Policy and Legislation

The California Department of Managed Health Care has asked Blue Shield of California to justify a 37.5 percent increase for approximately 70,000 members who are in managed care plans.

We can compare the price of a new car or appliance but when it comes to certain medical devices, including implants, the costs are kept from patients, hospitals and even the government.

Large employers are rethinking their retiree healthcare strategy as a result of federal healthcare reform, according to Aon Hewitt, a global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation.

One day after converting its hostile takeover bid to an all-cash offer of $6 per share for Tenet Healthcare, Community Health Systems filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Tenet accusing CHS of improper Medicare billing.

A new survey shows one in six employers favor a federally funded universal healthcare system.

Merrill Goozner of GoozNews has a provocative take on the Ryan plan for Medicare. He contends that it is the equivalent of a 100 percent estate tax (or “death tax” in GOP parlance). He has a point.

Two owners of a seven-location chain of mental health clinics have pled guilty in Miami District Court for their roles in a scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent Medicare claims.

A bi-partisan bill introduced in the Senate and House seeks to remedy the complex and confusing rules for inpatient observation of Medicare beneficiaries.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday outlined his plan for reducing the federal deficit and cutting Medicare costs. Unlike the GOP plan, his plan would "use a scalpel, not the machete," he said.

After two decades of critical nurse and physician shortages, an economic climate of high unemployment would seem to be the antidote for the healthcare sector.