Policy and Legislation
More than 1,000 registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente's Los Angeles Medical Center are going on strike Wednesday - the first nursing strike at the Sunset Boulevard facility in 20 years.
The Justice Department has reached a settlement with the United Regional Health Care System of Wichita Falls, Tex., that prohibits it from entering into contracts that prevent commercial health insurers from contracting with the system's competitors.
The Alabama State Supreme Court has upheld a 2009 ruling that Richard Scrushy, founder and former CEO of HealthSouth, must pay $2.8 billion to shareholders over accusations of fraud.
The ongoing debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is about more than whether this provision or that provision is beneficial or damaging to the nation’s economy and health care system. The debate is also about the appropriate role of the federal government compared to that of state governments and individuals.
CMS has apparently determined that facilities with DRG payments in excess of $100 million during the last fiscal year have the ability to address a larger number of RAC additional documentation requests.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday nearly $200 million in new grant funds to help states make health insurance premiums more transparent and to give states the power to stop "unreasonable premium increases."
Some quick tidbits and news items concerning health care reform you hopefully find useful – or at least interesting.
The creation of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), health insurance policies with high deductibles linked to a savings option and with more financial responsibility shouldered by patients and employees and less by employers, was completely inevitable.
A potential change in the way the National Labor Relations Board determines how workers in non-acute care facilities unionize has the potential to raise costs and impact the quality of care at such facilities, says the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living.
There is a 50 percent likelihood of a complete government shutdown over the coming months, said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich at Monday's opening keynote at the HIMSS11 conference in Orlando, Fla.