Primary Care Centers Are Popping Up Near You

• 10/08 - Silicon Valley Round Table
• 10/09 - San Francisco Round Table
• 10/10 - East Bay/Oakland Round Table
• 10/18 - Los Angeles Round Table
• 11/06 - Orange County Round Table


• 12/04 - HOLD THE DATE! Combined Orange County-Los Angeles Session
• 12/11 - HOLD THE DATE! Combined Bay Area Session

HEALTHCARE & GOVERNMENT NEWS
• Medicare Advantage Premiums to Hit Lowest Point in Over a Decade
• How California Can Elevate Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan Quality
• Doctor-Backed Fix for Surprise Medical Bills Would Cost Billions: CBO
• Meanwhile, Consumer Groups Launch Ads Backing Surprise Billing Legislation
• CBS News Investigates Hospital Pricing & Transparency
• Updates on Hospital Readmission Rates and Penalties
• 9 Physicians Charged in $2.1 Billion Healthcare Fraud Scheme
• FDA Clarifies How it Will Regulate Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence
• Drugmakers, Worried About Losing Pricing Power, Are Lobbying Hard


RETAIL, TECHNOLOGY & HEALTHCARE
• Walmart Unveils Plan to Build Healthcare Workforce
• Meanwhile, Sam's Club Testing Healthcare Service Bundles for Members
• Amazon Launches Amazon Care, a Virtual Medical Clinic for Employees
• Best Buy CEO Looks to Healthcare as Retailer's "Next Big Thing"
• Android Users Now Able to Stream Audio Content Via Connected Hearing Aids


ADDICTION & OPIOID NEWS
• NIH Awards ~$1 Billion in Research Grants to Battle Addiction, Chronic Pain
• Novel Plan Aims to Settle Addiction Lawsuits
• Johnson & Johnson Appeals Oklahoma's $572 Million Opioid Ruling

Anthem Blue Cross has announced enhancements to its wellness services offered in many of the company's 2020 Medicare Advantage plans, including giving its members access to wellness services such as nutritional support, in-home support, respite care, and household pest control. Eligible members will have access to this package of wellness benefits, at no extra cost. (David Pryor, MD)

Blue Shield of California has launched a 12-month pilot program in Southern California and Sacramento, which provides free Lyft rides to eligible patients for primary care appointments, X-ray, lab, and pharmacy visits. In SoCal, the program will evaluate usage by members in Medi-Cal plans, while in Sacramento, it's for eligible members in commercial plans. (Read Article: Sacramento Bee, 9/20/19) (Greg Buchert, MD)

CareAcademy has made recordings of its recent webinars available on-demand on its website. Titles include: HCAOA + CareAcademy Webinar Series: How Top Agencies Reduce Caregiver Turnover (with written key takeaways from the webinar published here); and Agency Growth Secrets: Differentiating Factors of Top Home Care Agencies (with written key takeaways from that webinar available here). (Helen Adeosun)

Inglewood Imaging Center (IIC) recently acquired ICM Medical Group's radiology business unit, expanding IIC into a full-service radiology provider that includes mammography, MRI, CT, PET/CT, x-ray, DEXA, and ultrasound imaging. Meanwhile, IIC announced that it will soon be "modernizing the Western USA's diagnostic imaging landscape" with the following enhancements: a facility renovation; digital iPad check-in, in which q-code will link patient exams to IIC's EMR software to support accuracy; modernized mammography internal EMR software; added artificial intelligence for breast ultrasound exams; expanded facility hours; and lowered cash prices, including $45 x-rays. (Brad Schmidt)

On October 17, Harry Nelson, of Nelson Hardiman, will speak about Defending White Collar Health Care Fraud Cases at the 16th Annual Healthcare Law Compliance Symposium, in Los Angeles. And, on October 31, Harry will speak at the Western States Opioid Summit, in Newport Beach. Meanwhile, Harry was recently interviewed on Spectrum News 1, discussing Purdue Pharma's recent filing for bankruptcy protection as part of their settlement in the many opioid lawsuits against Big Pharma. Harry also comments on the future of healthcare in the U.S. as the 2020 elections draws closer. (Harry Nelson, JD)

