Health & Wellness

TL/DR - Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has plead guilty to a conspiracy to commit health care fraud between 2015 and 2017. The scheme involved Oxendine brokering an illegal kickback agreement between Dr Jeffrey Gallups and a Texas lab company, NextHealth, resulting in fraudulent insurance claims for unnecessary medical…

TL/DR - The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country, but this is mostly due to high costs and inconsistent pricing rather than increased investment in patient care, according to Brown University public health researcher Christopher Whaley. His research suggests that high hospital costs are due to provider consolidation,…

TL/DR - Steward Health Care, a for-profit hospital system, spent over $7 million from 2018 to 2023 on research, intelligence-gathering, and surveillance services, despite running short of critical supplies for its hospitals. The surveillance targeted individuals deemed problematic by the company's executives, and was authorized by the company's…

TL/DR - Prior authorization has a crucial role in ensuring patients receive appropriate healthcare, but there is a consensus that the process needs significant improvement. Issues include providers lacking adequate information about prior authorization requirements, patients requiring too many approvals for the same treatment, and a need for more…