News From Around the Web
> UnitedHealth Group will now offer new critical-illness protection plans to employers and their employees, which will provide a cash benefit to help pay out-of-pocket costs following the diagnosis of major illnesses such as cancer, stroke or heart attack. Announcement
> In Austin, Texas, a city known for its thriving music scene, many musicians still struggle to make ends meet--and pay for health insurance. So one nonprofit has stepped in to help them pay premiums and to coordinate low-cost healthcare, NPR reports. Article
> Data from the National Health Interview Survey show that the uninsured rate of non-elderly veterans declined from nearly 12 percent in 2013 to 8.6 percent in 2014, evidence that the Affordable Cart Act's provisions may be driving coverage gains among this population, according to the Urban Institute. Post
Health IT News
> The White House has released a set of privacy principles to govern the Precision Medicine Initiative. The administration worked with experts from inside and outside government who crafted the principles after analyzing bioethics literature and privacy policies for large biobanks and research cohorts, as well as took into account more than 100 comments on their draft suggestions. Article
Practice Management News
> One of the many ways retail health clinics are gaining marketshare is through telemedicine--and family physicians must adopt the technology in order to remain competitive, according to a speaker at the American Academy of Family Physicians' recent State Legislative Conference. Article
And finally… The force is strong in this one. Article