Reimbursement
A recent New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) study points to a new pilot program that offers payment models that may encourage hospitals to better coordinate transitions of care, resulting in fewer readmissions.
At a time when the nursing home industry is lobbying Congress to avoid cuts in Medicare payments, a federal watchdog agency is reporting that taxpayers overpaid nursing homes $1.5 billion.
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.
Much has been written and said about the effect of the election on the implementation of federal health reform initiatives. The commentariat, including the blogerati and twitterati wings, have focused on the budget battles of the future to come from Capitol Hill, the flurry of regulations to come from HHS, and the last stand of the boys in red in certain state capitals around the country against implementation of health insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion under the ACA.
Every hospital executive wants to keep healthcare costs down which is why as hospitals are integrating provisions of healthcare reform into their care model, affiliating with and developing primary care clinics is of growing interest.
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.