Policy and Legislation

CMS will use the claims and provider data to support policy activities and reimbursement for the Medicare Shared Savings and Pioneer ACO Model programs.

Medicare Advantage premiums will decrease by an average of 4 percent in 2012 and plans expect enrollment to increase by as much as 10 percent, according to an announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Thursday.

If the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' proposed changes to the Home Health Prospective Payment System go through, more than half of all home health agencies in the United States will face negative Medicare financial margins, says the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday awards totaling $10 million to aid 129 organizations across the country that want to become community health centers.

At a White House meeting yesterday, Vice President Biden announced new initiatives aimed at tackling government spending waste, including one to fight waste in Medicaid that could save taxpayers more than $2 billion.

We have a unique opportunity in this country to reduce healthcare costs and improve care at the same time.

The original intent of the Sustainable Growth Rate was noble, says a newly released white paper by MedeAnalytics, but the SGR problem has become infected and needs a cure.

The nation's uninsured population grew to 49.9 million people in 2010 according to US Census figures, an increase of more than 900,000 from 2009.

States overwhelmingly rely on managed care plans for their Medicaid beneficiaries but may not be prepared to scale up for the expected increase in enrollees under health reform.

The wild attacks on Social Security by Republican presidential candidates including Rick Perry’s famous characterization of the program as “a Ponzi scheme” are amusing, but are a serious distraction from the real fiscal issues facing the country.