Business

Republicans may have just found the single most important weakness in President Obama's Affordable Care Act: the federal exchange plan set up on HealthCare.gov isn't able to detect fraud in its verification process. The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators at the Government Accountability Office created 11 fake applicants last year, in an undercover operation to test the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Each of the fake applications signed up for health coverage lacking the proper documentation; some applicants had fabricated documents, while others were missing essential documentation entirely. The real problem took place this year when HealthCare.gov automatically re-enrolled the fake applicants, even though they still had unresolved documentation problems. Some of th...

Humans typically view bacteria as pests -- we feel comforted by the fact that a disinfecting wipe will (in theory) kill the majority of the 25,000 bacteria covering just one square inch on a common item, such as a phone in an office. No one could have predicted that bacteria would be capable of controlling inanimate objects, essentially creating and controlling real-life robots. And yet, one scientist reported recently that this might actually be possible. According to Phys.org and Wired, scientists haven't discovered a way to give robots a "brain" so that the machines can think for themselves, but researchers have discovered that it might be possible for bacteria to control behaviors of inanimate objects. Published on July 16 in the academic journal Scientific Reports, Virginia Tech sc...

Amazon is having a mixed month, with multiple headline-grabbing releases but decidedly mixed-to-negative reviews on those offerings. First, the mega-retailer promised users that their "Amazon Prime Day" would offer online shoppers better deals than Black Friday. But on the day of the sale, users were disappointed to discover mediocre deals on unwanted products, like "a plate of ham" or "XXL Diane Keaton T-Shirt." And despite posting strong sales, Amazon got far more press from the hashtag "#PrimeDayFail" than from their actual deals. There's little more to say about Amazon Prime Day that hasn't already been said, which is perhaps why the event so overshadowed an earlier announcement that Amazon would be stepping into the mobile cloud storage arena. A week before the failed Amazon Prime D...

Facebook has been a huge driver of web traffic for years. Back in 2013, it drove 21.25% of all the traffic sites received, meaning nearly one-fifth of the consumers who visited blogs and retailers came from the social network. Now, Facebook is looking to cut right to the economic chase. It's turning its business pages into virtual storefronts. Buzzfeed reports that Facebook is testing new, miniature e-commerce sites embedded within select retailers' Facebook pages. New "shopping" tabs and "buy" buttons allow consumers to purchase an item they want, possibly completing the entire transaction right there. The idea of this test is to put the entire consumer experience into Facebook. On mobile, the new feature will appear in a "shopping" section, while on desktop, it'll appear as a separate...

Two medical billing software companies are teaming up to offer a comprehensive medical billing service to their clients. PR Newswire reports that as of this month, Phoenix-based CompuGroup Medical U.S. (CGM) is partnering with Express Medical Billing, Inc. (EMB) in St. Louis to expand its services and clientele. Specifically, the agreement calls for EMB to use CGM's DAQbilling, a practice management solution software system that specializes in billing for medical laboratories. The software system can encompass an unlimited amount of users, providers, locations, and methods of access. The partnership will ensure that the software system will reach even more practices and save them on expenses as well. The partnership will also introduce a distinct business model by using two CGM software sy...

As Amazon geared up for its first annual "Prime Day" on July 15 -- a day that was marketed as a rival to Black Friday and which has promised unbelievable sales and one-day shipping for Prime members only -- it's clear that the world of e-commerce has become bigger in the past few years than anyone expected. "Prime Day" is essentially just one big marketing scheme, exactly like Black Friday deals, but it's bringing attention to a growing online shopping trend: more businesses that want to cultivate customers' online shopping experiences are offering subscription passes which allow members to take part in the sales. Amazon's Prime membership is the most popular type of subscription shopping program, but Business Insider has recently reported that other businesses have created similar membe...

It's more important for a business to have a culture than you might think. According to a new study, a brand's culture can be the determining factor in whether or not an executive decides to do business with a company. A culture is the evolving set of collective beliefs, values, and attitudes of a group. In other words, a business culture is the "why" of the business. It's not what the business does, but why it does what it does. Business culture encompasses an organization's values, visions, working style, beliefs, and habits. Culture not only helps a business draw the best talent, but according to the new study from creative agency Gyro and Fortune Knowledge Group, it helps companies decide whether or not to do business. According to the study, 60% of the 500 executives surveyed said...

More than 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain, according to a recent report. An Internet program may be the saving grace for those trying to manage their chronic pain. Researchers at Washington State discovered that the program, which teaches non-medical solutions for pain, can not only help manage pain but also may reduce dependence on medicine. It results in more positive thinking and emotional wellness. An assistant professor for the College of Nursing, Marian Wilson, did a study by tracking 43 people who had chronic pain. With an eight-week online course, they were taught about the psychological, social and health issues that surround their chronic pain. When that group was compared to the control group, Wilson found that the group who did the course reported adopting the prac...

It’s been an area of concern for quite a few years now, but there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight when it comes to rising college costs. A new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that colleges are raising their prices -- in order to make money available for financial aid. Senators such as Lamar Alexander say that students can afford college; however, the reality is vastly different. The average cost, according to College Board, for public schools is $9,139 and that number jumps to $31,231 for private schools. That number only includes tuition and fees, as well -- not books, board, meals, or other necessities. With the average American household income at less than $52,000, lower-income families cannot even begin to think about college, because it just isn’t a viable opt...

Sorry. That last picture of your cat wasn't so amazing that it earned you a few hundred new Instagram followers. It was just a bug. Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch on June 11 that a bug caused some users' follower counts to rise meteorically. The social network is working on fixing it. Users' follower counts will plummet back to normal levels when it is. The news is kind of a bummer to many, as Instagram is arguably the most popular photo sharing network around. In the 186 years since the first photo was ever taken, there have been more than 3.5 trillion pics snapped -- 16 billion of which had been uploaded to Instagram as of 2014. Considering the fact that another 40 million are uploaded each day, that number has likely almost doubled since. If your profile is suddenly going to retur...