Recent blog posts from Axene Health Partners - available here - include: "Closing the Loop on Value Based Reimbursement and Incentive Programs;" "The Cost of Consolidation;" "How is Your DOFR (Division of Financial Responsibility) Doing?;" "Developing Financial Projections for Start-Up Health Plans;" and "Defining a Bundled Payment Rate for Bone Marrow Transplants." (John Price)

Carl Zeiss Meditec recently presented several new technologies advancing the digitalization of eye care and high-resolution imaging, including EQ Workplace, the latest addition to the ZEISS Cataract Suite offering surgeons a digital solution to connect and streamline the refractive cataract workflow. Also, ZEISS has expanded its CIRRUS Optical Coherence Tomography portfolio with the launch of its new CIRRUS 6000, the next-generation, ultra-fast 100kHz system whose scans are 270% faster than prior CIRRUS generations. And, ZEISS unveiled its premium slit lamp SL 800, which allows for outstanding visualization with extremely high contrast and resolution. Further, the company announced achievement of the CE mark for ARTEVO 800, the first digital microscope in ophthalmic surgery, and for miLOOP, a micro-interventional device designed to deliver zero-energy endocapsular lens fragmentation. (Angelo Rago)

On November 7-9, Health Coach Institute will present HCI Live: The Must-Attend Event for Coaches & Health Practitioners, in Dallas, TX. Speakers will include Eric Neuner, CEO of HCI, and topics will cover the hottest trends in the health coaching industry; emerging, lucrative coaching opportunities; and what HCI is doing to support and advocate for coaches. (Eric Neuner)

In the NCQA's annual report which rates 1,000+ health plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, and private (commercial plans), five Kaiser Permanente (KP) plans received a 5.0 rating - the highest possible. Only 11 plans nationwide achieved this rating. This was the fifth consecutive year that KP has more 5.0 plans than any healthcare system in the nation. And for the second year in a row, KP has the highest rated commercial and Medicare plan (or is tied for the highest) in every geographic region it serves. Meanwhile, for the ninth consecutive year, the National Business Group on Health has honored KP for having one of the best workforce health and well-being programs in the nation. (Walt Meyers)

On October 16, from 10-11 a.m. Pacific, King & Spalding (K&S) will present a free webinar - Surprise Billing Laws – which will discuss: the prevalence, causes and concerns of surprise medical bills; states that have passed legislation aimed at addressing them; a comparison of the approaches and applications of state laws; limitations on the jurisdiction of state laws and the potential effects of federal legislation; and the current status of federal surprise medical bills legislation, what it might look like, and the odds of its successful passage. Meanwhile, in this video, watch K&S partners discuss healthcare fraud and abuse, a top priority for the Department of Justice. Also, read the latest issues of K&S Health Headlines newsletter. And, the 12th Annual King & Spalding Pharmaceutical University will take place on November 12, in Philadephia. (Marcia Augsburger, JD, & Travis Jackson, JD)

The California Health Care Foundation recently featured Oakland's Trust Health Center, a federally qualified health center operated by LifeLong Medical Care, in an article entitled, Trust Our Patients So They Can Trust Us. The Center serves adult residents of Alameda County who have no home or are at risk of losing their home. LifeLong provides primary care services, mental healthcare, and social services support. 50% to 60% of the clinic's new patients come through word-of-mouth referral, and the Trust Partners want to visit nearby encampments to educate residents about the clinic's services. In effect, the Partners would serve as community health workers, frontline workers whose experiences help them connect and build trust with the community they serve. (Mike Stacey, MD)

ABC 7 News KGO recently featured an On Lok Lifeways senior center and its "laughter yoga" sessions, a practice created by a doctor in India, focusing on stretching, chanting, clapping, and a good chuckle to encourage playfulness. On Lok's activity therapy specialist has seen a positive change in the seniors since the program started several months ago. It's an activity that can be done in just 20 minutes, no matter the participant's age or what language they speak. Laughter yoga is cardiovascular, provides stress relief, increases happy hormones, and has been linked to pain reduction. (Grace Li)

