Healthcare Finance Staff
The Skilled Healthcare Group, a holding company with subsidiary healthcare services companies, has announced that its board of directors has engaged J.P. Morgan Securities to assist the company in exploring strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value, including a potential sale of the company's real estate assets or the whole company.
The vast majority of CIOs responding to the survey conducted in mid-March by the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) expect their organizations will achieve meaningful use of electronic health records within Stage 1 and get funding under the HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
At the Health IT Policy Committee meeting Wednesday morning, Farzad Mostashari, MD, the new national coordinator for health information technology, said he will listen attentively to stakeholder interests and is aware of the tensions among them.
In response to the April 7 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommendation that medical practitioners who use substantially higher levels of advanced diagnostic imaging services receive Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approval before being able to provide those services, the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition encourages Medicare officials to instead look to existing clinical decision support tools to reduce costs, increase efficiency, support appropriate use, and improve quality of care in diagnostic imaging.
Some New Jersey lawmakers have threatened to exclude Medicaid spending from 2012 state budget negotiations, if they don't get more details from Gov. Chris Christie's administration on plans to save $300 million in the program.
The Children's Aid Society has acquired a new healthcare facility in the Bronx. The 40,000-square-foot facility is replacing its Bronx Family Center and will double the aid society's capacity for its medical, dental and mental health services programs.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) on April 8 named Farzad Mostashari, MD, to replace David Blumenthal, MD as national coordinator for health information technology.
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to help reduce health disparities among ethnic and racial minorities.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation Thursday to make doctors' Medicare claims data public for the first time.
First, I think Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are a great idea. Just like I thought HMOs were a good idea in 1988 and I thought IPAs were a good idea in 1994.The whole notion of making providers accountable for balancing cost, medical necessity, appropriateness of care, and quality just has to be the answer.