The CMS on Friday released a final rule that raises Medicare Advantage payments by 3.32% next year, or around $13.8 billion, after proposing an increase of 1.03% earlier this year. The agency also finalized changes to the MA and Part D risk adjustment model, which will move the program from ICD-9 to ICD-10 coding, but the changes will be phased in over three years.

A Chartis Group report found that Medicare Advantage plans added 2.7 million new members for the 2023 coverage year, representing 9.5% growth and bringing total MA enrollment to 30.7 million. Enrollment in fee-for-service Medicare enrollment continues to decline, down by 1.3 million people this year and down by 4 million since 2019, even as total Medicare enrollment increased by 5.1 million.

AHIP and other industry stakeholders reiterated that health insurance providers will continue to prioritize access to preventive care following a federal judge's decision to strike down an Affordable Care Act provision that requires full coverage of certain forms of preventive care. "Americans should have peace of mind there will be no immediate disruption in care or coverage," AHIP President and CEO Matt Eyles said.

A study in Clinical Imaging found that as many as 32% of websites that provide information on lung cancer screening did not reflect US Preventive Services Task Force guidelines from March 2021 that lowered the recommended age and smoking history threshold for low-dose CT lung cancer screening. The study also found that 40% of the first 10 websites that populated search results did not include the latest information on who should receive lung cancer screening, underscoring the need for health care entities to improve communication of health information and ensure that information aligns with current guidelines, the authors said.

Heart attack risk rises sixfold in the first seven days after the onset of flu, according to a study scheduled for presentation at a European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases meeting. Researchers analyzed results from 16 laboratories, covering about 40% of the Netherlands' population, as well as hospital and death records, and found that 401 of more than 26,000 people with lab-confirmed influenza infections experienced a heart attack within a year of diagnosis.

Firearms-related injuries and deaths surged in the US in 2020 and 2021, with injury rates 37% higher in 2020 than in 2019 and remaining 20% higher in 2022, according to a study in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Although children account for a smaller proportion of gun-related injuries and deaths than adults, the largest increase was among children younger than 14 years.

Large language models such as ChatGPT and Med-PaLM appear to outperform regular internet search engines such as Google as well as symptom checkers when it comes to helping people diagnose their own health conditions, but neurologist Benjamin Tolchin cautions that AI chatbots can also return misleading information, may be prone to bias, and have the potential to cause more harm than symptom checkers and regular search engines. LLMs could supplement health care provider communications if they are trained on scientific data and programmed to prevent "hallucinations" and avoid bias, experts say.

The World Health Organization says too few drugs are under development for antibiotic-resistant infections, and only 12 new antibiotics were launched from 2017 to 2021, even as more than 2.8 million people are sickened by drug-resistant pathogens every year, and more than 35,000 of them die, according to the CDC. Preliminary data from a WHO report showed that only six of 27 new antibiotics in clinical development are innovative enough to combat antibiotic resistance, and only two show promise against the most resistant bacteria.

The Department of Justice appealed a Texas judge's decision to invalidate an Affordable Care Act requirement that insurers provide full coverage of certain types of preventive care. "Preventive care is an essential part of health care: It saves lives, saves families money, and improves our nation's health," said HHS spokesperson Kamara Jones, adding that "[a]ctions that strip away this decade-old protection are backwards and wrong."

What role does competition play in making prescription drugs more affordable? The CEO and Founder of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company will weigh in. Don't miss his keynote during AHIP 2023. See what else is on the agenda. Will we see you in Portland, Oregon June 13 through 15? Register today and save.

Join us on Tuesday, April 18 from 2 to 3 p.m. ET for "Beyond Medication: Changing the Paradigm in Behavioral Health Care" as Big Health discusses current treatment gaps for anxiety and insomnia, and the reimbursement policies that reinforce these patterns. Learn about the potential of digital treatments in closing these gaps and increasing access to guideline-recommended care.

Every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality care and health coverage -- regardless of the individual qualities that make us who we are, like our race, color, gender, disability or health status. For years, health insurance providers have been committed to improving health equity and combating social factors, like food insecurity and poverty, that can reduce health in our communities. Watch AHIP's video to find out how.