News From Around the Web
> After a week into the Vermont Legislature's 2016 session, lawmakers in the state are still waiting for the Green Mountain Care Board to draft a deal with the federal government to overhaul the state's healthcare business into an all-payer model, reports VT Digger. Article
> Covered California is reminding consumers that time is running out to avoid the increased tax penalty for those who do not have health insurance in 2016. Announcement
> Per-capita prescription drug spending in the United States increased by 12.2 percent in 2014. Because of this, presidential candidates have capitalized on public pressure by issuing policy proposals aimed at containing drug prices, but Congress has actually paid little attention to and spent scant time on this issue in recent years, according to a Health Affairs blog post. Post
Health IT News
> Physicians with access to a health information exchanges order fewer repeat imaging tests, which leads to moderate savings, research has found. The study found that while less-expensive procedures were more likely to be skipped the second time around, the biggest savings came from more expensive procedures. Article
Health Finance News
> Fifty-five hospitals have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services in response to Medicare payment reductions under the "two-midnight" rule in which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed an 0.2 reimbursement cut for Medicare payments to offset the increased revenue. Article
And finally… Who doesn't sing in the car? Article