Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

So why are people like Gracey, who have never smoked a cigarette, taking it up?The Londoner believes vaping helps when she’s feeling socially anxious.”It’s the hand action,” she says, “just having something in your hand, just having something in your mouth.”Like cigarettes Gracey’s vape contains nicotine, a highly addictive substance that triggers withdrawal symptoms like irritability and anxiety when it leaves your system.Vaping has become a “mindless action,” she says. When she answers the call to talk to BBC News for this article, Gracey says that without thinking about it, she had been lying in bed, with her vape in…

When Sonia Chandiramani lost her mum to ovarian cancer in 2017, she found solace in an unexpected place: the rugby pitch.“I was spending five nights a week with my team, plus weekends,” says the 33-year-old Chandiramani, who had been playing since she was 14. “It was my second family.Two years later, Chandiramani and some fellow players established Phenomenally Group, a Hong Kong-based charity dedicated to cancer awareness, proactive healthcare and providing accessible early screening services. Source Link

The American Medical Association (AMA) rolled out a governance framework for agentic artificial intelligence solutions that undertake clinical functions. The guide, created by the organization’s Center for Digital Health and AI, aims to ensure the technologies improve care while aligning clinical authority and accountability. The organization uses the term “augmented intelligence” when referring to AI to emphasize its assistive role in medicine.  The overarching theme of the framework is that clinical authority “should be earned through evidence and maintained through demonstrated performance.” It notes that authority and oversight can evolve alongside evidence, performance, risk and technological changes. Based on this, the…

Centene is expanding its CHOICE Arrangements benefits program to its employees in Ohio and Oklahoma in the 2027 plan year. Centene rolled out the Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense Arrangements, formerly known as individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, to its Indiana employees this year. The insurer says the expansion is “building on the successful implementation” of the program in Indiana. Centene CEO Sarah London said in a statement that the company believes coverage “should be as unique as the people it serves.”  “Our experience in Indiana has demonstrated the value of empowering employees with greater flexibility and choice…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has taken the first steps to implement “ghost network” and pharmacy benefit manager reforms outlined by Congress in its February appropriations package.  The proposed rule (PDF) issued Friday outlines a framework for Medicare Advantage plans to verify and update their provider directories at least once every 90 days, according to a release and fact sheet from the agency.  Accuracy scores from these checks will be “prominently displayed” in plan directories, while CMS will publish the results in a machine-readable format, allowing beneficiaries to consider directory accuracy when choosing a plan. CMS also proposed…

“Necklaces” of ultracold atoms have provided new evidence to support a nearly 100-year-old quantum theory.In 1931, physicists were trying to use quantum mechanics to explain why some materials are magnetic. Then, a young physicist named Hans Bethe looked at a single row of electrons. Each electron’s spin can point up or down. Bethe worked out the math for how such a row behaves and found that if a few spins in the row flip, they can stick together and travel down the row as a single unit.Decades later, physicists found that Bethe’s method also works for larger particles moving along…

Archaeologists digging at a 13,800-year-old site in interior Alaska have unearthed thousands of artifacts and fossils, including what may be the bones of the earliest domesticated dogs in the Americas, the earliest needles and dwellings in the Western Hemisphere, and stone tools that reveal cultural connections across the Bering Land Bridge.At a site called Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ (which means “They Were There” in the Alaska Native Athabascan language), about 34 miles (55 kilometers) southeast of Fairbanks, archaeologists have excavated an encampment that some of the first people to settle in North America used off and on for a millennium.Shégˊ Xdaltthˊíˊ is…

Three-quarters of Americans across party lines say healthcare will be one of the top three issues deciding their vote, finds a new survey. The People’s Health Care Survey, USofCare’s annual survey that captures people’s experiences with and challenges in healthcare, reached over 2,700 registered voters from June 12 through July 16. It was designed to be nationally representative and responses were weighted to match the U.S. population based on recent Census data. USofCare describes itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on advancing policies that improve access to quality, affordable healthcare. Three-quarters of Americans feel frustrated, overwhelmed or helpless about healthcare costs,…

Parkview Health is acquiring Ovation Healthcare, a nationwide shared services vendor for providers, the Indiana rural care system announced Friday.  Financial terms were not disclosed, though the 16-hospital nonprofit said it expects to close the purchase “in the coming weeks following standard regulatory review processes and approvals.”  Parkview would become Ovation’s sole owner and bring its complementary administrative and operational functions under the company should the deal close, though it’s planned for Ovation to continue operations as a separate organization with its own governance, per the announcement.  “With Ovation Healthcare, we are extending Parkview’s proven operational depth across the nation…

CareCycle, a voice AI company serving Medicare agencies, has launched a free tool that helps Medicare beneficiaries compare plans. The tool, Match Your Medicare, coincides with Medicare’s Open Enrollment period and is set to be available indefinitely. It is free to use, takes no payments from payers or commissions and does not sell or share personal information.  Based on information provided by users, the tool surfaces yearly cost estimates, including premiums, copays and drugs. It also shows what plans in a user’s area keep their docs in-network. Users can compare up to three plans side by side. MatchYourMedicare.com requires no…