Policy and Legislation
After months fraught with website glitches and widespread industry opposition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has made public Open Payments, its "new system of records" detailing physicians' receipt of payment and gifts from pharmaceutical companies and other third-party business associates.
Rural, critical access hospitals are being left out of some of the biggest shifts in American healthcare initiated by the ACA, leaving some rural healthcare leaders worried about being marginalized and that they could be left behind as reforms spread.
Hospitals are projected to save $5.7 billion this year as previously uninsured patients gain coverage through the 2010 health care law, the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday.
The ranks of Medicaid keep growing, and at record levels. But while that's good news for hospital systems' uncompensated care budgets, there are still challenges.
Convincing electronic health record-reluctant physicians to get on board may have just gotten a little harder. That's because a technical glitch in the reporting system of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' meaningful use program may cost physicians millions of dollars in penalties.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published a final rule updating the hospice wage index and payment rate for Fiscal Year 2015. It adopts a number of payment reforms addressing concerns about program integrity, beneficiary protection and quality.
For U.S. community health centers, the recent announcement of $295 million in Affordable Care Act funding was welcome news. But the five-year period of mandatory ACA funding expires next September, meaning CHCs face a reduction of up to 70 percent in grant funding.
In its new rules, CMS places great emphasis on the physician's documentation regarding his or her expectation of a patient's need for hospital care and anticipated length of stay. Therefore, it is essential that all hospital physicians are educated about the heightened importance of documentation within the medical record.
Congress returned on Monday with just a few weeks until they adjourn to campaign. The Senate is set to adjourn by September 23 while the House could be in session for as little as 2 weeks. Here's a look at what happened in healthcare while Congress was in recess.
While others have dispassionately made the point that there are unexplained variations in Medicare physician billing data that warrant careful consideration when using such data, one doctor thinks CMS has devious motives.