In 1999, Amazon bought a 46 percent stake in Drugstore.com and began marketing its products on the Amazon site. Once hailed as “a likely gold mine,” the venture never turned a profit after running into problems with regulations, logistics and the existing pharmacy benefit managers that already dominated the market.

In a speech at AcademyHealth’s Health Datapalooza conference in Washington, D.C., CMS Administrator Seema Verma said giving researchers the same access to data for other federal health programs that they can currently utilize for fee-for-service Medicare can help support “the creation of tools to help consumer make better care decisions.”

The older a surgeon gets, the lower the patient mortality rate, with female surgeons in their 50s having the lowest rates overall, according to research led by Yusuke Tsugawa, MD, MPH, PhD, assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Fewer quality measures, a shorter reporting period for Meaningful Use requirements and an increase in uncompensated rate payments were all positives in the eyes of hospitals in their initial reaction to the proposed 2019 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule.

Lab-created consciousness, especially resulting from testing human brain tissue, sounds like the plot for the newest binge-worthy TV show, but it’s a matter worth consideration from an ethical perspective, according to some experts. A group of 17 researchers examined issues that may arise as scientists get closer to replicating human brain functions.

Mobile health (mHealth) applications for clinical decision support could improve physicians' test ordering and diagnosis decisions, according to a study published April 20 in the Journal of Informatics in Health and Biomedicine.

3D printing and computer modeling could predict paravalvular leak (PVL) in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), according to a study presented at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Scientific Sessions.

Researchers have developed a tool capable of evaluating patients' electronic health records (EHR) note comprehension to provide insight into where improvements can be made. Findings were published April 24 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Eric Hargan, deputy secretary of HHS, opened AcademyHealth’s Health Datapalooza conference by saying the Trump administration isn’t afraid of causing “disruption” in the current healthcare system to solve issues surrounding affordability and accessibility.

Healthcare real estate investor Welltower has announced it will acquire the outstanding shares of Quality Care Properties and form a joint venture with Toledo, Ohio-based health system ProMedica for the real estate holdings of QCP tenants HCR ManorCare and Arden Courts.