Reimbursement

To get better care for patients and lower costs, it's important to stitch together the experience of patients both while they're in the hospital and immediately afterwards.

Ohio uncertain of whether to use federal fallback exchange; Illinois to pursue state-federal exchange venture; and CMS rolls out exchange simulations in this week's HIX Digest.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) announced Monday the launch of a new interactive iPad app. AHIP officials say the app, "U.S. Health Care Spending 101," is meant to provide policymakers and stakeholders with comprehensive healthcare spending data in an easy-to-use digital format.

According to Suzanne Menard, Revenue Cycle Director at Southern Maine Medical Center (SMMC), some of the most important keys to implementing a successful Point of Service (POS) collection program include clear objectives presented to all hospital committees and comprehensive training programs for involved staff members.

A new report finds that the uncertainty caused by a congressional history of last-minute reprieves from Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment cuts has held back physician practices from participating in new Medicare payment and delivery models.

National Medicaid enrollment, spending down; Pennsylvania to allow 100K families booted from Medicaid back into program; and South Carolina's enrollment projection may be too low in this week's Medicaid Digest.

The use of electronic health records is linked to significantly higher quality care, according to a new study by Lisa Kern and her team, from the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative in the US. Their work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.

Health plans are heading toward 100 percent participation in accountable care organizations (ACOs), according to a new study, with 78 percent of respondents already part of one, and 22 percent planning to participate in one. This is all leading to a scramble for health IT.

In light of the recent Readmissions Reduction Program under the Affordable Care Act, numerous hospitals and medical industry experts are examining new approaches that will decrease the rate of hospital readmissions. "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates $15 billion is spent annually on readmissions for Medicare patients, with $12 billion of that amount being preventable," said Jeff Huber.

Tennessee health officials have drafted a plan aimed at helping low income families maintain a continuity of care with health coverage shared through Medicaid and partial insurance.