News From Around the Web
> On March 21-22, the Federal Trade Commission will host a public workshop titled "Examining Health Care Competition." The workshop will cover five primary themes: professional regulation of providers; innovations in care delivery, including retail clinics and telemedicine; advances in healthcare technology that may have competitive implications, including new developments in electronic health records; measuring and assessing of the quality of care; and price transparency of care services. Announcement
> The CommonWell Health Alliance announced on Monday at HIMSS14 in Orlando, Fla., that CVS Caremark will join as a "contributing member." In a statement, CVS Caremark Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan said that CommonWell will be "well-positioned to help deliver real-time pharmacy-based information to physician practices" that will help to coordinate care. According to the announcement, CVS Caremark will work with RelayHealth "to embed [real-time] services natively into its pharmacy system." Announcement
Health Provider News
> Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano announced it will not accept the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award this April in the wake of accusations a hospital neurosurgeon botched multiple surgeries after drinking or doing drugs. The 160-bed facility is the first accepted honoree to ever decline the award, one of the country's most prestigious honors for innovation, leadership and high-quality performance. Article
> Although practices handled the relatively low volume of newly insured health exchange patients smoothly at first, some offices struggle to keep up with verifying new enrollees' coverage. Article
Health Finance News
> The former owner of a Los Angeles-area hospital will plead guilty to federal charges that he bribed a state senator as part of a wide-ranging kickback scheme to get spinal surgery cases referred to his facility. Altogether, the fraudulent charges connected to the scheme may top $500 million. Article
And Finally... I love baseball, but this is a bit much. Article