Policy and Legislation
For the second time, the government has delayed enforcement of HIPAA 5010, CMS said Thursday. The new enforcement date is June 30, 2012.
In conjunction with NPR news, Kaiser Health News reported this week that the state of Connecticut is divvying out a new plan to replace home nurses with hired home health aides, in order to administer medications for patients with chronic illnesses.
As part of The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services effort to dramatically reduce hospital readmissions by 2013, the agency has announced 23 new organizations that will participate in its Community-based Care Transitions Program (CCTP).
In a panel discussion at the Nashville Health Care Council, one veteran Washington journalist -- along with think-tank analysts and an insurance executive -- predicted that the Supreme Court is likely to uphold all provisions of the Affordable Care Act this spring.
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.