News

Flexing its muscle with the healthcare buying power of 1.4 million employees, Wal-Mart last week announced it was contracting with six healthcare organizations nationwide to provide its health plan covered employees with no out-of-pocket costs for specific heart, spine and transplant surgeries.

Last week, a panel of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) experts joined moderator Steve Monroe, managing editor and partner of research and publishing firm, Irving Levin Associates, for a question-and-answer session about buying, selling and valuing SNFs. We share some of the insider tips and perspectives offered during the 90-minute webcast.

Pennsylvania backs off co-payment plan; Texas investigates dental fraud; Alaska to study costs of Medicaid expansion in this week's Medicaid Digest.

The vice presidential debate contained much of the same fact twisting that has sculpted health reform rhetoric on the campaign trail -- the notion that Medicare and Medicaid are teetering on bankruptcy, the voucher plan, the phrase "death panel" and that pesky $716 billion figure.

State Medicaid directors are caught in the vice grip of competing interests driven by the looming election, lean state budgets, uncertainty about expansion caused by the Supreme Court health reform decision and the threat that Congress will cut the health program to help balance the federal budget.  

While hospitals historically have focused on driving down costs by making improvements in their revenue cycle, nurse productivity and supply chain management efficiency, one area that hasn't received as much attention is the costs associated with the number of assets hospitals own and maintain, said John McCarthy, general manager of asset management professional services at GE Healthcare. McCarthy shares four initiatives to help healthcare organizations reduce overall inventory and drive down costs.

Beginning in October, more than 4 million businesses will receive 2012 economic census forms representing all U.S. communities and industries. All forms will be delivered by the end of the year and must be returned to the U.S. Census Bureau by Feb. 12, 2013.

Private health insurance exchanges are sprouting up and established ones want to grow, challenging state-based HIXs and expanding the retail insurance market.

According to a recent study published in the October issue of Health Affairs, comparative effectiveness studies of widely used treatments can change practice patterns, thereby reducing healthcare costs.

Healthcare IT and pharma M&A activity year-to-date improved 19 percent compared to the first three quarters of 2011, according to a recent report from mid-market investment banking firm Berkery Noyes.