GOVERNMENT & HEALTHCARE
• Warren Announces $20 Trillion Medicare For All Proposal
• Why Medicare For All Could Both Raise Taxes & Lower Costs
• Telehealth Laws, Especially for Behavioral Health, Are Increasing Access
• New ObamaCare Enrollment Period Faces Trump Headwinds
• Trump Picks MD Anderson Cancer Specialist to Run FDA

DIGITAL HEALTH
• Facebook Will Now Remind You to Get Flu Shots & Medical Checkups
• Google Acquires Wearable Giant Fitbit
• Amazon Buys Healthcare Startup to Power Primary Care Program

OTHER HEALTH NEWS
• Impact of California's Power Outages
• Employers Pay Staffers' Expenses to Travel to Select Hospitals & Docs, In Bid to Control Costs
• The Drones Are Coming - to Deliver Your Prescriptions
• Bose is Latest Tech Co to Expand into Healthcare
• Health Systems Need to Embrace AI, Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud & Sensor Tech: EY

Covered California for Small Business (CCSB) has unveiled the health plan choices and rates for small-business employers and their employees for the 2020 plan year. The statewide weighted average rate change will be 4.1%, which represents the lowest annual increase in the program's six-year history and is significantly lower than national projected increases for larger employers. CCSB has experienced double-digit growth in membership for five consecutive years, with more than 55,000 members to date. (Kathy Keeshen, JD)

Elemeno Health has partnered with Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ, to implement a web-based micro-learning solution to provide frontline staff with tools and resources to assist in the delivery of best practices. With Elemeno, complicated practices are simplified into interactive guidelines, smart checklists and concise how-to videos, accessible on any device, 24/7. Social elements included in the software are designed to engage and motivate team members, while measuring both quantitative and qualitative feedback. (Arup Roy-Burman, MD)

Celebrating its 130-year anniversary, Felton Institute is the oldest nonsectarian, nonprofit charitable social-services provider in the City and County of San Francisco, with more than 50 social work programs. Felton CEO Al Gilbert discussed Felton's legacy on a recent episode of KBLX Cares Podcast. (Al Gilbert)

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)

Covered California has rated Kaiser Permanente (KP) with its only 5-star ranking, for overall quality in its health plans offered by CoveredCA during the 2019 open enrollment period. And, KP Medicare health plans in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, the Mid-Atlantic states, and Washington received 5 out of 5 stars in CMS's 2020 Star Quality Ratings. Plus, KP has been recognized as among the "Best Insurance Companies for Medicare Advantage" in all geographic areas it serves, according to U.S. News & World Report's annual study. (Walt Meyers)

On November 7 and Nov. 20, King & Spalding (K&S) will present a two-part webinar - Recalculating: Are the Major Stark, Anti-Kickback and CMP Proposed Rule Changes Taking Us in a New Direction? CMS and OIG recently proposed the most significant changes to the Stark Law rules, the Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbors and the Beneficiary Inducements CMP regulations that the agencies have offered in recent years. The proposed rules address value-based arrangements, introduce major changes to other key Stark Law concepts and definitions, address the donation of cybersecurity technology and services, and create flexibility to provide patient incentives in value-based arrangements and with respect to telehealth. Read K&S's Client Alert highlighting the key proposals.

Meanwhile, K&S earned top practice and lawyer rankings in Benchmark Litigation's recently published guides to the top litigation firms in the U.S. and Europe. And, K&S places among the top three "Powerhouse" firms for complex commercial litigation in BTI Consulting Group's annual Litigation Outlook 2020 report. BTI also named K&S an "Awesome Opponent" for being among the 10 most feared law firms in litigation, according to its surveys of corporate counsel. (Marcia Augsburger, JD & Travis Jackson, JD)

Since 1963, KMD Architects has developed a design philosophy responsive to changes in the delivery of care for behavioral health services - and has recently published online the firm's design evolution story. (Rob Matthew)

Mazzetti has made its recent webinar - Lighting Design for Behavioral Health Environment, presented with The Center for Health Design - available to watch on-demand at the above link. (Walt Vernon)