Monish Laxpati, CEO & Medical Director of Alinea Medical Imaging, shared with us that his company was featured this past Friday, October 4, on an episode of "The Real," an afternoon talk show. Monish and Alinea staff did a quick interview and performed mammograms for a couple of the hosts and an audience member. (Monish Laxpati, MD)

Alvaka Networks has teamed with CloudAccess to provide a unique set of bundled security services to midsize and enterprise customers. Alvaka has made significant investments upgrading and improving core components of their enterprise network management, monitoring, support and security platform. By partnering with CloudAccess's Security Operations Center platform, Alvaka increases security visibility, alerting, and reporting capabilities over separate siloed solutions. Meanwhile, Alvaka will host a live, interactive webinar - Software Security Patching: "Why you are struggling with this essential task?!", on multiple dates in October, November and December. (Oli Thordarson)

Cigna is expanding its individual healthcare exchange offerings to new geographies for 2020, with health plans now available in 19 markets across 10 states. This includes expansion into select counties in Kansas, South Florida and Utah, as well as new counties in Tennessee and Virginia. Meanwhile, Cigna is introducing Embarc Benefit Protection, which brings together the health services, medical management, and specialty pharmacy expertise of Express Scripts, eviCore, Accredo and CuraScript SD to make breakthrough medicines more affordable and ensure access for those who need it. Consumers will have no out-of-pocket payments related to the cost of the medicine and will receive personalized and expert care to assist them through their health journey. Cigna's intention is to include Luxturna, the first FDA-approved prescription gene therapy for people with inherited retinal disease, and Zolgensma, a gene therapy for children under two years old with spinal muscular atrophy, in the Embarc solution. Additional therapies may be added in the future. (Chris De Rosa)

Recent blog posts from SAVI Group, available here, include "A Comprehensive Guide to the Medical Billing Claims Process," which provides a 'simple step-by-step guide that will peel away any anxieties your practice may have;' and "How to Improve Your Medical Billing Process," which discusses avoiding late filings; staying on top of the action; working with professionals; not fearing denials; and tracking patient information accurately. (Sumit Mahendru)

On the evening of October 11, in Huntington Beach, Share Our Selves (SOS) will present its 29th Annual SOS Celebrity Chef Dinner, a fundraising event to benefit the many services SOS provides to meet the basic needs of homeless and low-income residents of Orange County. Take in stunning ocean views while enjoying hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine tastings, live music, silent and live auctions, and a three-course dinner in the ballroom with outstanding chefs pairing up to prepare each course. (Karen McGlinn)

Bayer and Partners HealthCare's founding members Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have launched a joint lab to research new drug candidates to treat chronic lung diseases. The joint lab will host scientists from all three parties and Bayer is investing more than $30 million to fund joint research projects over the next five years. (Dirk Schapeler)

El Camino Health's Mountain View Hospital announced it was the first in the world to perform a commercial case utilizing the minimally invasive peripheral lung biopsy Ion Endoluminal Robotic Bronchoscopy System. El Camino Health conducted its first procedures in September using the new system which was approved for commercial use by the FDA in February 2019. This major medical advancement offers doctors unprecedented stability enabling the precision needed for biopsy far into the peripheral lung and to more easily diagnose lung cancer earlier than ever before. (Cecile Currier & Michelle McGowen)

Recent blog posts, available here, from Elevate Addiction Services include: "Examining Personalized Drug Treatment Programs"; "What Place Does Nutrition Have in Holistic Drug Rehab?"; "It's a Health Issue - Can We Treat Addiction as a Disordered Behavior?"; and "Treating the Whole Person: The Role of Holistic Treatment in Dual Diagnosis Cases". (Dan Manson)

Eckert & Ziegler AG has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Alpha Tau Medical, of Tel Aviv, Israel, for the supply of Thorium-228. The radioisotope is used for the production of Alpha DaRT, an innovative new therapy for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors. Also, Eckert & Ziegler was recently given manufacturing authorization for additional production lines for its Ge-68/Ga-68-generators (GalliaPharm), by the FDA and the local German competent authority. (Frank Yeager, Monrovia Technology)