or on the cloud of a customer (Amazon Web Services EC2, Microsoft Azure).
"By incorporating OpsHub Integration Manager to our solutions portfolio, we have come closer to meeting our commitment of providing our customers the means to accelerate their digital transformation, taking advantage of a collective experience,” said José Luis Rivero, Director of Digital Solutions & Consulting Services at UST Global. He also added that, “OpsHub Integration Manager allows real time two-way synchronization between systems for requirements management, version control, and CRM, enabling our customers to build a complete DevOps pipeline.”
Baldo Rincón, VP Business Development, Europe at OpsHub, explained: “A development organization always strives to deliver superior products to its clients, as quickly as possible and at competitive prices. With OpsHub Integration Manager, UST Global customers will be able to create highly productive ecosystems with best-of-breed systems that will lead to creation of quality solution and also, accelerate the delivery timeline.”
Vibhuti Bhushan, VP Marketing, OpsHub, said, “Scalable integration solutions act like a catalyst for successful digital transformations. We are happy that this association has managed to reach a point where we can all help enterprises to take advantage of their cross-functional richness and swiftly progress towards an enabled, digital world.”
About OpsHub Inc.
OpsHub is the leading provider of integration and migration solutions for the ALM, CRM, and DevOps tool chains. OpsHub improves the efficiency and effectiveness of agile teams in ALM and DevOps environments by making necessary and current data available to each user, in that user’s preferred system, with full context, in real-time. OpsHub’s solutions for integration and migration speed up development processes, reduce errors, improve decision-making, and result in delivering innovative products and services faster, with higher quality at a lower cost.
About UST Global
UST Global® is a fast-growing digital technology company that offers advanced IT and digital services to large public and private companies around the globe. Driven by a broader purpose of Transforming Lives and the philosophy of, “less customers, more attention,” we offer our entrepreneurial spirit in the search for the quickest way to provide value in today’s digital economy.
UST Global has its seat in Aliso Viejo, California, and it operates in 21 countries. Our customers include Fortune 500 companies in the areas of Financial and Banking Services, Health, Insurance, Retail, High Technology, Manufacturing, Logistics and Telecommunications. UST Global believes in building long-lasting, strategic commercial relations through agile participation models focused on the customer, combining local experts and resources with the advantages of cost, scale and quality of global operations.
More information:
Vibhuti Bhushan, OpsHub: marketing(at)opshub(dot)com
Antonio de la Cruz, UST Global: +34 629 250 693, Antonio.DeLaCruz(at)ust-global(dot)com Reported by PRWeb 17 hours ago.
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Trump administration to let states adopt Medicaid work requirements
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration told U.S. states on Thursday they can for the first time move toward imposing work or job training requirements on people as a condition for obtaining health insurance under the Medicaid government program for the poor.
Reported by Reuters 16 hours ago.
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New budget estimate opens door to CHIP extension
House and Senate lawmakers could renew the federal Childrens Health Insurance Program as early as next week since the Congressional Budget Office now estimates a 10-year extension could save taxpayers $6 billion.
Reported by Harrison Daily 10 hours ago.
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3 Ways Small Business Owners Can Save On Health Insurance
Offering health insurance is just one of many ways to hire and retain valuable employees. Learn how to save on costs.
Reported by CBS 2 9 hours ago.
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Talks a good sign for Medicaid expansion?
Virginia legislators are starting to talk to one another about expanding Medicaid -- instead of at one another -- and that’s a positive sign the state will take steps to help provide health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Virginians, a senior Democratic legislator said...
Reported by dailypress.com 9 hours ago.
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Asthma Costs US Economy More Than $80 Billion Per Year
Asthma costs the U.S. economy more than $80 billion annually in medical expenses, missed work and school days and deaths, according to new research published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
In “The Economic Burden of Asthma in the United States, 2008-2013,” researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the most comprehensive source of data on health care use, expenditures, payment source and health insurance coverage in the U.S.
