Rene Letourneau
The December Health Sector Economic Indicators briefs released last week by Altarum Institute's Center for Sustainable Health Spending reports slowing growth for healthcare price, spending and employment in October 2011.
Healthcare employment rose by 17,000 in November 2011, according to a report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in early December.
The Department of Health and Human Services granted more than $14 million Thursday to 45 school-based health centers across the country, increasing the number of children served at the centers by nearly 50 percent.
In 2011, group purchasing organizations were called upon to do more than ever before to assist healthcare providers in cutting costs, and, most GPOs have expanded their range of services to meet this new demand.
Two topics dominated pharmaceutical industry news in 2011: Generic drug savings and drug shortages.
For the first three-quarters of 2011, the healthcare merger and acquisition market posted 707 deals with a combined worth of $185.9 billion. Experts predict total healthcare M&A activity for the year will surpass 2010 by 20 percent, according to a report from Irving Levin Associates.
One in three adult patients discharged from a hospital to the community does not see a physician within 30 days of discharge, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), and that puts them at risk of readmission.
Between 2010 and 2020 the overall market for chronic pain therapies will remain stable at approximately $20 billion, with treatments for back pain and arthritis predicted to be the most lucrative, according to findings from healthcare research firm Decision Resources.
A panel of ICD-10 experts spoke Friday at a conference co-hosted by the New England Health Information and Management Systems Society and Maine Healthcare Financial Management Association in South Portland, Maine, giving advice about the five 'gotchas' that can wreak havoc on the best-laid plans for implementing the new coding system.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday operational details for the next stage in its competitive bidding program despite ongoing opposition from patient advocacy groups, economists and 145 members of Congress.