Policy and Legislation
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has decided to continue its participation with a committee that helps to determine how much the government pays doctors despite that committee's rejection of most of AAFP's demands.
The owner and operator of a Broward County, Fla.-area halfway house was sentenced Tuesday to 24 months in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud kickback scheme that funneled patients through a fraudulent mental health company.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new regulations for the state health insurance exchanges that give states broad flexibility in their design, while also preserving a role for insurance brokers in the post-exchange marketplace.
National news organizations such as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Reuters are reporting that the Justice Department rejected a $1 billion settlement offer by Johnson & Johnson.
A new report prepared for the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers a series of recommendations to help shore up the finances of safety-net hospitals and promote their ability to provide high-quality care to low-income, vulnerable patients once the health reform law is fully implemented.
In an effort to standardize financial transparency for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals in New Jersey, the state's Senate's Health Committee approved a bill that would require for-profits to publicly disclose the same financial information that nonprofit entities must file with the Internal Revenue Services.
Later this month, just as the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the 2010 health law, the House is expected to pass a measure that would repeal an advisory board created in the law to curb Medicare spending if it exceeds specific targets.
A bill sponsored by Republican state Rep. Andrew Manuse to prevent New Hampshire from setting up and running a health insurance exchange passed on Thursday by an overwhelming margin.
A new whitepaper from the Center for Progressive Reform says medical tort reform won't provide significant savings, since the costs of malpractice insurance and paying injured patients amounts to only 0.3 percent of total healthcare costs each year.
The saga of the National Labor Relations Board's "Notice Posting Rule" will continue despite a ruling late last week affirming that the NLRB can require most private businesses to put up posters informing workers that they have the right to form a union.