“The cost of asthma is one of the most important measures of the burden of the disease,” said Tursynbek Nurmagambetov, PhD, lead study author and health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Cost studies can influence health policy decisions and help decision makers understand the scale, seriousness and implications of asthma, so that resources can be identified to improve disease management and reduce the burden of asthma.”
Of 213,994 respondents to the survey over a six-year period, the study identified 10,237 people with treated asthma. The researchers defined treated asthma as having at least one medical encounter for asthma or having a prescription for at least one asthma medicine filled during a calendar year. Based on the pooled sample, researchers estimated average annual numbers and costs for the U.S. population.
Based on the 2008-2013 pooled sample, the study estimated (all costs are expressed in 2015 U.S. dollars):
· About 15.4 million people in the U.S. had treated asthma each year.
· The total annual cost of asthma in the U.S., including medical care, absenteeism and mortality, was $81.9 billion.
· The annual per-person medical cost of asthma was $3,266. Of that, $1,830 was for prescriptions, $640 for office visits, $529 for hospitalizations, $176 for hospital outpatient visits and $105 for emergency room care.
· Asthma-related mortality cost $29 billion per year, representing on average 3,168 deaths.
· Missed work and school days combined cost $3 billion per year, representing 8.7 million workdays and 5.2 million school days lost due to asthma.
· People with no health insurance had significantly lower per person total medical expenditure for asthma compared to insured people.
According to the authors, the study likely underestimated the total cost of asthma to the U.S. economy because their analysis did not include people whose asthma went untreated. The study also did not include nonmedical costs associated with asthma, including transportation expenses, time lost waiting for appointments and diminished productivity while functioning at work or school with asthma.
“The findings of the paper highlight the critical need to support and further strengthen asthma control strategies,” Dr. Nurmagambetov said. “CDC’s National Asthma Control Program was founded in 1999 to help reduce the burden of asthma in the United States. In order to reduce asthma-related ER visits, hospitalizations, absenteeism and mortality, we need to support guidelines-based care, expand self-management education and reduce environmental asthma triggers at homes.” Reported by Eurasia Review 4 hours ago.
In “The Economic Burden of Asthma in the United States, 2008-2013,” researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the most comprehensive source of data on health care use, expenditures, payment source and health insurance coverage in the U.S.
“The cost of asthma is one of the most important measures of the burden of the disease,” said Tursynbek Nurmagambetov, PhD, lead study author and health economist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Cost studies can influence health policy decisions and help decision makers understand the scale, seriousness and implications of asthma, so that resources can be identified to improve disease management and reduce the burden of asthma.”
Of 213,994 respondents to the survey over a six-year period, the study identified 10,237 people with treated asthma. The researchers defined treated asthma as having at least one medical encounter for asthma or having a prescription for at least one asthma medicine filled during a calendar year. Based on the pooled sample, researchers estimated average annual numbers and costs for the U.S. population.
Based on the 2008-2013 pooled sample, the study estimated (all costs are expressed in 2015 U.S. dollars):
· About 15.4 million people in the U.S. had treated asthma each year.
· The total annual cost of asthma in the U.S., including medical care, absenteeism and mortality, was $81.9 billion.
· The annual per-person medical cost of asthma was $3,266. Of that, $1,830 was for prescriptions, $640 for office visits, $529 for hospitalizations, $176 for hospital outpatient visits and $105 for emergency room care.
· Asthma-related mortality cost $29 billion per year, representing on average 3,168 deaths.
· Missed work and school days combined cost $3 billion per year, representing 8.7 million workdays and 5.2 million school days lost due to asthma.
· People with no health insurance had significantly lower per person total medical expenditure for asthma compared to insured people.
According to the authors, the study likely underestimated the total cost of asthma to the U.S. economy because their analysis did not include people whose asthma went untreated. The study also did not include nonmedical costs associated with asthma, including transportation expenses, time lost waiting for appointments and diminished productivity while functioning at work or school with asthma.
