Healthcare Finance Staff
"In 2012, meaningful use will soar," National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari asserted at the Jan. 10 meeting of the Health IT Policy Committee.
The Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record program has paid more than $2.5 billion to physicians and hospitals in incentive payments for all of 2011, with December contributing to the steep growth curve.
Health Net, Inc. subsidiary Health Net Life Insurance Co. announced it has agreed to sell its Medicare stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) business to a subsidiary of CVS Caremark for $160 million.
A recently published survey from industry consultant HTMS, an Emdeon company, and the Managed Care Executives Group (MCEG) showed that only 4 percent of small and mid-sized health plans consider health reform to be a threat to their business.
The Illinois Health Information Exchange will spend $7.5 million for a technology platform for the exchange. Officials recently announced a contract with Cambridge, Mass.-based InterSystems for implementation of InterSystems HealthShare.
Jonathan Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association, has shared seven market trends that will shape telemedicine and telehealth in the immediate future. These trends represent major changes from the existing norm, creating new challenges and opportunities for the industry, he says.
The TriZetto Group announced it has acquired Chandler, Ariz.-based Medical Data Express (MDE), with an eye toward expanding its managed solutions that serve more than 14 million Medicare Advantage and Part D members and more than 12 million Medicaid members.
The Republican presidential candidates avoided talking about healthcare issues in any detail in Iowa because it did not register as a high-impact issue for voters. So no one wanted to put themselves out front architecting their view of solutions, engaging in discussion about it or even visiting healthcare facilities, said Matt Eide, managing partner at Eide & Heisinger in Des Moines, Iowa.
Iowa is poised to build a health information exchange (HIE) that will make it possible for even small rural medical practices to share patient information. Officials expect it will be fully operational by year's end.
The Health and Human Services Department has finalized its initial core set of health quality measures for adults eligible for Medicaid for voluntary use by states.