Policy and Legislation

Within a handful of miles of the birthplace of the American Revolution, a new revolution was being fomented the last week of April.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) board of directors has endorsed two measures that address all-cause unplanned readmissions in hospitals -- an area of healthcare targeted for improvement given national imperatives to make healthcare safer, more affordable and keep people healthy.

A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that oversight by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of state Medicaid managed care programs was inconsistent and did not ensure the quality of the data used to set rates.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday the finalization of the Community First Choice rule, a new state option under Medicaid.

A rule proposed by CMS Tuesday to update Medicare payment rates for acute-care hospitals would increase payment rates to hospitals by 0.9 percent in Fiscal Year 2013.

CMS announced its final rule for preventing Medicare fraud Tuesday, while the GAO issued a report requesting more action be taken.

A political debate is heating up in Connecticut as politicians consider the ramifications if the ACA is ruled unconstitutional.

The forecast for the Medicare program remains the same as last year, with the program expected to remain solvent until 2024. But the program's solvency depends on several financial and political assumptions that are unpredictable.

A new report indicates that the Affordable Care Act will save Medicare more than $200 billion through 2016, announced the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Monday.

According to a new Commonwealth Fund study, one in four working-age U.S. adults experienced a gap in health insurance coverage during 2011, in many cases because they lost or changed jobs.