Richard Pizzi

When President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last week, he also made permanent The Indian Health Care Improvement Act, the cornerstone legal authority for the provision of healthcare to Native Americans.

A new report predicts that the global market for anesthesia drugs will grow at an annual rate of 4.8 percent through 2014.

Average healthcare costs for U.S. employers increased 7.3 percent in 2009, with small employers hit the hardest, according to Thomson Reuters.

Beginning in 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will expand the number of ICD-9 diagnosis and procedure codes it will process and accept on institutional claims.

St. Mary's Health System of America, based in Evansville, Ind., has signed a new technology and services agreement that is intended to help improve its accounts receivable management.

The Joint Commission has approved revisions to Medical Staff Standard MS.01.01.01, formerly known as MS.1.20, that addresses the Medical Staff's self-governance and its accountability to the governing body for the quality and safety of patient care.

The number of licensed registered nurses in the United States grew to a new high of 3.1 million between 2004 and 2008, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has instructed Medicare contractors not to evaluate or enforce the "direct supervision" requirement for therapeutic services furnished in calendar year 2010 to outpatients in critical access hospitals.

Affiliation discussions have ended between Los Angeles-area-based Downey Regional Medical Center and the five-hospital Daughters of Charity Health System.

Hospital CEO turnover increased in 2009, tracking at 18 percent nationwide, up from 14 percent in 2008, according to the American College of Healthcare Executives.