Payers

Where’s the HIMSS coverage? And how will history remember Aetna, Anthem and Cigna? (Morning Read)

TOP STORIES Did you expect a Morning Read full of HIMSS coverage? Well, the conference […]

TOP STORIES

Did you expect a Morning Read full of HIMSS coverage? Well, the conference is so large MedCity News is dedicating a separate e-newsletter to all of our coverage. You’ll also see a Morning Read-style wrap up of HIMSS-only news published Monday through Thursday (it will appear on the site about an hour after The Morning Read).

How will history remember Aetna, Anthem and Cigna? They are resisting the “Angelina Effect” and refusing to pay for multi-gene panel tests. This one’s a coin flip: demand better data or be slow to use genetics to help save lives.

Is this the classy way of saying watch out for a healthcare bubble?

LIFE SCIENCE

TVM Capital is managing a $50 million Chinese investment fund, which will target Western drugmakers with the goal of obtaining licenses for development and commercialization in China.

UBS: Biotech will outperform again this year because the earnings per share growth rate is robust, valuations are still great, and the product pipeline is primed for breakthroughs this year.

Cancer Research Technology and Medivir will conduct a two-year research project to develop small molecules targeting the cell surface protein ADAM8, which has been linked to tumor survival, cell invasion and metastasis.

The Wall Street Journal asks: Can NewLink Genetics if it wants people to live in Iowa? Profound.

Eisai’s Integrated Human Genomics Research Unit will collaborate with genome analytics Genomics to speed up drug development.

Affymetrix and EverGene will collaborate on personal genomic service in Japan.

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

What’s the lesson of the poor performance of Partners in Health when battling Ebola?

Legendary Johns Hopkins cardiac surgeon Levi Watkins has died.

The biggest complaint against emergency room physicians? “Diagnostic-related issues, such as failure to  establish a differential diagnosis or failure to consider available  clinical information.”

Is the annual spinal CT scan for potential lung cancer victim a waste of time?

Anthem board member John Short has died.

TECH

Half of health IT decisionmakers are vulnerable to threats. But here’s my favorite finding:

The survey results indicate that data protection in healthcare organizations is driven largely by compliance requirements – 54 percent reported compliance requirements as the top reason for protecting sensitive data, and 68 percent rated compliance as very or extremely effective at stopping insider threats and data breaches. Unfortunately, compliance standards evolve slowly, often with years between revisions.

How could the ONC’s Report on Health Information Blocking have been better? Name names.

POLITICS

All is quiet on the Obamacare taxation front.

A LITTLE EXTRA

Get an early breakdown of the Hillary Clinton presidential run.

The Morning Read provides a 24-hour wrap up of everything else healthcare’s innovators need to know about the business of medicine (and beyond). The author of The Read published it but all full-time MedCity News journalists contribute to its content.

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