Reimbursement

The Connecticut Insurance Department approved four insurers to sell individual and small group health plans in the state exchange, Access Health CT, and in the non-exchange market -- as two other insurers withdrew bids.

Insurers are shaping their business strategies to grow and to operate smarter ahead of the Jan. 1 go-live date for many provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Everyone uses email but doctors continue to show a reluctance to use it to communicate with patients.

In a white paper written for the Physicians Foundation, healthcare industry analyst Jeff Goldsmith argued for a subscription model in which patients would pay a monthly fee to their doctor. It's a proposal that set the foundation talking and is sure to result in strong opinions from payers, providers and patients.

A recently-released white paper suggests patients should pay a monthly subscription fee to their doctors.

The provider-owned health plan trend is making a play in New York, with the North Shore-LIJ Insurance Co. Inc., offering a range of commercial insurance plans on and off the state-based health insurance exchange.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the country's coordinator for healthcare IT, plans on retiring from his post this fall.

When media organizations noticed a 606-page final rule on health insurance exchanges released the day after the July 4 holiday, a section that appears to allow exchanges to use income "self-attestation" jumped out.

Despite the fact that patients are clamoring for it and health organizations see its benefits, electronic communication from primary care physicians won't become commonplace until doctors' workloads are reduced – or they get paid extra for emails and phone calls.

Errors in manual claims processing are a big problem. While underpayments lead to complaints and rework, overpayments may go unnoticed and cost far more.