Policy and Legislation
On November 24, 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is publishing its final rule updating the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (HOPPS) and the ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system rates and policies for calendar year (CY) 2011.
Donald Berwick, MD, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, faced the Senate for the first time on Wednesday, a few months after President Barack Obama nominated him to the post in a move designed to avoid such a review.
A federal report shows more than 14 percent of Medicare patients who enter the hospital are harmed by errors or oversights before they leave.
Much of the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's medical loss ratio provisions have focused on what expenses are to be considered claims and quality improvement spending, which are to be treated as administrative costs, and what carrier expenditures should be removed from the MLR calculation altogether.
Open enrollment began Monday for Medicare in 2011, drawing expectations and trepidation from seniors and doctors. This year, while seniors can look forward to more coverage, doctors face a 25 percent pay cut unless Congress intervenes.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has formally established the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is requesting stakeholders - particularly physicians - to give their two cents on accountable care organizations.
American businesses spend a lot of time complaining about overregulation, but with the passage of the Affordable Care Act now some eight months in the past, it's the lack of regulations that is becoming a problem.
A pilot matching one of New Hampshire's largest insurance companies and its largest healthcare provider could pave the way for the creation of an accountable care organization.
Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are supposed to control costs and improve quality under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Everyone seems to be maneuvering toward creating or participating in an ACO, even if no one is quite sure what exactly they will be.