Reimbursement
Medicare payments to hospices will see a 2.5 percent increase in FY 2012 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a final rule at the end of July. The final rule also implements Affordable Care Act requirements.
Results of a new survey of employers by benefits consulting firm Mercer show that most employers plan to continue offering health insurance coverage to their employees after all the provisions of the Affordable Care Act become effective in 2014.
While many of the causes for readmission are out of a hospital's control, the message is clear, hospitals will be obligated to get involved in the whole spectrum of care for a patient and will be held accountable if patients are readmitted to a hospital within a certain time period, according to a proposed rule expected from CMS.
Many self-help gurus will say it's not helpful to compare yourself to others but a new study released Thursday comparing the administrative costs of physicians' offices in the United States and Canada brings home the point that standardizing administrative operations reduces costs and lessens hassles.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has fully certified the Massachusetts' Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS), according to an announcement issued Aug. 3 by HP Enterprise Services.
Highmark executives announced Thursday that the health insurer intends to team up with West Penn Allegheny Health System, EHR vendor Allscripts and consulting firm Accenture to develop a framework to provide physicians with electronic health records functionality and practice management tools needed to meet the federal government's meaningful use requirements.
A consumer sentiment index from Thomson Reuters showed that consumers' confidence in their ability to pay for healthcare declined in July after two straight months of improvement.
Medicare payments to skilled nursing facilities will be cut by $3.87 billion for FY 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in a final rule.
The normally sage CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation, Drew Altman, isn't as persuasive in his latest Pulling it Together column. As he puts it, "our health care system has been, and will remain, a mixed public-private one."
A recent study in Health Affairs examined for the first time the effects that differences in healthcare service volume and price, rather than simply spending and use, have on state and regional Medicaid spending.