Reimbursement

Metropolitan Health Networks will acquire Continucare for $416 million in cash and stock, in a deal that will create a combined entity providing care to more than 68,000 Medicare Advantage and Medicaid customers in 18 Florida counties.

With health systems scrambling to meet the October 1, 2013, ICD-10 implementation deadline, 3M Health Information Systems aims to help with staff training with its 3M ICD-10 Education Program.

With the prohibitive and rising cost of healthcare, there has never been a greater need for accountable care organizations, according to Mark McClellan, MD, former Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

At a Monday session of the National Health IT and Delivery System Transformation Summit in Washington, Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, made an eloquent and persuasive case for how meaningful use is not just an arbitrary set of requirements the government is asking of providers in exchange for incentives.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has informed state Medicaid directors of new smoking cessation services and reminded them that Medicaid programs are now required to fully cover those services for pregnant women.

With the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expected to release new guidance to states for establishing health insurance exchanges, both states and insurance carriers are moving forward gingerly with plans for 2014 when the exchanges are set to go live.

Health4, the clinical integration program of the Health Group of Ohio, and Medical Mutual of Ohio have launched a coordinated payer-provider program that aims to reward hospitals and doctors for keeping patients healthy and reducing hospitalizations.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has released its June 2011 "Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System." The report includes a number of recommendations that have generated much controversy to address the growing use of ancillary services, particularly non-hospital diagnostic imaging services.

In a deal with eyes on the future of payment bundling and risk sharing among payers and providers, McKesson has announced an agreement to buy Portico Systems for a reported $90 million.

In all the talk around healthcare reform, the issue of meeting medical transportation needs of the burgeoning senior population hasn't received a lot of press, but as the healthcare system grapples with how it will manage an estimated 70 million Americans who will be age 65 and older by 2030, industry insiders say it's imperative the issue be addressed.