Accounting & Financial Management
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recent 10-year projection of national health expenditures includes retail spending on prescription drugs, but a more complete picture of pharma spending would include the nonretail segment.
Like many other industries, healthcare is looking to leverage information technology to transform financial payments and automate the posting of accounts payable and accounts receivable processing systems. But which method to choose?
With an improving fiscal climate, some states are paying their Medicaid providers more. More states are increasing fees to specialists, nursing homes and managed care organizations, but 31 states were cutting or freezing Medicaid hospital rates, compared to 19 that were increasing them.
Healthcare providers are realizing they must create and sustain a more effective revenue cycle to ensure long-term viability. To remain competitive, providers must closely evaluate the current state of their revenue cycle and implement improvement opportunities.
The 2015 Medicare Part A deductible -- for inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility and home healthcare services -- will increase by $44 in calendar year 2015 to $1,260, while the monthly Part A premium will decline by $19. Medicare Part B monthly premiums and deductibles will remain unchanged.
Most hospitals fall well short of their cost reduction targets, in part because the ability of chief financial officers to meaningfully impact how operational and clinical leaders approach the issue is limited.
Many Medicare beneficiaries treated at primarily rural "critical access" hospitals end up paying between two and six times more for outpatient services than do patients at other hospitals, according to a report released Wednesday by the HHS inspector general.
The HHS Inspector General continues to fault CMS for failing to issue final regulations to enforce the location requirements for rural health clinics. The agency's inaction is costing taxpayers millions.
When a healthcare provider's data resides on someone else's servers, plenty can go wrong. And HIPAA isn't necessarily the worst of it. Experts offer contracting advice to help head off financial and legal disputes between vendors and providers.
A new report by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association paints a grim picture of the daunting financial challenges facing hospitals and other healthcare organizations in that state.