News
The legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act have been numerous but finally the highest court in the country will be ruling on the healthcare law – right in the middle of the 2012 presidential campaign.
The sound of doctors running from their private practices has become steady. Over the course of 2011, news reports consistently noted the exodus. Executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, Gordon Smith, told Healthcare Finance News that the rush of doctors abandoning private practice “was epidemic.”
By 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services anticipates the number of people receiving health insurance via Medicaid will increase by more than 20 million as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. People eligible for Medicare will also increase at a rate of nearly 3 million per year, as the Baby Boomer generation hits retirement age.
The latest in mobile health innovations – from smartphone apps to telehealth tools – might at first be considered in the vein of improving clinical outcomes. But providers, payers and vendors will quickly point out that they can save the healthcare system a lot of money, too.
In 2011, group purchasing organizations were called upon to do more than ever before to assist healthcare providers in cutting costs, and, most GPOs have expanded their range of services to meet this new demand.
The simmering dispute over a new contract between Western Pennsylvania’s largest private payer, Highmark Inc., and the dominant health system in the region, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), reached a full boil mid-year when Highmark announced plans to acquire UPMC rival West Penn Allegheny Health System.
Two topics dominated pharmaceutical industry news in 2011: Generic drug savings and drug shortages.
A joint venture announced by GE and Microsoft on Wednesday, will leverage the platform experience of Microsoft and GE's core healthcare competencies in clinical applications, with the goal of providing real time data to improve patient experience and clinical outcomes.
For the first three-quarters of 2011, the healthcare merger and acquisition market posted 707 deals with a combined worth of $185.9 billion. Experts predict total healthcare M&A activity for the year will surpass 2010 by 20 percent, according to a report from Irving Levin Associates.
One in three first-time participants in a company-sponsored, lab-based wellness program were not aware they were at high risk for a serious medical condition, according to an article published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.