Healthcare Finance Staff
In a reversal of 30 years' past practice, Medicare may start to disclose what it pays individual physicians for its services to seniors.
Hospitals have been acquiring physician practices and have been doing so for years, but a case resting in the hands of a federal judge in Boise is proving to be a "banner" case for these sorts of mergers and acquisitions.
Of the 2.2 million people who have signed up for coverage on federal and state health insurance exchanges, just 24 percent are young adults, the age group most prized for the healthy balance that they can bring to the nation's risk pool to hold down premium costs.
Halfway through the first enrollment period for health insurance exchanges, the majority of Americans potentially eligible for coverage have not yet visited one of the marketplaces.
New York's health insurance exchange is meeting enrollment projections and attracting a diverse mix of the state's residents, while trying hard to troubleshoot any website problems or consumer complaints.
Medical costs in commercial plans slowed between August 2012 and August 2013, according to the S&P Healthcare Claims Indices. Spending on inpatient, outpatient, and professional fees and pharmaceuticals all decelerated.
The federal government has ended the lead contract for HealthCare.gov with CGI Federal and secured a new one with Accenture.
Trying to help thousands of Maryland residents who still can't enroll online, lawmakers are hoping to use the state's high risk pool plan as an emergency, short-term coverage option, while the insurance exchange's problems are fixed.
Maryland officials have reached what analysts say is an unprecedented deal to limit medical spending and abandon decades of expensively paying hospitals for each extra procedure they perform.
In the latest Medicaid waiver, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker secured a number of cost-sharing provisions and a transfer of thousands of beneficiaries to Healthcare.gov, setting the stage for other Republican governors to find an acceptable option.