News
Assuming there is no new legislation to the contrary in the next few months, Accountable Care Organizations will begin operating nationwide in January 2012.
Healthcare Finance News Editor Richard Pizzi spoke recently with Kelley Blair, senior vice president of professional services at Craneware, about best practices in managing the hospital charge description master (CDM). Kelley has spent many hours working with hospital business office personnel on chargemaster maintenance.
Finding ways to create a payment model that rewards high-quality outcomes, reduces avoidable costs and protects payer and provider margins is the ultimate goal of those working to reform the healthcare system today.
McKesson has announced an agreement to buy Portico Systems for a reported $90 million, a deal that will combine the two companies' offerings around care management and network management and position McKesson for anticipated shifts in the healthcare market.
After spending much of the past year under a microscope amid criticism for proposed rate hikes and executive compensation, Blue Shield of California has taken steps to rehabilitate its image - including a pledge to limit net income to no more than 2 percent of revenue.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should replace its 35-year-old 510(k) clearance process for medical devices, says a new report issued by the Institute of Medicine.
In a deal that greatly accelerates its move into the Medicare supplement market, Aetna announced in June an agreement to buy Genworth Financial's Medicare supplement business, Continental Life Insurance, for $290 million.
A recent study in Health Affairs examined for the first time the effects that differences in healthcare service volume and price, rather than simply spending and use, have on state and regional Medicaid spending.
Opponents of a proposed revision of the "advice" exemption of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959 would restrict access to legal counsel and forward an organized labor agenda.
In early July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued proposed changes that would update payment policies and rates for physicians, dialysis facilities and services to Medicare beneficiaries in hospital outpatient departments and decrease Medicare payments to home health agencies.