News

Mike Murrill Chief Financial Officer Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Bolingbrook, Ill.

Jeffrey Lewis Chief Operating Officer Employment Health Insurance Management Southfield, Mich.

Rosemary Sheehan Vice president of revenue cycle operations Partners HealthCare Boston, Mass.

Don Berwick, who left his job last week as head of the Medicare and Medicaid programs after sustained opposition from Senate Republicans who accused him of supporting rationing, struck back Thursday with a blistering attack on his critics.

George Taylor, III Partner, Burr & Forman Birmingham, Ala.

Hospitals across the country have been rocked by nursing strikes over the last year. The coming months show no letup, which means that hospitals will continue to face major disruptions, both financial and otherwise.

The Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record program has paid physicians and hospitals nearly $2 billion in incentive payments as of the end of November, surpassing what federal health officials anticipated.

Now that is has proven itself by beating the top two champions of the television game show Jeopardy! IBM’s Watson technology is poised for its first commercial opportunity via a partnership with health insurance giant WellPoint that should see it providing clinical support to doctors as early as the first quarter of 2012.

In a year marked by a projected 20 percent increase in healthcare mergers and acquisitions, perhaps one of the biggest M&A stories was one that didn’t happen: Community Health Systems’ hostile bid to acquire Tenet Healthcare.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to ignore protests and a proposed bill seeking to eliminate their competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment as they plan for a major expansion of the program with Round Two.