News From Around the Web
> HealthCare.gov has trouble recognizing new babies, according to the Associated Press: it reports that the ability to update a plan due to a newborn baby, divorce, changed income, a death in the family or a move to a different country is a feature that will be "available later." "We are currently working with insurers to find ways to make changing coverage easier while we develop an automated way for consumers to update their coverage directly," administration spokesman Aaron Albright told the AP. Article
> Danbury, Conn.-based health data analysis firm IMS Health is filing for a potential billion-dollar offering, reports Nasdaq. IMS was the largest of six health care-based companies that submitted their first public IPO filings last week, all for $100 million or less, but IMS Health is "very likely to raise more than $500 million and possibly as much as $1 billion," according to Nasdaq. Article
Provider News
> National health spending growth remains low for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary. Overall, health spending grew at an annual rate of 3.7 percent in 2012 to $2.8 trillion--in part due to slower growth in prescription drug, nursing home, private health insurance and Medicare expenditures. Article
> Until now the healthcare industry only heard anectodal success stories from early adopters of communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs)--models that encourage liability insurers and healthcare systems to disclose unanticipated outcomes to patients and work toward mutual solutions. But a new study published in Health Affairs identifies three factors that contribute to the success of CRPs. Article
Mobile Healthcare News
> Instagram may be a popular medium for consumers to share photos with friends and family, but an app for mobile devices is now enabling physicians to share medical images in a very similar way. The app, called Figure 1, allows doctors to share interesting photos of medical conditions and in the process is building a valuable crowdsourced image library for healthcare professionals. Article
And Finally... Pastafarians unite! Article