News
America's physicians are a frustrated lot -- fed up with long hours, increased regulations, and changes in reimbursement practices. As a result the healthcare industry is scrambling just to keep up when it comes to physician hiring.
As hospitals continue to get squeezed by new Medicare penalties and shrinking reimbursements from private insurers, many are looking for ways to make up for that missing revenue. Some are seeking creative ways to collect on the bad debt incurred from patients unable to pay their bills.
About 100,000 Iowans newly eligible for Medicaid are set to get private insurance coverage through a demonstration project approved by the federal government, the second Medicaid "private option" okayed this year.
Insurers who may get hit with losses as a result of continuing previously cancelled plans may get some financial assistance from the federal government. But eligible insurers won't see that relief until 2015.
When it comes to providing consumers with easily accessible information about physician quality, a report out Dec. 10 gave most states grades of 'D' or 'F,' often because they compile data only about primary care doctors, not specialists.
In 2012, Medicare spent close to $10 billion on Graduate Medical Education. Despite this taxpayer subsidy, very little is spent on training doctors in the nuances of caring for older people.
A federal judge in Connecticut temporarily blocked UnitedHealthcare (UHC) on Dec. 5 from dropping an estimated 2,200 physicians from its Medicare Advantage plan in that state.
Less than 30 percent of uninsured millennials queried in a new Harvard poll are planning to buy coverage in public exchanges, and a majority disapprove of the Affordable Care Act as a whole -- suggesting sustainability problems in the first year of the HIXs.
In the 70 years since employer-sponsored insurance benefits have been exempt from taxes, the revenue lost to the federal government has run in the trillions of dollars. Now, with a federal tax code rewrite possible and another looming budget battle, the Congressional Budget Office wants lawmakers to rethink that so-called tax expenditure.
The suit alleges that IPC submitted false claims to the federal healthcare programs by upcoding medical services.