News From Around the Web
> Pennsylvania-based health plan Capital BlueCross, which announced a partnership in July with lab-testing company Theranos, is taking the allegations about the startup company's testing accuracy seriously and will address and resolve issues as necessary to ensure quality of care to its customers, the insurer said in a statement to Central Penn Business Journal. Article
> Though there are no effective treatments to slow down dementia, healthcare costs for these patients were "substantially larger" than those for other diseases such as heart disease or cancer, and many of these expenses were not covered by insurance, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Study abstract
> Ten Illinois organizations will get $5 million in federal funding to participate in Get Covered Illinois' In-Person Counselor Program that will help residents sign up for insurance during the upcoming open enrollment period. Announcement
Health Finance News
> The chief executive officer of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City argues that Medicare's current structure for managing patient readmissions penalizes hospitals that treat the poorest patients. Article
> Maryland has always been an outlier in how it pays hospitals, but state officials recently tried a new approach toward cost-containment, and it appears to be working, according to NPR. Article
And finally… Meet the new gun safety mascot. Article