Policy and Legislation
Healthcare Finance News talked to Debra Miller, director of health policy for the Council of State Governments, about the top five health policy issues states are focused on in 2014.
Reimbursing a physician for their time spent in having end-of-life discussions is not an incentive for a "death panel" decision; it would be compensating them for doing their job. If all we do is compensate physicians for treating people aggressively regardless of the circumstances, we will get what we pay for: an expensive healthcare system run amok.
In a reversal of 30 years' past practice, Medicare may start to disclose what it pays individual physicians for its services to seniors.
This week, CMS released a proposed rule that would make significant revisions to the Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug program regulations. The agency estimates that the rule changes would reduce Medicare spending by $1.3 billion between 2015 and 2019.
Maryland officials have reached what analysts say is an unprecedented deal to limit medical spending and abandon decades of expensively paying hospitals for each extra procedure they perform. If the plan works, Maryland hospitals will be financially rewarded for keeping people out of the hospital.
When discussing solutions to the problem of primary care shortages, nurse practitioners and physician assistants are top of mind. A law that took effect the first of the year in California is putting the spotlight on another option: pharmacists.
National health spending in 2012 increased at a 3.7 percent rate to $2.8 trillion, the fourth consecutive year of slow growth, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in an analysis.
Hospitals and health systems will face ever more pressure in 2014 to establish the core skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing healthcare market.
Risk management programs instituted by the Affordable Care Act may make older, higher-cost members more profitable for insurers than expected.
In late December, President Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which includes the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013. While SGR drew most of the media attention, the Act includes a number of other provisions impacting the Medicare and Medicaid programs.