News
A little more than four months after Highmark, western Pennsylvania's largest insurer, provided a $50 million cash infusion to help prop up struggling provider West Penn Allegheny Health System, the boards of both companies on Tuesday approved a definitive affiliation agreement.
The Medicare physician payment fee for 2012 is not as bad as predicted, but the lesser cut will be cold comfort to physicians.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday announced it will increase payment rates under its Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) by 1.9 percent and its Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payments by 1.6 percent in 2012.
Hopkins reduced 'red bag' regulated medical waste by 16 percent in part by putting appropriate trash in the correct containers.
Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan spoke recently with Ana Croxton, NextGen Healthcare's vice president of EDI products and services, about its 5010 efforts and what lies ahead on the road to ICD-10 -- including a service that's not yet released but is in the design phase to help users understand ICD-10 codes.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its final rule updating the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) for 2012. In a press release, CMS noted that the final changes are a result of the agency seeking to "improve payment accuracy" while still supporting patient access.
CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield and Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions have announced a joint effort to create a clinical pathways program for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory disease that affects more than 2.1 million people annually.
With U.S. drug shortages reaching record numbers, President Obama issued an executive order on Monday, directing the FDA to take steps to reduce current shortages and prevent future disruptions.
Regenerative medicine company Stratatech Corp. has been awarded $4.6 million by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The grant will fund the first human clinical trial of Stratatech's ExpressGraft antimicrobial skin substitute, a potential treatment for chronic diabetic foot ulcers.