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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation announced a model to test strategies to improve medication use...Medication therapy management,…can improve health care and outcomes for patients and has the potential to lower overall health care costs….Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management model will assess whether providing selected Medicare Prescription Drug Plans with additional incentives and flexibilities to design and implement innovative programs will better achieve the overall goals for MTM programs, including:

• improving compliance with medication protocols, including high-cost drugs, ensuring that beneficiaries get the medications they need, and they are used properly;
• reducing medication-related problems, such as duplicative or harmful prescription drugs, or suboptimal treatments;
• increasing patients’ knowledge of their medications to better achieve their or their prescribers’ goals of therapy;
• improving communication among prescribers, pharmacists, caregivers and patients.

Enhanced MTM model test will begin January 1, 2017 with a five-year performance period. CMS will test the model in 5 Part D regions....

Israel-based MediWound has signed a five-year, $112 million contract with the U.S. authority that handles public health medical emergencies to further develop and buy the company's drug treatment for severe burns (NexoBrid,bromelain)…Investment group Clal Biotechnology, which has a 45 percent stake in MediWound, said in a statement that the deal with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority would raise preparedness for mass-casualty incidents.

More than 15 million people enrolled in the top 10 Medicare "Part D" prescription drug plans will face average premium hikes of 8 percent next year,...Those top 10 plans account for more than 80 percent of enrollment in such drug plans…Five of the top prescription drug plans will see double-digit premium hikes next year.

California pharmacists could soon participate in dispensing lethal medications to terminally ill patients, pending Gov. Brown’s review of the state’s End of Life Option Act…"It will be critical for pharmacists to be highly engaged with patients, their physicians, and caregivers in discussions about end-of-life considerations,"…"As a member of the health care team and expert in medication use, pharmacists may be placed in situations that require their expertise and should be conversant in the medication-related aspects of these choices, regardless of whether they choose to actively participate in end-of-life actions or not."

It's October 1, 2015, the ICD-10 diagnostic code set is live at last, and medical professionals now have nearly 70,000 codes to choose from when filing patient claims…Healthcare IT News and sister site Healthcare Finance will be reporting on the changeover throughout the day, using the live blog below to highlight the latest news, real-time reactions and frequent updates from our cadre of volunteer ICD-10 correspondents, a group of healthcare insiders who have agreed to keep us posted on what they're seeing post-switchover.

Drug maker’s stock price falls 17% after Democrats request subpoena...Democrats on the House oversight committee are trying to force Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. to provide documents explaining hefty price increases for two heart drugs.( 212% Isuprel and 525% Nitropress)..Valeant shares fell 16.5% to $166.50 Monday following news of the request for a subpoena. The stock had fallen more than 12% over the previous several days amid increasing criticism from law makers about drug-price increases…"We believe it is critical to hold drug companies to account when they engage in ‘a business strategy of buying old neglected drugs and turning them into high-price ‘specialty drugs…

'Many are becoming disenchanted by the seemingly unrealistic expectations'…Refrain from finalizing Meaningful Use Stage 3, wrote 100 members of Congress in a September 28 letter to...director of the Office of Management and Budget, and HHS Secretary..."We believe that additional time is necessary for the proper evaluation and optimization of implemented technology to insure the technology can ensure better quality care for all patients,"... "We believe that the Stage 3 rule should be paused as it should rely on proven technology – designed outside the limitations of current federal requirements – that can support a shift to outcomes and interoperability rather than measures and objectives,"...

Everyone with HIV should be given anti-retroviral drugs as soon as possible after diagnosis, meaning 37 million people worldwide should be on treatment, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday…early drug use extends the lives of those with the AIDS-causing virus and cuts the risk of disease transmission to partners…making the new recommendation a reality would require dramatically increased financial support from donors and governments… WHO estimates…low- and lower-middle income countries will need $18.4 billion annually for the expanded HIV fight.

In the largest settlement of its kind involving allegations of drug diversion…Massachusetts General Hospital has agreed to pay the United States $2.3 million to resolve allegations that lax controls enabled MGH employees to divert controlled substances for personal use…two of its nurses had stolen…nearly 16,000 pills, mostly oxycodone,…from automated dispensing machines…revealed pill count discrepancies totaling over 20,000, missing or incomplete medication inventories,..hundreds of missing drug records, all in violation of the…Controlled Substances Act...　

A group of individuals has slapped two D.C. hospitals with a class action lawsuit, alleging that their charges for requesting medical records -- ranging from $1,168 to $2,500 -- violate state and federal regulations...alleged the hospitals collected "illegal and grossly excessive charges" for copies of the patients' medical records, which were collected by a third-party vendor HealthPort,...Counsel for the hospitals,...said that federal law did not apply to third-party requests...hospitals and HealthPort overcharged medical records by a whopping $7 million.