Why do prescription drug costs resonate as an issue? It's because of rising prices and copays, but also because Americans fill an average of 12.6 prescriptions per year. We're in the pharmacy a lot. kff.org/health-costs/s…

Surgeon Score Cards: Accurate or not? Kathryn E Engelhardt, MD MS Karl Bilimoria NU_SOQIC Unintended consequences of surgeon-specific reporting should be understood and mitigated. Article is free for download for the next 50 days. authors.elsevier.com/a/1XWzLEsrg9J~…

Why doesn't antitrust apply to healthcare? Where is enforcement when hospitals cuts deals for exclusive patient access, or refuse to allow outside access to electronic medical records, or buy up all existing treatment options in a region & raise prices? (Not to mention pharma)

Medicare To Overhaul ACOs But Critics Fear Less Participation khn.org/ODYyNzIz

.Duke Innovation is now accepting project ideas for addressing health care challenges. Apply by Sept. 28. ow.ly/zFZo30lg4UP

Amazon to launch primary care clinics for employees, CNBC reports healthcaredive.com/news/amazon-to… via Healthcare Dive

More than 20% of Americans skip medical care due to cost, survey finds healthcaredive.com/news/more-than… via Healthcare Dive

Mark McClellan, director of @dukemargolis and a former CMS administrator, says there's "a lot going on" to address spiraling drug prices washingtonpost.com/national/healt…

Patient outcomes are linked to the wellbeing of medical staff: bit.ly/2M1QtZv #WorkforceSafety #Value

“The States Tackle Health Care Reform: Tired of waiting for the federal government to find a solution to the looming health care crisis, red and blue states are figuring out ways to take care of their citizens.” #goodread #healthcareoverpolitics usnews.com/news/best-stat…

The big 8 insurers made $16.6B in the first half of 2018. Here's how they stack up fiercehealthcare.com/payer/from-aet…

If a tool offers cost data on tests, will doctors pay attention? modernhealthcare.com/article/201808…

Making health data interoperable will make all of us healthier. Microsoft is pleased to join Amazon, Google, and others to advance tech for health data interoperability. Our new Chief Architect for Health Data, Josh Mandel, explains our commitment. cloudblogs.microsoft.com/industry-blog/…

Great work Austin Frakt on covering the issue of reinsurance spending in Part D. I said it there and I'll say it again here: It’s ironic for a program supposedly built on market principles. You wouldn’t see this kind of thing in the commercial market. nytimes.com/2018/08/13/ups…

Feds Urge States To Encourage Cheaper Plans Off The Exchanges khn.org/ODYzNDIw via Kaiser Health News Michelle Andrews

Duke University Hospital Again Named Among the Nation’s Best by U.S. News | Duke Health: corporate.dukehealth.org/news-listing/d…

Hospital mergers and the risk to patient safety kevinmd.com/blog/2018/08/h…

Pfizer pays BioNTech $120M upfront to form mRNA flu vaccine pact fiercebiotech.com/biotech/pfizer…