Reimbursement

In a step towards enhancing the patient experience while simultaneously improving collection rates, Midland Memorial Hospital recently began offering CarePayment, an innovative patient loyalty and payment program, to help its patients cover out-of-pocket medical expenses by letting them pay back bills over a period of time.

Health insurance companies and hospitals are starting to join a host of other entities, including foreign governments, private companies and financial institutions in adopting a business framework known as COBIT, according to Ken Vander Wal, president of ISACA, a worldwide association for IT professionals.

While President Barack Obama and the all-but-official Republican contender Mitt Romney gear up to debate how each would fashion future healthcare, the battle over a critical underpinning of the law is being fought not in the nation's capital, but in the states.

A new study from IDC Health Insights finds that more than half of health plans will invest in trigger-based communications, which use data analytics to detect a consumer's current status, and automatically initiate relevant communications, to prompt plan members to take health and wellness action.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has awarded a $111 million contract to Indianapolis-based National Government Services, Inc. to support the Next Generation Desktop (NGD) over the next five years.

Two bills that would lower healthcare costs for veterans, make it easier for veterans to access the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare system and prevent older veterans from unexpected out-of-pocket costs was recently introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR).

Last week was a real roller coaster ride for Tenet Healthcare. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it was fining the hospital network $42.75 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act; then on Thursday Tenet announced an agreement with HHS that would add $84 million to its coffers to correct Medicare underpayments.

Brian Burns, SVP of Health Care Services and Chief Contracting Officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City discusses why the regional payer extended its existing PCMH model into broader health systems as opposed to encouraging an ACO model.

Thanks to former governor Mitt Romney, healthcare reform is working in Massachusetts. In fact, the state is number one in the nation for coverage because of the pivotal individual mandate he promoted.

The National Council on Aging and Humana Inc.'s Humana Cares have announced they will partner to pilot Stanford University's online Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP).