Budgeting

Information technology expenditures in medical practices have risen since 2008, spurred by incentives from the federal government.

Business pressures are forcing hospital CFOs to re-evaluate their revenue cycle management solutions.

For healthcare employers, the recent modest growth in insurance premiums in employer-sponsored group plans has more impactful consequences for the their bottom line than it does for non-healthcare employers.

The federal government's PPI report indicated that prices across the range of healthcare industries were equivalent to those in July, although 1.1 percent higher than a year ago.

Highmark Health Services, a big Blue Cross Blue Shield plan is rolling out its Care Cost Estimator, a transparency tool designed to get members to make cost-saving choices.

U.S. nonprofit hospitals' financial performance in fiscal year 2012 wasn't strong, and the outlook for FY 2013 doesn't appear to be much better.

Clinical trials are important to the development of new drugs, medical devices and procedures, but budgets for these trials are under increasing pressure.

In a report released by the Unversity of Calgary's School of Public Policy, Professor Hugh Grant makes the argument that physicians' incomes have risen far too high while financial problems plague Canada's healthcare system.

Healthcare providers must carefully balance the need to control costs against their mission to deliver the highest quality care. One of the multiple paths to this end may be the use of reverse auction services to strategically source and negotiate contracts.

Hospitals, physicians and payers will focus information technology investments on highest-priority and efficiency projects to meet regulations.