Reimbursement

Two "Blue" health insurers announced earlier this week a partnership intended to expand Medicaid insurance and services nationally through a combined acquisition of AmeriHealth Mercy, which serves nearly 800,000 Medicaid members in three states.

Thomson Reuters has launched a suite of new payment reform tools designed to help U.S. hospitals manage risk and seize opportunities as new healthcare payment models go into effect.

After reading the July edition of Health Affairs, I'm concerned about the impact of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) on cost trends in the US health care system.

Primary care doctors are continuing to ramp up the pressure on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services over how Medicare's physician payment rates are set. The latest volley is a suit filed by a group of primary care physicians from Georgia claiming CMS and HHS are violating federal laws by relying on the RUC.

CT scans in the emergency room have gone up dramatically in recent years. A new study links the increase in CT scans to fewer hospital admissions.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced that the five-year Physician Group Practice Demonstration project has resulted in quality improvements and Medicare savings and resulted in $110 million in incentive payments.

Medicare exchange operator Extend Health and global benefits consulting firm Mercer have announced a referral agreement aimed at helping employers design and manage the costs for benefits provided to Medicare-eligible retirees.

SCI Solutions, a provider of enterprise access management, physician connectivity and front-end revenue management software, is flush with two new investments and a new CEO, and it is on a path to growth, executives announced Tuesday.

The Physician Group Practice (PGP) demonstration project championed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has resulted in quality improvements and Medicare savings and resulted in $110 million in incentive payments CMS announced Monday.