Health Headlines for Tuesday, April 19
Panel Would Make Insurers Help Contain Rising Drug Costs
New York Times
An influential federal advisory panel is calling for Congress to force private insurers to rein in rapid increases in prescription drug costs — by cutting some Medicare payments to insurance companies while shielding older Americans from higher out-of-pocket expenses.
Xerox pays $123 million settlement to part ways with California
Modern Healthcare
The state of California and Xerox Corp. have reached a $123 million settlement to end their contract to replace the state’s Medicaid claims processing system. The California Department of Health Care Services will walk away from the nearly decade-long effort and start over with a new approach.
Zika Virus Campaign Planned by New York City
New York Times
New York City announced plans on Monday to combat the spread of Zika virus, a largely mosquito-borne disease that has spread rapidly in the Western Hemisphere and raised concern that it may cause birth defects in infants if their mothers are infected during pregnancy.
Debt-laden Valeant faces tough choices in asset sales
Reuters
As Valeant Pharmaceuticals considers a multibillion-dollar auction to pare down $30 billion in debt, its challenge will be choosing which assets to sell without compromising any of its key businesses, analysts and investment bankers said.
NYC monitoring of some mentally ill sparks rights concerns
Washington Post
When a homeless man was taken for a psychiatric evaluation because he argued with shelter police, doctors found no reason to commit him. Then City Hall stepped in.
Kaleida reports $23 million in surplus for 2015
Buffalo Business First
For the second consecutive year, Kaleida Health is reporting gains on its operations, ending 2015 with a surplus of $23.2 million on revenue of nearly $1.4 billion.
Albany health care partnership seeks IT vendors
Albany Business Review
The Albany health care partnership that includes the largest health care system in the region is seeking information technology vendors.
Northwell Health Announces 3D Bioprinting as Winner of Medical Innovation Contest
North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System
With nearly half million votes cast, researchers involved in ground-breaking innovation receive $100,000 to advance commercialization efforts.
Switching to newest HPV vaccine can save billions in health care costs, study says
Stat News
By switching to the latest version of the Gardasil vaccine, which can thwart a virus that leads to cervical cancer, the nation’s health care bill could drop by an estimated $27 billion over the next 35 years, according to a new study published on Monday.