Dave Haddick, CEO of PSYCHeANALYTICS, has announced that Alan Lorenz, MD, has joined his company's Board of Advisors. Dave says that Dr. Lorenz, with his depth of experience in behavioral healthcare, has decided to work with PSYCHeANALYTICS "to see that every patient receives Whole Person Care. He proves that nothing happens quickly in healthcare: he co-founded the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association in 1993, "To Make Integrated Care the Standard of Care for All. Still working on it!" (Dave Haddick)

Anthem Blue Cross will give consumers in many of its 2020 Medicare Advantage plans access to the Medicare Community Resource Support (MCRS) program, which will identify community-based resources for members and help them better understand and utilize their health plan benefits. MCRS outreach specialists a deep understanding of the role social determinants play in overall wellness, and up-to-date knowledge on the resources available to members in the area. They also have access to a member's claims history with Anthem to ensure that recommended services align with each member's individual needs. Meanwhile, Octave, which provides in-person and virtual therapy services, recently was designated an in-network ABC provider. (David Pryor, MD)

Blue Shield of California, in collaboration with OODA Health and Dignity Health, has launched a pilot program in the Sacramento area aimed at creating a better, faster - and more real-time - medical claims payment system. During the 12-month pilot, members and physicians will use a new, fully digital payment system that eliminates paperwork for members and reduces the time-consuming collections process for physicians. Blue Shield aims to achieve real-time claims for all members statewide by 2023. (Greg Buchert, MD)

Brad Schmidt, CEO of Inglewood Imaging Center (IIC), recently shared IIC's "remarkable" cash rate sheet. "Since IIC is a vital servant to Southern California's healthcare community, our goal with the cash rates was to deliver radiology care to patients and physicians that is comprehensive, transparent, priced for accessibility, and rooted in quality criteria established by major health plans," Brad said. "IIC has a goal to make our cash rates comprehensive, with no extra facility fees, parking fees, radiology reading fees, CD publishing fees, report printing fees, etc." (Brad Schmidt)

A new book, The Art of Healthcare Innovation: Interviews and Industry Insights from 35 Game-Changing Pioneers, was recently released on Amazon, and an entire chapter is devoted to Karen by Care3 and its groundbreaking innovations, and features company CEO David Williams. (David Williams)

In a recent blog post, LigoLab provides a case study of a successful deployment of its comprehensive Laboratory Information System and Revenue Cycle Management platform, with Reditus Laboratories and PAL Health Technologies II: Take back control of your practice with the LigoLab sub-licensing arrangement. And, The Genesis of LigoLab details the company's background - what started as a shared vision between two enterprising friends and has become the definitive choice for modern laboratories nationwide. (Suren Avunjian)

On November 14, Friends of CLARE|Matrix will honor writer, attorney, and advocate Harry Nelson, of Nelson Hardiman (NH), with the Spirit Award at its 22nd Annual Tribute Dinner. CLARE|Matrix is a leading nonprofit dedicated to recovery from substance abuse. Meanwhile, NH has published Legal Changes in California Behavioral Health and Addiction Treatment Industries: Key Takeaway. (Harry Nelson, JD)

Tom Mone, CEO of OneLegacy, said in a recent press release: A highly-inaccurate and tragically sensationalized article in a recent edition of the Los Angeles Times is likely to lead to deaths and suffering while causing severe damage to the donation and transplantation community. "The erroneous portrayal of the intent and process of donation and transplantation threatens to add to the 20 people who die each day in the U.S. while waiting for an organ transplant by creating unsubstantiated mistrust in the system that has been carefully developed over many years," said Tom. "Sadly, readers have already fallen prey to these misrepresentations and have chosen to remove their donor registrations, meaning harm has already been done to those needing life-saving and healing transplants." Read the entire press release here. (Tom Mone)

Joyce Tang, CEO of AgilisIT, continues her podcast series - Beating Goliath: The Blood, Sweat and Tears of Healthcare Startups, in which she interviews company founders and executives to find out how they are "punching above their weight and winning," plus provides insider tips from angel investors and venture capitalists. Joyce recently spoke with Reachify CEO Zeel Jadia; Family Proud CEO Jaden Risner; WellBrain CEO Sumeet Maniar; and Elemeno Health founder Dr. Arup Roy-Burman. (Joyce Tang)

