Policy and Legislation
Nearly 47 percent of California voters over the age of 40 surveyed say a close family member will need long-term care within the next five years, and about as many say they couldn't afford even one month of nursing home costs, according to a poll by the SCAN Foundation and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
National health spending in July grew 4.2 percent relative to July 2011, up from the 3.9 percent growth rate experienced in June, according to the Health Sector Economic Indicators brief released recently by the Altarum Institute’s Center for Sustainable Health Spending.
Fifteen years in the making, Aurora Health Care recently signed on two of Wisconsin’s largest health plans – Aetna and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield – to its new Aurora Accountable Care Network, which offers a price guarantee to employers and promises average savings of 10 percent based on past claims expenses.
The Massachusetts Legislature passed the next phase of its ongoing attempt to reform the healthcare system: sweeping cost control legislation. Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, hailed the lawmakers' work saying, "This is more than a good bill, a great bill."
A U.S. Census report released this week showed that the ranks of uninsured shrank for the first time since 2007 dropping to 15.7 percent of the population compared with 16.3 percent in 2010 and a separate report showed average insurance rates increased only 4 percent in 2012.
New Institute of Medicine report identifies four tools that will improve care and lower costs in the healthcare system: computing power, connectivity, improved organizational capabilities and teamwork.
New York Downtown Hospital will pay a total of $13.4 million in a Medicare and Medicaid fraud settlement that alleged the hospital received claims on an unlicensed inpatient drug detox program and that it paid kickbacks to an out-of-state vendor for referrals to the program.
After the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services denied Maine an expedited review for its $20 million Medicaid reduction plans, the state's attorney general is seeking a federal court review to prompt a decision.
Nearly every healthcare organization and affiliated clinician group faces challenges when working to meet new models of care and payment delivery. One industry expert offers six pieces of advice to lower costs, improve care and maximize revenue in the ED.
Even as many states gear up for tougher insurance regulations under the federal health law, Maine lawmakers last year bucked the trend, loosening rules they blamed for some of the highest premiums in the nation.