Policy and Legislation
The Affordable Care Act wasn't directly on the ballot in any state, but voters did decide a host of health-related issues in the 2014 mid-term elections. And there was no clear theme to what won and lost.
How will a long-time health insurance executive fix the healthcare financing crisis in a state with some of the most expensive and advanced medical care on the planet? Starting in January, Massachusetts is going to find out.
Hospitals dependent on Medicaid disproportionate share allocations must discover new financing models for low-income patients, or else lobby their state governments to make policy changes.
The re-election of Republican governors in closely contested races in Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Maine and Kansas dims the chances of Medicaid expansion in those states.
A recent study paints 340B program participants in a negative light, suggesting that covered entities chase profits and experience windfalls rather than help patients. However, these assumptions are far from true.
The CY 2015 final rule for the home health prospective payment system updates Medicare payment rates to home health agencies, and implements the second year of the four-year phase in of the rebasing of the payment system.
Eight family-physician-related groups, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, have formed Family Medicine for America's Health, a coalition to improve the public perception of what they do and advance their interests through state and federal policies.
Last week the HHS Office of Inspector General and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published a joint notice continuing the effectiveness of fraud and abuse law waivers granted in 2011 in connection with the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
An article published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine casts doubt that malpractice reform would reduce the use of supposed "defensive medicine."
This week CMS launched an ACO Investment Model, which will provide up to $114 million in upfront investments, to up to 75 Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs. The program aims to help ACOs succeed in the MSSP by providing upfront capital to cover startup and ongoing infrastructure costs.