Policy and Legislation
Cost of free care provided to patients who can't afford to pay slides to $101 million in 2014 compared with $171 million in 2013.
Transparency mandates make it tricky for health systems, as a procedure’s cost and what patients pay is very different.
Glenn Haggstrom presided over a medical center project in Aurora, Colorado that ballooned from an expected $328 million to more than $1.7 billion.
Stiffer penalties for not having coverage and redoubled efforts to reach out and educate people about the health law and their obligations may be keys to increasing enrollment for people in these income groups.
After holding an overnight vote-a-rama session well into Friday morning, the U.S. Senate decided to delay voting on the sustainable growth rate repeal until after its recess.
Thursday's vote came after a two-hour debate Thursday morning, with 212 Republicans and 180 Democrats voting in favor.
If people choose not to have important preventive care and end up needing an expensive hospital stay years later as a result, everybody is worse off.
Cost of repealing Medicare's sustainable growth rate would add $145 billion in government spending, report claims.
Meanwhile, proposed legislation could cost physicians more, leading to more alignment with hospitals.
Participants in the program are expected to scale their value-based payments to 30 percent by 2016 and 50 percent by 2018.