“The findings of the paper highlight the critical need to support and further strengthen asthma control strategies,” Dr. Nurmagambetov said. “CDC’s National Asthma Control Program was founded in 1999 to help reduce the burden of asthma in the United States. In order to reduce asthma-related ER visits, hospitalizations, absenteeism and mortality, we need to support guidelines-based care, expand self-management education and reduce environmental asthma triggers at homes.” Reported by Eurasia Review 4 hours ago.
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Medicaid recipients to get work requirements
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rewriting the rules on health care for the poor, the Trump administration said Thursday it will allow states to require "able-bodied" Medicaid recipients to work, a hotly debated first in the program's half-century history. Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said requiring work or community involvement can make a positive difference in people's lives and in their health. The goal is to help people move from public assistance into jobs that provide health insurance. "We see people moving off of Medicaid as a good outcome," she said.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 4 hours ago.
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Talks a good sign for Medicaid expansion?
Virginia legislators are starting to talk to one another about expanding Medicaid -- instead of at one another -- and that’s a positive sign the state will take steps to help provide health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of uninsured Virginians, a senior Democratic legislator said...
Reported by dailypress.com 22 hours ago.
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Kentucky Becomes First US State to Implement Medicaid Work Requirements
Kentucky on Friday became the first U.S. state to receive approval from the federal government to implement work requirements in Medicaid, a fundamental change to the 50-year-old government health insurance program for the poor.
Reported by Newsmax 16 hours ago.
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Kentucky becomes first U.S. state to implement Medicaid work requirements
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kentucky on Friday became the first U.S. state to receive approval from the federal government to implement work requirements in Medicaid, a fundamental change to the 50-year-old government health insurance program for the poor.
Reported by Reuters 16 hours ago.
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Signs of stability, trouble in Minnesota’s individual market
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — State officials say Minnesota’s individual health insurance market may be stabilizing but there are still signs of trouble. The Star Tribune reports that a Minnesota Department of Health study released Friday shows insurers selling plans directly to consumers aren’t losing as much money as in years past. Heavy losses in […]
Reported by Seattle Times 16 hours ago.
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DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: MEDITECH taps Arcadia to strengthen EHR offering — VA awards 1Vision $260 million telehealth deal — UnitedHealthcare, Dexcom tackle diabetes management
Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.*Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.*
Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: lbeaver@businessinsider.com
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*MEDITECH COLLABORATES WITH ARCADIA TO STRENGTH EHR:* Electronic health record (EHR) vendor MEDITECH is collaborating with Arcadia Healthcare Solutions, the population health management firm, to strengthen its population health management offering by integrating new data into its web-based EHR system. Arcadia aggregates data from over 40 EHR vendors and claims databases. Using this data, physicians are able to get a more complete picture of a patient's history. Under this agreement, Arcadia is expected to focus on aggregating data that is related to claims and risk stratification, such as risk scores and gaps in care, into MEDITECH's Web EHR.
*Having access to Arcadia's data portfolio will help MEDITECH's users improve the care of their patients. *For example, risk scores, which calculate the likelihood of an individual experiencing a certain outcome, such as an emergency admission or the development of a serious illness, can be powerful tools for healthcare professionals. Providers can use these scores to adjust interventions, and estimate costs in order to prevent patients from developing more serious conditions.
*As the healthcare systems transition towards a value-based reimbursement structure, being able to improve patient outcomes will help the financial viability of providers. *Value-based reimbursement structure incentivizes positive outcomes rather than the volume of patients seen or services rendered. And as more healthcare systems move to this model — the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has already made a commitment to tie 90% of Medicare payments to a value model by 2018 — EHR solutions that provide the tools to improve efficiency, lower readmissions, and drive down medical costs will grow in demand.
Enjoy reading this briefing? Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing to your inbox.
