Healthcare Finance Staff
Sixteen rural hospitals in South Dakota will receive a total of $244,376 in grants for technology projects from laboratory electronic medical records to a medication labeling and bar code system.
National health plans Aetna and Wellpoint are the first to earn certification for electronically exchanging administrative data using the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare's Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE) Phase II rules
CDPHP, a not-for-profit health insurer in New York, has deployed new software to help reduce costs and boost quality.
A five-year pay-for-performance project involving 10 large physician practices across the country demonstrated increased revenue savings and improved quality of care, according to results released this year.
The healthcare reform bill is far from settled, but its current state is placing great emphasis on how benefit products are designed, according to an industry analyst.
While legislation is a moving target, payers need tools that will serve both consumers and their employer groups, said Janice Young, research director for Health Industry Insights.
ChoiceLinx, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cigna with two primary product lines, is gaining traction in this market.
With the group-based market continuing its decline, payers are turning their attention to the growing individual plan market.
In order to capture that business and engage consumers, payers need to build a direct-to-consumer online capability, which is cost-efficient and can be implemented fairly quickly, said Nancy Sansom, spokeswoman for Benefitfocus.
Historically, payers aggregated data for actuarial purposes or for their sponsoring employer groups' use. Today, data is in greater demand across the industry.
The demand for sharing data with providers and members is creating a big shift in data warehousing, said Dane Iverson, vice president of information management for WellPoint.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) is launching its patient-centered medical home (PCMH) in early 2010.
With Oklahoma's growing primary care physician shortage and its bottom five national ranking of their ratio per capita, the payer is looking for ways to impact quality of care while expanding its provider footprint.
Independence Blue Cross' healthcare information technology capabilities helped the company land a new health benefits contract with Lincoln Financial Group, IBC executives announced Thursday.
Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform will hold a media conference call today to discuss cost-containment and delivery system reform measures in health insurance reform legislation being considered in Congress.