Reimbursement

A new accountable care health plan from Aetna offered in conjunction with Aurora Health Care will offer a price guarantee to employers, many of whom may see an average reduction of 10 percent based on their past claims expenses.

When it comes to patient experience, U.S. safety-net hospitals -- those serving a disproportionately larger number of low-income and Medicaid patients -- are getting poor performance reviews, which may indicate they will struggle under value-based purchasing models.

The Obama Administration has launched what it calls a "ground-breaking partnership" among the federal government, state officials, leading private health insurance organizations, and other healthcare anti-fraud groups to prevent healthcare fraud.

Officials at Milwaukee, Wis.-based Aurora Health Care announced on Thursday they are forming an accountable care collaboration with Aetna, Inc., an effort aimed to provide employers with a new health plan created to improve employee health outcomes while controlling costs.

A new study sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund found that less than 3 percent of hospitals use all 10 recommended practices for reducing readmissions for patients admitted with heart failure or acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

TriZetto Group's Gateway EDI subsidiary announced last week that it more than doubled its customer base of healthcare providers with the acquisition of 10-year-old revenue cycle management and electronic transaction processing systems company ClaimLogic.

The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) on Tuesday launched the HITRUST Cyber Threat Analysis Service (C-TAS), which it bills as a collaborative platform for cyber defense specific to the healthcare industry.

According to Medicare's latest hospital readmissions data on its Hospital Compare website updated last week, very few hospitals are singled out as poor performers when it comes to readmissions, despite the fact that readmission rates haven't been improving nationwide.

Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, states now can refuse to expand Medicaid without losing federal funding. But how does that bode for the future of Medicaid?

Medicaid agencies from seven states have signed on to an accountable care organization collaborative effort via the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) that will help states tailor ACOs based on the unique qualities of their health systems.