Policy and Legislation

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) showed that half of all the billings paid by Medicare in 2010 to community mental health centers for the partial hospitalization program were questionable.

With an increasing demand for home care services, home care businesses have been springing up in communities across the country. And with the rapid expansion of these largely unregulated businesses questions about the industry's hiring practices have begun to surface.

A legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act's restriction on doctors owning hospitals was foiled last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Houston dismissed an appeal from Physician Hospitals of America and the Texas Spine & Joint Hospital.

A new survey conducted by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) shows that non-profit providers undergo a higher percentage of government audits than their for-profit peers.

Earlier this month, the Mayo Clinic agreed to settle claims by the U.S. Department of Justice that the Rochester, Minn.-based healthcare system falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid for surgical pathology services that were not provided.

On the U.S. Department of Treasury's Go Direct campaign website is a countdown clock. It isn't counting down to the end of the Mayan calendar. And although some older adults may view the clock as ticking down to the end of the world as they know it, the Treasury Department and leaders of the long-term care industry say the deadline it's counting down to will begin a new era of increased efficiency and cost savings.

An increase in the number of retail medical clinics across the country helped spur a four-fold increase in their use between 2007 and 2009 according to new research from the Rand Corp.

According to a study released Monday by The Commonwealth Fund and published in the August issue of Health Affairs, safety-net hospitals that currently rely on politically-negotiated funding will face significant financial reversals if they fail to change their business practices before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), deficit reduction programs and a weak economy force cutbacks in subsidies.

There are market forces keeping the healthcare mergers and acquisitions market active but not frenetic, according to analysts at a panel called “Financing The Deal” at the Nashville Health Care Council on May 15.

Highmark, Western Pennsylvania's largest health insurer, took another step toward building a comprehensive provider network in the region with the announcement in June of a $275 million commitment to Jefferson Regional Medical Center.