News From Around the Web
> An appeals court judge has thrown out a suit brought by several psychiatrists and psychiatric groups that accused four Anthem-affiliated health insurers of reimbursing mental health and substance abuse treatments at a lower rate than other healthcare services, Business Insurance reports. Article
> The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, New York, has sued the state's Department of Financial Services, claiming it lacks legislative authority to require workplace health plans to cover employee abortions, according to the Associated Press. Article
> Massachusetts' largest nonprofit health insurance companies--Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan and Fallon Health--all started 2016 with financial losses, tied mainly to rising prescription drug costs, higher use of medical services and the Affordable Care Act, the Boston Globe reports. Article
Healthcare News
> Senate negotiators have reached an agreement on a spending package to fund efforts to fight the Zika virus to the tune of $1.1 billion--nearly $1 billion less than President Barack Obama requested, according to the Associated Press. Article
Health IT News
> Information sharing for clinical research must comprise more than raw data dumps, according to researchers who advocate for the funding and development of platforms to "standardize, clean and curate data into usable formats." Article
And Finally… Large bills only, please. Article