*VA AWARDS 1VISION HOME TELEHEALTH DEAL WORTH $260 MILLION:* On Tuesday, the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) awarded telehealth vendor 1Vision an exclusive contract worth up to $260 million to provide home telehealth services for US veterans. Telehealth refers to a broad range of technologies and services that aim to provide patient care and improve healthcare delivery. The deal makes 1Vision, owned by IT services company HMS Technologies, the only Services-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business to be awarded a contract by the VA. 1Vision will partner with AMC Health, a virtual care and remote patient monitoring tech company to provide veterans with the ability to transmit personal health information such as weight, blood pressure, and glucose levels using Bluetooth-enabled medical devices in their homes. This will vastly improve the ability of veterans in the US to seek out and receive care from their doctors.
*The announcement follows on the heels of the recently Senate-approved VETS Act, which aims to reform telemedicine licensing at the VA.* The bill would allow doctors to provide vets with telehealth services anywhere in the US, regardless of where they’re located. A similar bill was passed by the House of Representatives in November 2017. These reforms are a critical part of the US government’s Anywhere to Anywhere initiative. The adoption of telehealth solutions is growing in the US, in part because they can help improve patient care, but also because they can reduce hospitalization costs and readmission rates. In 2017, 71% of US healthcare providers said they were using telehealth technology to connect with patients, up from 54% of healthcare providers in 2014, according to HIMSS Analytics.
*UNITEDHEALTHCARE, DEXCOM TACKLE DIABETES MANAGEMENT:* UnitedHealthcare, the largest healthcare company by revenue globally, and wearable glucose monitor company Dexcom have teamed up to launch a new initiative to help eligible UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members manage their Type 2 diabetes. Announced Wednesday during the Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas, the initiative builds on UnitedHealthcare’s Navigate4Me program, which provides participants with a single point of contact to help them navigate the healthcare system. Eligible participants will receive a Dexcom sensor that they wear on their abdomen to monitor blood glucose levels. They’ll also receive personalized diabetes coaching from their Navigate4Me assistant and an activity tracker. Making it easier for consumers to access and use the health system could help mitigate the heavy strain chronic illnesses such as diabetes have on the healthcare budgets. In the US, chronic diseases and the health risk behaviors that cause them account for most health care costs, according to the CDC.
*HHS BEING SUED OVER "IRRATIONAL" HIPAA ENFORCEMENT:* Ciox Health, a Georgia-based health information management company has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to halt the agency from enforcing parts of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that limit how much providers can charge for patient records, according to FierceHealthcare. The medical records firm specifically referenced changes made to HIPAA in 2013 and 2016, which were "irrational, arbitrary, capricious, and absurd." In 2013, the agency ruled that providers were required to transmit all health records, regardless of whether or not the records were an EHR or not, when a request was made. Ciox argues that this ruling did not account for the costs associated with collecting and transmitting this type of data. In 2016, the HHS went a step further by limiting all records requests charges to a reasonable cost-based fee or a flat fee of $6.50, including those made by third parties. About 4% of requests are made from patients and 40%-50% are from providers sending records to one another, which Ciox processes for free. In the past, Ciox was able to cover the costs of processing these requests by charging third-party commercial businesses, however, the company's ability to recoup these costs has been limited by the changes.
*IN OTHER NEWS…*
· Researchers from the *Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology *have developed an ingestible pill that can track and record data from the human gut in real-time, according to CNET. The non-invasive pill transmits data to a smartphone app and early trial results suggest it could eventually be used as a diagnostic tool for gut-related diseases.
· *Heal*, an app-based physician house call service, unveiled Wellbe, a central hub for consumer’s connected devices, according to MobiHealthNews. Data collected from these devices, which is tracked in real-time, can be shared with the patient’s physician in order increase the precision and efficacy of care.
Join the conversation about this story » Reported by Business Insider 16 hours ago.
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