North Carolina Health Link Weekly – February 13, 2015
The health care industry is one that begs discussion — it’s personal, it’s social, and it impacts us all. Every week we come across hundreds of articles, tweets, updates, and briefs. We thought you’d like to read some of what we’re seeing right now, and start a conversation. Tune in Fridays for your weekly dose of all things North Carolina health care news related.
Got a link to share? Tweet us at @bcbsnc with #NCHealthLinkWeekly, and we could feature your story in an upcoming Friday edition.
North Carolina Health Link Weekly – February 13, 2014
Innovation and Trends
- The benefits of health care price transparency (Carolina Journal, 02-13-15)
It’s now been a little more than one month since Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina went public with its health care cost estimator tool. - Google to reshape how it provides health information, Mayo Clinic joins as a partner (MedCity News, 2-10-15)
Google announces they are now presenting healthcare information in a new way. - Trend check: Do fitness trackers really work? (WITN, 02-10-15)
New research indicates that more people are turning to fitness trackers to get in shape.
Healthcare Technology
- Anthem Health data breach followed by potential email scams (Health IT Security, 02-09-15)
Anthem, Inc. announced a potential health data breach last week after one of its data bases containing the personally identifiable information (PII) of 80 million individuals was infiltrated by outside hackers. - Lawmakers to rethink requiring encryption in HIPAA (Fierce Health, 2-9-15)
In light of the cyberattack against Anthem, federal officials plan to review whether HIPAA should require encryption.
Health and Fitness
- 5 things you didn’t know about gluten (Fox News, 2-12-15)
If you’re on the gluten free bandwagon, either because you must avoid gluten due to celiac disease, or because you think you may be gluten intolerant, here are five new bits of info you should know. - The 3 biggest myths about unvaccinated Americans (Vox.com, 02-10-15)
Many of the perceptions we have about vaccines, and the people who refuse them, are wrong.
Industry News
- The black market for stolen health care data (NPR, 02-13-15)
Health care companies saw a 72 percent increase in cyber-attacks from 2013 to 2014, according to the security firm Symantec - ACA sign-ups accelerate as deadline looms (Modern Healthcare, 02-11-15)
The rate at which individuals are signing up for health insurance is increasing as open enrollment comes to a close this weekend. - Los Angeles Times: Study finds it cheaper for students to buy insurance than go without (LA Times, 02-10-15)
The Health Insurance Education Project found that half the approximately 445,000 students in the system are able to purchase health insurance for less than they would have to pay in fines for remaining uncovered. - New drugs, price war provide hope for hepatitis C patients (Jacksonville Daily News, 02-10-15)
Sallie Wickens’ life followed a death-defying narrative that traced the medical arc of hepatitis C.
Video
What makes us get sick? Look upstream.
Rishi Manchanda has worked as a doctor in South Central Los Angeles for a decade, where he’s come to realize: His job isn’t just about treating a patient’s symptoms, but about getting to the root cause of what is making them ill—the “upstream” factors like a poor diet, a stressful job, a lack of fresh air. It’s a powerful call for doctors to pay attention to a patient’s life outside the exam room.
