Policy and Legislation
As we get closer to 2014, consumers are being surrounded by news coverage, ads and opinions about the health law. And many of them are turning to their doctors for advice. The American Medical Association wants to help doctors with answers.
Hospital administrators are saying recent recommendations from the Office of Inspector General regarding critical access hospital certification will result in hospital closures.
In this age of dwindling resources and competing priorities, nutrition research holds the key to increasing our understanding of the causes of obesity and its related co-morbidities and holds promise to markedly influence global health and economies.
The Affordable Care Act's medical loss ratio regulation appears to be achieving its goals of reducing insurers' administrative costs and tempering profits.
States should adopt the Medicare competitive bidding payment amounts to purchase medical equipment instead of the higher Medicaid fee schedule amounts, according to a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
In a report released by the Unversity of Calgary's School of Public Policy, Professor Hugh Grant makes the argument that physicians' incomes have risen far too high while financial problems plague Canada's healthcare system.
Last month, the Institute of Medicine published a much-awaited report which recommends that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should not adjust Medicare payments geographically, but should continue to focus on value-based payment reforms.
Polls show that few people understand health insurance or the Affordable Care Act. That's especially so for those who have the most to gain from Obamacare: people who are uninsured and haven't had health insurance for a while.
About half the births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid -- a figure higher than previous estimates -- and a new study suggests the numbers could increase as the state-federal health insurance program expands under the Affordable Care Act.
CMS is applying a 1.8 percent payment update to IRF PPS rates for FY 2014, derived from a 2.6 percent market basket update that is reduced by a 0.5 percentage point multi-factor productivity adjustment and an additional 0.3 percentage point reduction as required by the ACA.