TAMPA BAY, Fla. (December 11, 2020)—Empath Health and Stratum Health System announced that their Boards of Directors have formally approved the merger of the two organizations, pending regulatory approval. The merger will create the country’s largest not-for-profit health system delivering non-acute care and services through its skilled, significant medical and holistic programs to individuals with chronic, advanced and terminal illnesses. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 11, 2020)—As part of the year-end legislative push, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification Act of 2019 (BENES Act) to address negative findings by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding survey performance by Medicare-certified hospice providers.

CAESAREA, Israel (December 11, 2020)—Itamar Medical Ltd., a medical device and digital health company focused on the integration of sleep apnea management into the cardiac patient care pathway, commented on the recent release of the 2021 Physician Fee Schedule from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This Fee Schedule represents the third year of a four-year proposed plan to reevaluate reimbursement in home sleep apnea diagnostic codes.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (December 9, 2020)—Numotion and LUCI announced a national distribution agreement that will make smart wheelchair technology directly available to power wheelchair riders for the first time ever. Through the historic agreement, Numotion, a provider of Complex Rehab Technology (CRT), becomes the first U.S. partner for LUCI’s first-of-its-kind hardware/software product, which attaches to power wheelchairs to provide security, stability and connectivity.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (December 8, 2020)—President-elect Joe Biden has announced his intention to nominate Xavier Becerra, currently serving as attorney general of California, as Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Becerra is well-known for his defense of the Affordable Care Act. Health care industry leaders praised the nomination on Twitter and in the news. Here’s what some of them had to say.