Policy and Legislation
Even with the major revisions to the final regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs), uncertainty remains. The risks and technical challenges hospitals will face in transforming to the ACO model are daunting and require consideration.
Occupy Healthcare, an offshoot movement of Occupy Wall Street, is not covered as much as its parent, even though it is united in effort and, unlike the better known movement, has clear demands.
Within the past month, the Occupy Wall Street movement has moved to other political regimes. A new website, occupyhealthcare.net, with the mission of "Working together for change," has been drawing Americans' attention to the current healthcare system in this country and how together we can address common concerns.
For the third straight month the number of Americans who continue to smoke topped 21 percent, despite the fact that access to life's basic necessities such as food, shelter, medicine and healthcare reached a four-year low, according to the October 2011 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI).
If healthcare organizations are going to achieve reductions in medical errors, hospital-acquired infections and hospital readmissions, folks are going to have to work together and senior leadership at those organizations must engage patients and their families in the effort.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are giving payers, providers and vendors a bit of a break. It has instituted a 90-day grace period for HIPAA 5010. January 1, 2012 is still the compliance date, but CMS said it will not "initiate enforcement action" on that compliance before March 31, 2012.
It's official. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the constitutionality of President Obama's Affordable Care Act. The justices made their announcement in a brief order Monday morning. We asked our Healthcare Finance News Twitter followers their thoughts on the appeal. Here is a recap.
The cost of health insurance is outstripping income growth in all 50 states says a new report released today by the Commonwealth Fund.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced Tuesday that the Obama administration has decreased improper payments by $17.6 billion dollars in 2011.
Cancer is expensive — the American Cancer Society estimates that the 2010 total cost of cancer in the U.S. soared to $263.8 billion. These costs can drive people to financial ruin.