Billing and Collections

Medical claims denials are a hassle and can lead to financial difficulties and yet so many of them can be easily avoided.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a notice this week increasing prospective payment rates for hospital-based and freestanding Medicare inpatient psychiatric facilities by an average 2.3 percent for fiscal year 2014.

Doctors may be cost-conscious, but price never trumps patients' best interests.

The topic of why it costs more to treat patients in some areas of the country than in others has caused feuds among researchers. Given the decades-long argument, a new IOM report is likely to only add fuel to the fire.

The number of accountable care organizations is rapidly increasing among private payers and with it some best practices are emerging as the new models significantly alter payer-provider relationships.

Real-time claims processing can result in financial benefits, so healthcare technophobes need to get on board.

Overall U.S. healthcare prices rose slightly from May to June 2013, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Marilyn Tavenner, is out with a "Myths vs. Fact" clarification memo regarding the waiver of the employer mandate and whether the new health insurance exchanges will verify people's incomes when calculating subsidies.

DealWell, a new company that offers online health care deals, is the subject of a story on KERA, the NPR station in Dallas. I'm quoted in the audio and text versions.

Attention around front-end price disclosure has been growing for years as hospitals and health systems have sought to strengthen their revenue cycle management systems, streamline billing and payment processes, and increase collection success rates.