On December 4, Alvaka Networks will present an Executive Luncheon event - Artificial Intelligence & Its Impact on the Workforce, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., featuring Joe Rogers, CEO of WorkDone.AI, who will discuss how his company's AI-enabled Work Heuristics platform deploys from a process operations center, performing monitoring, automation, and orchestration to provide "hands-free" digital automation. (Oli Thordarson & Joe Rogers, ABL Tech Member)

Cigna's health engagement incentive programs improve health outcomes and lower total medical costs an average of 10%, based on the results of a three-year study of 210,000+ customers enrolled in 28 employer-sponsored plans. And for customers living with two or more chronic conditions, like heart disease and diabetes, the total medical cost savings were an average of 13%. The analysis compared employers who offered Cigna health engagement with MotivateMe incentives versus health engagement programs without incentives. All whole-person health engagement programs leveraged the Life Connected approach and included biometric screening and health coaching. (Chris De Rosa)

In Why Coordination of Benefits is Crucial, SAVI Group emphasizes that determining which insurance plan has the primary responsibility of payment when an individual is covered by multiple plans is vital. Medical practice need to check each patient's coverage to find out who is responsible for each part of the bill when it's issued. Health insurance providers have well-defined coordination of benefits provisions in their policies and collaborate to find ways for each insurer to pay its fair share. Coordination of benefits involving both insurers makes it easier to avoid duplication of the benefits while still providing the coverage the insured is entitled to. (Sumit Mahendru)

Bayer has signed collaboration agreements with 11 digital health startups, which it will support in an aim for longer-term collaborations to drive forward the development of specific digital solutions to improve patients' health in the fields of cardiovascular diseases, oncology, ophthalmology, pulmonology, radiology, and digital therapeutics. Also, Bayer recently launched LifeHub UK to accelerate and optimize disease detection and data-driven drug discovery by developing artificial-intelligence-enabled imaging solutions. The new hub is the seventh pillar of Bayer's global network of LifeHubs [including one in California] designed to accelerate the co-exploration and development of pioneering solutions to solve global challenges in health and nutrition. (Dirk Schapeler)

The Mountain View Voice published an article recently about how El Camino Hospital physicians are taking a new approach to stubborn brain tumors that keep coming back, debuting a surgical treatment that plants a radioactive device directly into the patient's brain. The treatment, called GammaTile Therapy, involves removing a malignant tumor and implants radioactive material in its place to finish off any residual cancer cells that, if left alone, could bring the tumor right back. The small implant is just 2 centimeters in size, and is outfitted with a low-energy isotope that decays in about a month. (Cecile Currier)

Elevate Addiction Services recently won second place in Conquer Addiction, Inc.'s 2019 "Excellence in Treatment" Awards ceremony, which were given to four addiction treatment centers with very high post-treatment abstinence success rates. Elevate believes the key to its success is how they've incorporated Fitness, Mindfulness, Spirituality, Conscious Recovery, Mindfulness-Based Recovery Groups, Nutrition, Rock to Recovery, and its copyrighted Educational Curriculum. (Dan Manson)

Steve Grau, CEO of Royal Ambulance, recently received the first-ever Harvey Hall Award of Excellence at the California Ambulance Association annual convention. "Mr. Hall's resolute and focused approach to leading our industry to rise above challenges and unite in purpose has inspired me to be involved and committed for the last decade," Steve said. "Knowing how he brought excellence to everything that he's done in politics, philanthropy and the ambulance industry, sets an incredibly high bar for me, which I aspire to reach one day." Steve shared this video about Harvey Hall's life and work. (Steve Grau)

John Tanner, CEO of Tanner Research, recently commemorated the 10th anniversary of his cardiac arrest with a thank you letter that details the events of that day and the changes he has made since, giving credit to all those who have helped save his life (read the letter here). John shares that while his "day job" is running Tanner Research, he now also runs a non-profit organization called NuSci, the Nutrition Science Foundation, through which he has delivered 100+ workshops focused on disease prevention and reversal through nutrition; operates a food prep company, Little Green Forks, which has so far served 50,000+ super healthy meals; and recently launched Tanner Care Health and Wellness Center to provide yearlong programs of education and coaching to help people overcome their obstacles to lifestyle change and health. (John Tanner, Ph.D., Monrovia Technology)