January 9, 2025 | Volume XVI | Issue 2

The Importance of Identifying Duplicate & Overlayed Patient Records

Physician's Weekly reports:


Unfortunately, medical records are not always accurate, and errors like patient misidentification or identity duplication occur. CEO and co-founder of healthcare software solutions company 4medica, Oleg Bess, MD, notes how jarring it can be to encounter an electronic health record (EHR) that suddenly appears cloned or fused with someone else’s profile.


According to Dr. Bess, problems like poor data management, insufficient data maintenance, inadequately run patient registration processes, and deficient EHRs all lead to low-quality patient data, which pervades the US healthcare system. Dr. Bess points out that most laboratories still rely on paper requisitions and manually entering patient demographics. This creates a situation...

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What are pharmacy benefit managers?

James B. Rebitzer


Wegovy and Ozempic are weight loss drugs that promise to transform the treatment of obesity, heart disease and other chronic conditions that afflict millions of Americans. But while everyone agrees these drugs have the potential to transform lives, no one can agree on how best to pay for them.


Wegovy sells for a list price – or price before discounts – of $1,349 per month in the U.S. The same drug lists for $265 in Canada and less than half of that in the U.K. These dramatic differences illustrate a larger issue: The list price of patented drugs in the U.S. are far higher than in other rich countries.


U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke for many Americans when he said the high cost of drugs in America was “not just an issue of economics” but rather “a profound moral issue.”


Moral outrage leads to a search for villains. Joe Kernan, host of CNBC’s business show “Squawk Box,” cut to the chase when he asked: “Who is screwing us here? The PBMs? The drugmakers?”

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Florida Blue sues federal health agencies over star rating system

Jim Saunders reports via News Service of Florida / WUSF:


The insurer Florida Blue has filed a lawsuit against federal health agencies, arguing that key quality ratings didn’t properly take into account disruptions caused by major flooding in 2023 in Broward County.


Florida Blue, formally named Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida, filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. district court in Washington, D.C.

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Plastic surgery trend lets people change their eye color hits South Florida. But is it safe?

CBS Miami


South Florida is known as a destination for people seeking plastic surgery but now there's a new one in town one that permanently changes your eye color. CBS News Miami's Morgan Rynor went inside the operating room to see how the procedure works.

Watch the video HERE.

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