News
In a post-recession America, even though overall income levels may rise, middle class families still won't be shielded from the crushing burden of healthcare costs, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Thomson Reuters, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has announced that Clear Choice Health Plans of Bend, Ore., will deploy the company's Treatment Cost Calculator application, which is designed to estimate out-of-pocket costs for planned healthcare services.
Looking to distance itself from similar-sounding competitors, the iMedica Corporation has announced a new name and launched a new Web site.
The Carrollton, Texas-based developer of electronic health record and practice management systems for physician practices announced that it will now be known as Aprima Medical Software, Inc., and that the Aprima name will be used for the company's EHR/PM solution. The company also unveiled its new Web presence at aprimaEHR.com.
When Community Health Plan of Washington implemented ZeOmega's Jiva care management software in October 2008, the health plan saw the immediate elimination of duplicate assessments being done on the same patients by its use, disease and case management departments, said Sandra Hewett, the plan's delegated services administrator.
Some of CHPW's departments have since exceeded the goal of achieving 30 percent improved efficiency through the integration of IT systems, automation of processes and streamlined workflow, she said.
After a successful pilot in its Hudson, N.Y. region, MVP Healthcare is rolling out McKesson's Advanced Diagnostics Management (ADM) to the rest of its provider network to automate the clinical review and authorization of imaging tests.
The two-month pilot has been projected to save an annual $2 million-plus in staff time, enabling staff redeployment for other projects, said Holly Smolinski, assistant director of utilization management at MVP.
Since Geisinger Health Plan began predictive modeling for Health Navigator, its medical home program, nearly two years ago, the payer has seen a decrease in hospital admissions for its high-risk members in disease and case management.
The case management team is now applying program resources to its moderate risk and well segments of its membership.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it has posted new ratings on 4,000 hospitals on its "Hospital Compare" Web site, including new mortality and readmission data. According to the new data, CMS estimates that the national 30-day mortality rate for patients originally admitted for heart attack care is 16.6 percent. For heart failure patients, the national 30-day mortality rate is 11.1 percent, and for pneumonia patients the national rate is 11.5 percent.
Hospices serving Medicare beneficiaries will see a 1.4 percent increase in their payments for fiscal year 2010 according to a final regulation released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
WellPoint, Inc. has announced that it will offer coverage for the administration of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine when it becomes commercially available to the general public.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'A-' long-term rating and 'A-' underlying rating on Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority's series 2008 and 1998 bonds, issued for Boston Medical Center, on CreditWatch with negative implications.