Policy and Legislation
The U.S. Department of Treasury late last week proposed regulations aimed at aiding patients gain access to financial assistance at charitable hospitals while also providing protection to patients from overly aggressive payment collection in the ER.
With the fervor of a true believer, former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker urged an audience Tuesday during a keynote address at HFMA's ANI conference in Las Vegas to be the leaders the country's lawmakers are not.
The future of the nation's largest health insurance program -- Medicaid -- hangs in the balance of the Supreme Court's decision on the 2010 health law.
A study released last week by the non-profit healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA found that in 2010, 26,100 people between the ages of 25 and 64 died prematurely due to a lack of health insurance.
All eyes in the healthcare industry are on the Supreme Court as they await its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, now likely to be handed down Thursday morning. There's no doubt the decision will have a major impact on a number of issues, ranging from new industry regulations to popular provisions to the effects on small businesses.
In its June 2012 report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) focused on three areas: Medicare benefit design, care coordination for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare and care coordination for those dually-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
In the rush to regulate the fast-growing industry of mobile medical apps, Congress has apparently sidestepped a potential power struggle with the Food and Drug Administration over the agency's authority to regulate them.
David Walker, founder and CEO of the Comeback America Initiative and former U.S. Comptroller General, will be giving the keynote address at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26 during the Healthcare Financial Management Association's ANI conference. He gave Healthcare Finance News Managing Editor Stephanie Bouchard a glimpse of what attendees may expect to hear.
The recipients of 81 new Health Care Innovation Awards were announced last week by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The Physician Sentiment Index, conducted by Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth and Cambridge, Mass.-based Sermo, indicates that the majority of doctors expect the quality of healthcare to decrease in the near future.