Mary Mosquera
The record slow growth rate in healthcare spending in recent years is the result largely of economic factors beyond the health system, with the economic recession and its fallout explaining 77 percent of the slowdown, according to a report released Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Altarum Institute. If the economy strengthens as anticipated, healthcare spending will also accelerate, the two organizations concluded.
The debate about the increasing role of nurse practitioners was taken up by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) early in April, when the commission addressed issues of reimbursement for NPs and other non-physician practitioners.
The American Medical Association (AMA) launched on Monday a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to improve health outcomes for those with cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes and to prevent it in those who may be at risk.
The healthcare industry has been notoriously slow at identifying methods and tools it needs to reduce costs and improve quality noted a report by healthcare investment firm the Psilos Group, but health reform is producing promising opportunities for investors to fuel needed innovations.
U.S. employers are expected to increasingly shift toward self-funding their group health insurance plans as a result of the health reform law, according to a survey of health insurance executives released Monday by Munich Health North America, a subsidiary of Munich Re.
In the era of reform, healthcare providers will have to operate more like any other business by using the most efficient methods to deliver and pay for the most effective care, said a panel representing the banking industry and healthcare payers and providers during a business of healthcare session at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition last week. Electronic transactions offer an attractive solution.
Law firm Arent Fox has developed an innovative approach to speed up financing for pricey infrastructure and other capital-intensive projects for public and nonprofit institutions, including hospitals and some healthcare systems.
Field testing of new models of healthcare delivery and payment often reveal unanticipated challenges and benefits in efforts to achieve targeted outcomes.
As the ICD-10 deadline looms closer, many healthcare organizations are still trying to come up with the most effective communications, collaboration and testing strategies to assure implementation of the diagnostic and procedural code set change. It is important to understand how cash flow is impacted and where and how to manage other resources.
By 2014, the core operating rules will likely have a major effect on reimbursement and revenue cycle processes and, as a result, payments, according to speakers who represented the payer, provider and banking perspectives at a Tuesday session titled "The Business Side of Care" during the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition.