News from Around The Web
> A new study by Health Affairs concluded that prices are higher in areas where large medical groups predominate. Study abstract
> Cancer Treatment Centers of America is in a battle with Georgia regulators and hospital operators over expanding its limited certificate of need for construction of new facilities in the state, the Independent Mail reported. Article
Provider News
> Amid an increasingly consumer-centered healthcare industry and the emerging influence of millennials on the market, healthcare providers are overhauling their pediatric marketing strategies for millennial parents, according to new research from the marketing firm Marcus Thomas LLC. Article
Healthcare IT News
> When considering an innovation, UCLA Health System first determines what patient needs it would meet and how it would impact providers' workflow. Looking at a patient's "pain point" for access is also important, Katherine Steinberg, director of the system's Institute for Innovation in Health, told U.S. News & World Report. That means making sure that tools work "optimally from the patients' and the providers' perspective," she said. Tools must include human-centered design and achieve specific goals. Article
Payer News
> Faced with the news that two more consumer operated and oriented health plans are shutting down, some CO-OPs and small insurers have formed a coalition to push for changes to the Affordable Care Act that they say are making it difficult for them to succeed, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Article
And finally... CDC: Hangovers cost U.S. economy $249 billion a year. Article