Reimbursement

A Virginia federal district judge ruled Monday that a provision of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, marking a victory for those who oppose the law.

Physicians' groups are calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to pay "long-overdue" 2010 Medicare reimbursements.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act does a great deal to address insurance industry practices. The new health care reform law, however, has been rightly criticized as failing to directly and forcefully attack rising medical costs, the primary driver of insurance premiums.

The University of Michigan Health System reports that a four-year Medicare physician group demonstration project, similar to an accountable care organization, has saved more than $15 million in the cost of care.

A new survey indicates it will cost physician practices roughly $120,000 per doctor to implement electronic health records - and that the speed in which a practice fully implements its EHR and shifts to the new workflow is critical to reducing the overall cost of adoption.

The Marshfield Clinic is among 10 large physician groups participating in a Medicare demonstration project that reportedly indicates they can provide quality patient care while saving Medicare millions of dollars.

Voters would rather see Medicaid spending reduced by better managing pharmacy benefits than cutting benefits for patients or payments to providers, according to a new poll commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

On Thursday the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill (H.R. 4994) that averts a 25 percent Medicare physician fee schedule cut scheduled to take effect January 1, 2011 under the statutory “sustainable growth rate” formula.

As expected, the Senate has unanimously approved a 12-month postponement of Medicare payment cuts to physicians that were set to kick in January 1, a move widely applauded by physicians' groups and senior advocates that have desperately lobbied Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

The Senate has reached a tentative deal to delay scheduled 25 percent Medicare pay cuts to physicians for one year, a deal that is expected to cost more than $19 billion. A vote on the measure could happen as early as today.