News From Around the Web
> Michigan health insurers that offer policies to small business proposed new premium rates this week, according to Crain's Detroit Business. Blue Cross Blue Shield said it lowered renewal rates for small business consumers by an average of 3.3 percent, while Blue Care Network said customers will experience rate increases of less than 1 percent. Article
> California Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Commerce) introduced a bill that would make California the first state to allow undocumented immigrants to receive Medicaid from the state's Medi-Cal program, reported the National Journal. If passed, the bill would provide some 400,000 undocumented immigrants with health insurance. Article
> Cigna recently teamed up three North Texas medical groups--Catalyst Health Network, Dallas Methodist Physicians Network and Genesis Accountable Physician Network--to bring the total number of collaborative care initiatives in the region to nine.The new arrangements, which are a part of Cigna Collaborative Care, became effective April 1. Announcement
Health IT News
> Most information blocking in healthcare is "beyond the current reach" of federal agencies to detect, investigate and address, according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's report to Congress published Friday. Article
> Duplicate medication alerts do not often lead to prescription modifications, but do lead to other actions, according to research published online this week in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. To that end, changes to alerts should be considered, the study's authors say. Article
And finally … Apparently, stealing dog poop is a crime. Article