Richard Pizzi

ICD-10 implementation and compliance issues associated with the HITECH Act are on the minds of medical billing companies, according to a speaker at the 2009 Fall National Conference of the Healthcare Billing and Management Association.

Northwest Hospital and Medical Center, a 281-bed acute care hospital, has agreed to an expanded its affiliation with the University of Washington School of Medicine health system.

Healthcare providers are generally satisfied with the services performed by the contractors that process and pay the more than $300 billion in Medicare claims each year, according to the latest annual survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Many patients go without their prescribed medicine due to the slow or ineffective service of mail order pharmacies, according to a survey conducted by the National Community Pharmacists Association.

A report by healthcare group purchasing organization Novation says healthcare prices will likely rise in late 2009 or early 2010 as the global economy recovers from the recession.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved four vaccines against the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus. The vaccines will be distributed nationally after the initial lots become available sometime within the next four weeks.

Inflation rates for healthcare supplies should remain unchanged through 2010, according to the Premier healthcare alliance.

The medical care Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent in August after a 0.2 percent increase in July, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., has received a $150 million gift from the government of Abu Dhabi for the creation of a new pediatric surgery institute.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a bundled prospective payment system for facilities that provide dialysis services to Medicare beneficiaries who have end-stage renal disease.