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Here's The Latest in Health Care:

•  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new figures on vaccination rates, showing that the influenza vaccination rate has plateaued over the past few seasons. Although the efficacy rate of the vaccine is under 50%, it is still estimated to have prevented more than 5.4 million flu cases and 86,000 hospitalizations last season. Government health officials are urging health care providers to promote the flu vaccine among their patients.  Read More

•  The bipartisan bill, Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017, was unanimously passed by the Senate. The bill will expand telehealth access for chronically ill Medicare patients by building broader telehealth benefits into Medicare Advantage plans and expanding the use of virtual care for stroke and dialysis patients.  Read More

•  Senate Republicans have postponed plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act due to insufficient votes for the latest health law overhaul bill. The Graham-Cassidy bill would have taken money provided under the Affordable Care Act for insurance subsidies and the expansion of Medicaid and sent it to states in the form of block grants.  Read More

•  The FDA has selected nine digital health companies to participate in a new pre-certification pilot program. The agency hopes to identify ways that pre-certified companies could potentially submit less information to the FDA than is currently required before marketing a new digital health tool as part of a formal program. The companies selected are: Apple, Fitbit, Johnson & Johnson, Pear Therapeutics, Phosphorus, Roche, Samsung, Tidepool, and Verily.  Read More

Each Friday, Signor Goat reports the latest from the week in health care. Check back next Friday for your dose of our little medical corner of health care news. Brought to you by pMD, innovators in charge capture software.

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