News From Around the Web
> New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) will unveil Direct Access, a plan to improve healthcare access to some of the city's low-income uninsured immigrant population, reports the Wall Street Journal. The program is not an insurance program, but instead mimics more of a universal healthcare program. Article
> The nation's largest for-profit insurer, UnitedHealth, will make Medicare Advantage plans available to Western Pennsylvania seniors for the first time this fall. Two plans listed as of now are HMO-style plans, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Article
> While more hospitals are expected to enter into the commercial health insurance business, starting a new plan may involve significant credit risks as competition through the industry increases, according to Moody's Investors Service. Announcement
Practice Management News
> Citing frustrations with third-party payers and inadequate time to spend with patients, nearly half (46 percent) of primary care physicians who participated in a recent survey said they would consider transitioning to direct pay, concierge or other membership models in the next three years. Article
> Most physician leaders--92 percent--back the importance of reducing unnecessary care that is not evidence-based, according to a survey conducted by the American Association for Physician Leadership and the Navigant Center for Healthcare Research and Policy Analysis. Article
And finally … If you want to know what guests on the Titanic ate for lunch, it will cost you. Article