Reimbursement

In an effort to standardize financial transparency for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals in New Jersey, the state's Senate's Health Committee approved a bill that would require for-profits to publicly disclose the same financial information that nonprofit entities must file with the Internal Revenue Services.

Mitt Romney was declared the winner in Alaska's Republican district conventions, ensuring he'll have the support of a majority of the state's 24 delegates to the GOP's National Convention.

Maine's Department of Health and Human Services is having trouble with interoperability between its decade-old Medicaid IT eligibility system and its one-year-old claims system and it's resulting in budget woes, according to Mary Mayhew, commissioner, DHHS.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT hopes to see "really rapid progress" this year on the building blocks that will promote health information exchange, such as provider directories, certificates to assure identification and rules of the road for the nationwide health information (NwHIN) Exchange.

Even against the backdrop of HHS saying it intends to push back ICD-10 compliance, there's no shortage of healthcare entities insisting they will march forward with their conversion plans, aiming to be ready by October 1, 2013 -- federally-mandated deadline, or not.

When asked to choose a healthcare provider based only on cost, consumers choose the more expensive option, according to a new study funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that appears in the March issue of Health Affairs.

Both the meaningful use and health IT standards and certification proposed rules officially appeared in the Federal Register March 7, which automatically launched the countdown for public comments for 60 days. The public may comment on the proposed rule online through May 6.

At the HIT Policy Committee meeting on March 7, Farzad Mostashari, federal health IT czar, expressed strong disagreement over a new health IT survey published in the March issue of Health Affairs. The study has drawn a slough of national media attention.

What with Texas not partaking in Super Tuesday this time around, the primary in Ohio is considered paramount to GOP candidates -- and the Buckeye State is where Rick Santorum has hit Mitt Romney hardest on healthcare thus far.

Home-based care management company Univita Health has acquired HME and DME provider All-Med Services of Florida, in a deal that adds more than 1 million patient lives to Univita's book of business.