News From Around The Web
> Payers and providers clashed in a House hearing on Capitol Hill last week regarding some pending mega-mergers among large health insurers, the New York Times reported. Article
> The federal government wants states to improve the information contained in death certificates and provide a clearer picture as to how Americans actually die, according to Stateline. Article
> A looming government shutdown could threaten funding to the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Health Research and Quality and other federal agencies, reported Kaiser Health News. Article
Provider News
> Although the quality of healthcare in United States is improving, it still falls behind countries of comparable wealth in several key measures, according to an insight brief by the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker, an online information hub dedicated to monitoring and assessing the performance of the U.S. health system. Article
Healthcare IT News
> At University of Michigan Health System, finding ways to save costs is part of the job, and a new multi-year effort is under way to help the organization achieve financial goals. "CIOs need to understand the technical debt of a large application portfolio and the total cost of ownership for systems," UMHS CIO Sue Schade writes in her most recent blog post. "They need to find ways to reduce the cost of commodity services, and to create capacity for new work." Article
And Finally... Head of microbiome startup has not showered in 12 years. Article