The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, will invest $600 million across 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers to bolster production. COVIDTests.org will reopen, and together these actions will facilitate the delivery of free COVID-19 tests to U.S. households, HHS said.

The Biden administration’s proposal to limit the duration of short-term health  plans to three months would likely increase the uninsured rate, according to Mackenzie Wallace, a partner in Thompson Coburn’s Dallas office. “Limiting the length of coverage could increase the uninsured population,” Wallace said of the proposed three-month limit.

Osama El-Hassan from the Dubai Health Authority said the only way to achieve sustainability in digital health is to build up the workforce. Companies like Zimam wish to upskill workers and build a community around health information management.  

Salt Lake City-based Select Health and its pharmacy benefits manager Scripius will be one of the first health plans in the U.S. to provide member access to Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, meaning members will have direct access to the prescription drug service.

As more patients receive hospital care at home using digital health devices, Kevin Littlefield, principal for cybersecurity at MITRE, talks about the existing and upcoming guidance on how hospitals can apply privacy and security mitigations within their various implementations.

The lack of commercial coverage for digitally enabled care is a roadblock to affordable access to these medical services, according to the American Medical Association. The model of integrating digitally enabled care with in-person care is not yet realized, according to AMA president Dr. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld.

Almost everyone 65 and older has received marketing related to Medicare, but some have reported experiences with Medicare marketing that violate federal rules, including marketers asking for Social Security or Medicare numbers outside the enrollment process and advertising special, time-limited discounts – which are not permitted. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration held a Non-prescription Drug Advisory Committee meeting last week to discuss the effectiveness of oral phenylephrine as an active ingredient in over-the-counter cough and cold products that are indicated for the temporary relief of congestion, both as a single-ingredient product and in combination with other ingredients.

Two commercial health plans achieved a 5-star rating – doubling the amount from 2022 – according to the new 2023 H