With Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. pairing off, pressure is mounting on other major health insurers to make their own deals.

The Obama administration announced on Monday that it will give doctors a 12-month transition period related to new medical codes that have drawn criticism from some Republican lawmakers as a needless expansion of bureaucracy.
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Editor’s note: APMA’s ICD-10 Resources will help you prepare for the transition to happen October 1, 2015.

As the larger Aetna AET -6.04% (AET) looks to the future
following its proposed acquisition of Humana HUM +2.87% (HUM), one key area
under consideration would be to bring the management of its large amount of
prescription drugs in house and turn it into a money-maker for the larger
health insurer. 

The case started with a dental assistant who went into surgery for carpal-tunnel syndrome and ended up suffering a perforated esophagus.

When it comes to requiring health care prices to be made public, only five states adequately make the information transparent to consumers.

North Carolina’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross
and Blue Shield, is eligible for nearly $295 million in federal payouts under
the Affordable Care Act even as the company is seeking another rate increase in
the state. 

Only about 10 percent of people who are at risk of
developing Type 2 diabetes know about their condition, which makes it hard to
take proactive measures while there is still time to prevent the full-blown
disease, according to a new study. 

Every year up to 79 percent of runners, whether
hardcore or recreational, suffer an injury, studies suggest. But researchers
are discovering that the real problem isn't running — it's the sloppy form we
use. 

Scientists came to the conclusion after analyzing data on more than 135,000 deaths among more than a million study participants. They calculated the life expectancy reductions associated with a history of cardiometabolic diseases combining diabetes, strokes and heart attacks.
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Editor's note: Studies prove care by a podiatrist helps prevent diabetes complications and saves health care dollars.

I am too old for farm school, but I went anyway. I
came to farm school with a bag of glucose tablets, alcohol wipes, sets for
infusion, needles, insulin and emergency glucagon. I put a huge jug of juice in
the kitchen fridge. My son has Type 1 diabetes. 

It’s finally summer! Before you slip into those new
wedges or holiday flip flops, you may want to do something about those dry,
cracked heels and tired-looking feet that have been hiding away all winter. 

Feet: we walk all over them and expect them to hold up the business. We abuse them with stilettos and steel-toed boots, often embarrassed of their size and odor, the calluses, corns and cracks that attest to them being the hardest working — yet somehow disdained — parts of the human body, each with 26 bones, 33 joints and 107 ligaments, not counting all the muscles and tendons.
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Editor’s note: Studies prove podiatrists prevent amputation and other complications of diabetes. 

Most people with diabetes will develop some degree of
nerve and vascular damage that all too often leads to poor circulation of the
legs and feet, ulcerations, infections and even amputations. 

"You’re only as old as you feel!" goes the popular saying. So who wants to suffer through achy joints, fuzzy thinking, saggy skin or other unpleasant side effects of aging? 

Now that there are same-sex marriages, more men and women will be walking down the aisle in the hottest and sexiest designer shoes and saying "I do" than ever!

In less than one year, we’ve seen a staggering number
of data breaches in health care. Almost 96 million records were stolen in just three high‒profile cases alone — Community Health Systems (4.5 million), Anthem (80
million), and Premera (11 million).

Home health agencies are
dismayed with a CMS proposal issued late Monday that cuts Medicare rates $350
million while also rolling out a new value-based purchasing system called for
under the Affordable Care Act.

Dr. Todd O’Brien likes the idea of patients everywhere
getting consistent quality care, and he loves solving problems. From those two
qualities arise the Lincoln podiatrist’s latest invention. 

In response to the influx of Central American children immigrating to the U.S. over the last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says it has increased the number of doctors available to treat these unaccompanied minors and is on the lookout to protect them from child predators and other dangerous situations once they arrive.

Dr. Richard Jacoby doesn't eat sugar anymore. Instead, he has turned to fat. In fact, he puts butter in his coffee.

Effective midway through this year — July 1, 2015, to
be exact — certain employers that pay the health insurance premiums of their employees will be assessed hefty fines for their generosity. 

Obamacare's victory at the Supreme Court is putting new pressure on Republican presidential candidates to map out a replacement to the health care law — a task that has eluded the party for more than five years.
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Editor's note: Visit APMA's health care reform page for more resources and information on how the ACA affects the profession.

Since the Affordable Care Act’s passage in 2010 there
have been 54 changes to Obamacare, as tracked by Forbes, mainly because of low
enrollment rates and other legislative kinks. 

Nurses Jennifer Meindel and Chad Ditlevson stand in front of monitors in a small room at the Mayo Clinic reading vital signs and occasionally calling up video images of patients lying in beds. All of the 40-some patients cycling across the screens are in intensive care in the Mayo Clinic Health System. But none of them are actually at Mayo.
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Editor’s note: Find your jurisdiction’s laws and regulations and read a policy brief on telemedicine in the APMA State Reference Manual.

Health care spending for children is rising faster than for the under-65 population as a whole, a new study finds.

Even though change is looming, the health care industry
has been slow at adopting new technologies. It could take years for new
paradigms to be accepted and doctors often resist shifts in daily routines.