Reimbursement

Millennium Health of San Diego has agreed to pay $256 million to the federal government to resolve claims that it billed Medicare, Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary urine drug and genetic testing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The governor and state lawmakers are using a mixture of healthcare models to put the major players -- doctors, hospitals and insurers -- all on the hook to keep rising costs in check.

Four companies running urgent care centers in New York have agreed to disclose more fully which insurance plans they accept, following an inquiry by the state's attorney general that found unclear or incomplete information on their websites that could result in larger-than-expected bills for consumers.

Opponents of the tax fear that more out-of-pocket costs for consumers will add to the difficulty many Americans already have paying their medical bills, now that high-deductible health plans are commonplace.

Medicaid spending soared nearly 14 percent last year--its biggest annual increase in at least two decades--as a result of millions of newly eligible low-income enrollees signing up under the Affordable Care Act, according to a report released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Opponents of the tax fear that more out-of-pocket costs for consumers will add to the difficulty many Americans already have paying their medical bills, now that high-deductible health plans are commonplace.

Ten million people are expected to get health insurance coverage through the Obamacare insurance exchanges by the end of 2016, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced Thursday, as the government sees more conservative growth in the future than it had hoped.

Commercial and government programs have witnessed a busy year -- most notably with the first year of commercial marketplace EDGE server data submission for risk adjustment; reinsurance coming to a close at the end of April; and the draft payment report being issued at the end of June.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a year's grace period this summer when it comes to claims coded with ICD-10, not all large commercial payers are following suit.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a year's grace period this summer when it comes to claims coded with ICD-10, not all large commercial payers are following suit.