Policy and Legislation
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has proposed a two-year project targeting the barriers Medicaid providers face in meeting meaningful use requirements in order to receive federal incentives.
The status of mental health in the U.S. in 2011 is one of the worst problems I have ever seen. So many people are affected by mental illness and the numbers just continue to grow. The suspect in the Tucson shooting slipped through the cracks.
A survey of almost 3,000 physicians indicates 65 percent are worried that healthcare reform would result in less pay for them and lower the quality of care for their patients.
It’s been estimated that fraud adds as much as $60 billion a year to our healthcare costs. Well, the problem has gotten the attention of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) which is tasked with protecting the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the health and welfare of program beneficiaries.
A new study by the Department of Health and Human Services indicates 129 million Americans under age 65 have a pre-existing condition that could render them unable to afford or to qualify for health insurance without the safety provided under the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans are expected to put repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to a vote on Wednesday. Proving yet again that Kabuki is alive and well in Washington, D.C. Which makes what is about to unfold in Congress relatively straightforward to predict with a reasonable degree of confidence.
The Minnesota Medical Association has asked Medica to delay the January 19 release of its individual physician rating program, known as the Premium Designation Program.
Healthcare reform could close the gap between recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, charged by the government to review clinical preventive health services for older adults, and Medicare coverage for those services, according to a new study.
Blue Shield of California has announced it will work with an outside actuarial firm to examine its proposed rate increase for 194,000 individual members, some of whom would see their rates increase by as much as 59 percent.
Medicare coverage for home care visits has a checkered history. The original rationale for including home care in Medicare was straightforward and compelling: it's much cheaper, healthier and pleasant for a patient to be at home receiving skilled care than to stay in a hospital for lack of enough support in the home environment.