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The company posted a letter online addressed to AI-powered personal assistants, welcoming them onto its healthcare access platform—as long as they’re registered and play by the rules.

These are regions where the Medicare Ambulatory Specialty Model (ASM) for heart failure will be implement starting Jan. 1, 2027. About 60% of the regions are rural and there are concerns the new mandatory participation model may cause cardiologists to not see heart failure patients. The ASM will reduce pay for most cardiologists and the they can be penalized with further cuts if a patient has a hospital admission, even it they were not immediately under the physician's care.

The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform believes many physicians participating in the new Ambulatory Specialty Model could end up experiencing a pay cut. In addition, it could drive some specialists to stop treating heart failure patients altogether.

Herbert Kimble, 60, was also ordered to pay nearly $400 million in restitution and forfeitures. The fraud, which involved sending kickbacks to telemedicine firms and billing Medicare for medical equipment, is one of the largest in history. 

The platform, which was not named, is said to be public-facing and not approved for use with healthcare data. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center said it notified those impacted and retrained staff after discovering the incident in September.

Mental Health Illness

Companion bills in the state legislature would bar artificial intelligence apps from providing services of human professionals in schools.

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Aetna is the latest to sue, pointing to re-used metrics that were discarded in a court victory by Clover Health. CMS is appealing that decision.