Healthcare Finance Staff
Having cost the Republican Party a Congressional seat earlier this year with his plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan is back with an even more sweeping health care proposal.
The federal bundled payments effort may promise providers a share in savings when they improve quality and lower costs, but it will likely take the squeeze in fee-for-service Medicare payments to drive many providers to participate in the new delivery model. Private payers have a role in leading on this transformation.
Small and resource-poor, the Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative (WWRHCC), has shown it is not afraid to tackle - and complete - big projects, such as building an HIE from scratch and developing a telepharmacy system.
Few seniors are familiar with the Medicare Star Quality Ratings for Medicare plans from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and even those who do know about them rarely use the information to help select their Medicare plan.
HealthAmerica and Preferred Primary Care Physicians have launched a new pilot program aimed at providing more coordinated and patient-centered primary care and improved communications among patients, physicians and care teams.
Aetna and CVS/pharmacy announced last week a co-branded Medicare prescription drug plan available in 43 states and Washington, DC, in a deal that will leverage the retail base of more than 7,200 CVS and Long Drug stores across the country.
In a recent speech at the Hoover Institution, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) argued again that his proposal to reform Medicare, and now his tax credit proposal for replacing the Democratic health care law for those under-age 65, would guarantee to citizens "options like the ones members of Congress enjoy."
Consumer organizations may find opportunities to partner with health plans in the coming years as more health reform changes take affect in the coming years.
If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, it’s also the burden hospitals and physician practices must bear when dealing with compliance issues. Healthcare Finance News Editor Richard Pizzi spoke recently with two experts in healthcare compliance, John Brooke and Scot McLeod of Compliance 360, to glean a few tips for readers.
USC professor finds health plan consolidation leads to lower hospital costs: Q&A with Glenn Melnick