Reimbursement

U.S. healthcare prices increased in February 2013, rising 0.4 percent over January 2013 prices, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hospices take note: the April 1, 2013 deadline to submit the NQF #0209 data for Payment Year 2014 in the Hospice Quality Reporting Program, or HQRP, is approximately two weeks away.

With some healthcare providers now into their second year of meaningful use reporting, Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record payments were estimated at $12.3 billion paid to a total of 219,000 physicians and hospitals through February since the program's inception.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a framework for the federally-facilitated exchange in a draft letter, outlining the agency's tentative plans for certification, networks, rate review and consumer support.

INTEGRIS Health, Oklahoma's largest health system, announced Thursday it will incorporate Phytel's population health and care management tools to help build a medical home model.

If you were eating in a Chinese restaurant, would you have the temerity to tell the manager how to repackage and re-price the items on the menu?

In 2012, Connecticut lawmakers passed a budget banking on $50 million in Medicaid savings from a plan limiting coverage for certain low-income young adults -- before the federal government approved a waiver for the plan.

In Oregon, a bill  to encourage mediation in disputes over medical errors is headed to the governor, in what supporters say is a step -- if small -- in the direction of malpractice reform.

Banking on repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (R) on Tuesday unveiled a plan targeting four major areas of reform -- second on the list is healthcare.

Texas Blue begins HIX outreach and Covered California mulls promotions with major retailers like Walmart in this week's HIX Digest.