Richard Pizzi

The Medicare trust fund will be exhausted by 2017, two years earlier than originally projected, according to the annual report by the Medicare Trustees.

As healthcare finance professionals gather here for the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s 2009 ANI conference, they are faced with the worst economic environment in a generation, perhaps since the Great Depression.

ElderHealth Northwest, the largest provider of community-based care centers for elderly people in Washington, has been forced to lay off nearly 40 people as a result of state budget cuts.

New Jersey hospitals could lose $97 million in federal funds next year and more than $500 million over the next five years under new Medicare payment rules proposed to take effect in October, according to an analysis by the New Jersey Hospital Association.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced legislation that expands the role of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), making it an independent executive branch agency.

The once "recession-proof" healthcare industry continues to struggle, with many hospitals laying off workers, health systems enduring investment losses, and states seeing their Medicaid rolls grow.

In spite of fewer openings for new nurses at hospitals, there is still a nursing shortage in California, according to the California Institute for Nursing and Health Care.

The New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System has entered into a long-term agreement for revenue cycle services with Atlanta-based MedAssets.

Hospitals that provide more intensive and costly care do not provide better-quality care, according to a study published in Health Affairs.

The average annual medical bill for a typical American family of four increased 7.4 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to the annual Milliman Medical Index.