News
While the nation's healthcare costs continue to drain the economy, several forward thinking provider organizations are finding ways to turn the situation around with carefully thought out telemed programs. A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund highlights the cost effective approaches used by three "model citizens."
At President Obama's State of the Union address, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, a guest of Michelle Obama, might have been hoping for a mention of Oregon's ambitious Medicaid reform program, an ACO-like financing and delivery redesign that may eventually extend to Medicare members, public-sector employees and even privately-insured residents.
As a result of the Affordable Care Act and the additional 30 million new customers who will be shopping for and buying insurance products starting in October, health insurance companies are trying to find ways to change their business model. Whereas insurers' focus for decade has been on B-to-B relationships, this new world of healthcare consumerism will make it necessary to become focused on a retail consumer market.
Despite improvements, Medicare has once again been placed on the Government Accountability Office's high-risk list -- a designation the program has held since 1990.
When Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida said in the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address that "the biggest obstacles to balancing the budget are programs where spending is already locked in," the first example he then turned toward is Medicare.
On Valentine's Day, it's either joy or heartbreak -- and for CFOs of hospitals, it's no different. John McCarthy, general manager of asset management at GE Healthcare, consults CFOs nationwide and has witnessed the heartbreak of CFOs. For Healthcare Finance News, he outlines the heartbreak he's seen first hand.
WellPoint's board of directors have selected Joseph Swedish to head the company after last August's investor-stoked departure of Angela Braly.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) declared employer-sponsored health insurance tax exempt in 1943, and ever since health benefits have been an integral part of the American workplace and the greater economy. Today, it is at a crossroads, amid health reform, economic and demographic trends.
Possible cuts in Medicare funding for graduate medical education (GME) that could start as soon as next month come at a critical time when the industry is trying to find solutions to a physician shortage that promises to accelerate through 2020.
When Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address that "the biggest obstacles to balancing the budget are programs where spending is already locked in," he pulled no punches and pointed directly at Medicare.