DAILY UPDATE: Prior Medical Authorizations Up as Stock Markets Rise to Record Highs!

By Staff Reporters

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A new set of rules from the Biden administration seeks to rein in private health insurance companies’ use of prior authorization – a byzantine practice that requires people to seek insurance company permission before obtaining medication or having a procedure. The cost-containment strategy often delays care and forces patients, or their doctors, to navigate opaque and labyrinthine appeals.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index rose 52.42 points (1.1%) to 4,958.61, up 1.4% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 134.58 points (0.4%) to 38,654.42, up 1.4% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite rallied 267.31 points (1.7%) to 15,628.95, up 1.1% for the week.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) surged about 16 basis points to 4.024%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) fell 0.04 to 13.84.

The market’s strength continued to be driven by the biggest companies, while smaller names lagged. The small-cap Russell 2000® Index (RUT) fell 0.6% Friday and posted a drop of 0.8% for the week. In other markets, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) rose 0.8%, reaching its strongest level in nearly two months, amid expectations interest rates will remain elevated, which boosted demand for dollar-denominated assets, such as Treasuries.

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DENTISTRY: Ransomware e-Dental Records

By Darrell Pruitt DDS

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The ransom one pays to extortionists is only part of the costs. Now there are also legal liabilities to paying.

We will be hearing much more about ransomware in dentistry soon.

Guaranteed.

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