Policy

WalletHub ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia on 44 measures of cost, access and outcomes.

Structural financial incentives explain why value-based care has stalled — even as new data and payer-provider strategies show where the model is already working.

Medicare is requesting information, including physician commentary, on primary care and MAHA.

The top news stories in medicine this week.

Physicians drive savings, but AI could reward the intermediaries controlling ACOs.

The 13-10 vote sends Trump's third CDC pick to the full Senate, where a confirmation vote may not come until September.

Clinics and physician practices accounted for almost 30% of health care Chapter 11 filings in the first half of 2026, the one subsector climbing while the rest trended flat or down, according to a new Gibbins Advisors report.

2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule at heart of Primary Care Collaborative discussion

The OIG's own data suggest a narrower fix than the one CMS proposed

Medicare rates, prior authorization, telehealth and Medicaid coverage all change between Sept. 14, 2026, and Jan. 1, 2028.

The top news stories in medicine this week.

Health care economist Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., argues that two decades of inflation-eroded Medicare payment, not corporate ownership or management services organizations, is what is pushing independent practices to sell.

A framework published in npj Digital Medicine ranks patient care and staff experience alongside price, and says a health system that cannot score a tool across all five domains may not be ready to buy it.

Health care fraud, new payment models and AI are all in play in evolution of accountable care

RFK Jr. says California and Minnesota have to prove the legitimacy of claims before the money flows.

New survey data shows why real-time support — not personalization or speed — is what actually keeps members loyal to their health plan

A new KFF Health Tracking Poll finds most voters believe Medicare and Medicaid fraud comes from the billing side of care, doctors’ offices and hospital systems, rather than from the patients who receive it.

Perceptions, policies and prices all are factors in the future of direct primary care, advocates say

Access, AI and accountable care are part of now and the future, CMS leaders say.

Health policy veteran and "Zen Lobbyist" author Gary Jacobs argues that the payment system, not the insurers, is behind a second straight year of double-digit ACA premium increases, and that primary care-led risk is the only durable fix.

The top news stories in medicine this week.

Actions this week involve three major health care policy bills

Greater availability of the blockbuster drugs does not mean every older patient should get them.

The draft 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule opens five questions about the AMA's control of CPT codes, from licensing costs to who decides what a code is worth.

Physician lawmakers support primary care, inflation-indexed payments and new POINTS system for quality reporting.