Reimbursement
In an effort to accelerate the development of innovative care models within their respective health systems, Piedmont Healthcare and WellStar Health System announced earlier this week the joint formation of the Georgia Health Collaborative, the first such organization in the state.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services has selected eight managed care companies to coordinate health care for about 136,000 Medicaid-Medicare eligible patients, as part of the federal government's dual eligible demonstration with the states.
The nonprofit think tank Catalyst for Payment Reform has found links between provider market concentration and increasing healthcare costs, and in a new report outlines a number of recommendations for finding value-based payment delivery models.
Two former eHealth executives have launched a free consumer information website called HealthPocket.com, aimed at bringing more transparency to insurance markets.
With the intention of forming a collaborative network of 20 non-competing, not-for-profit health systems in the Southeast, WellStar Health System announced yesterday that it had acquired the trade name, trademark and other assets of the bankrupt Center for Health Transformation (CHT), a for-profit think-tank founded by Newt Gingrich.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, say they want to avert the fiscal cliff, that toxic mix of expiring tax breaks and automatic spending reductions set to begin in January. If Republicans make concessions on taxes, Democrats and the president say, they'll move on entitlements, such as Medicare and Medicaid, as part of a larger deal to reduce the federal deficit.
In this week's HIX Digest, policy makers breath a sigh of relief after HHS extends the blueprint deadline; Republicans are still on the fence; and a new report looks at how the Massachusetts Connector impacted the small group market.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday extended the deadline for states to declare their plans for a state-based health insurance exchange for four weeks in order to accommodate governors who were awaiting results of the 2012 election to decide whether to move ahead.
Talks between West Penn Allegheny Health System and Highmark resumed Monday after a judge ruled last week that Highmark had not breached the $475 million merger deal, effectively barring West Penn from negotiating a new deal with other companies.
Now that the federal government is set to run Missouri's health insurance exchange, after voters passed a proposition banning state creation of an exchange without legislative or voter approval, lawmakers say they'd actually like to create their own.