Policy and Legislation

Marilyn Tavenner, the senior government official responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act, is stepping down.

Only four groups out of 48 that were studied in the Community-based Care Transition Program significantly cut readmissions compared with those of a control group.

Overall, healthcare leaders are optimistic about the future and are relying on a combination of mergers and acquisitions and organic growth to expand.

Though Republicans this week have already voted to change an employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, healthcare providers are more focused on what the new majority in Washington will do with the controversial tax.

Firm uses software to quickly determine which employees are eligible for Medicaid, then helps those workers sign up.

For-profit hospitals have had a good run recently, and according to credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings that growth is slated to continue … for now.

The expansion of insurance coverage to some 10 million individuals in 2014 has implications for the growth rate in national health expenditures and on health workforce requirements. While there is broad agreement that spending and utilization will be pushed upward, there is much debate about the amounts.

This week the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) published its annual solicitation of recommendations for new or modified safe harbor provisions under the federal anti-kickback statute, as well as potential topics for new OIG Special Fraud Alerts.

Though 2014 saw far fewer issues with Healthcare.gov, the federal government's health insurance exchange, officials are betting big that one of the industry's top firms can fix and improve the service for good.

When Healthcare Finance last year asked experts to name the top industry trends, they selected insurance exchanges, mergers and acquisitions, new payment models, and technology. Things don't look much different in 2015.