Policy and Legislation

For U.S. community health centers, the recent announcement of $295 million in Affordable Care Act funding was welcome news. But the five-year period of mandatory ACA funding expires next September, meaning CHCs face a reduction of up to 70 percent in grant funding.

In its new rules, CMS places great emphasis on the physician's documentation regarding his or her expectation of a patient's need for hospital care and anticipated length of stay. Therefore, it is essential that all hospital physicians are educated about the heightened importance of documentation within the medical record.

Congress returned on Monday with just a few weeks until they adjourn to campaign. The Senate is set to adjourn by September 23 while the House could be in session for as little as 2 weeks. Here's a look at what happened in healthcare while Congress was in recess.

While others have dispassionately made the point that there are unexplained variations in Medicare physician billing data that warrant careful consideration when using such data, one doctor thinks CMS has devious motives.

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Amid a massive backlog of hospital inpatient claims appeals at the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is giving providers the chance to settle up and get paid - at least in large part.

With an annual rate of 11,000 fatalities from falls in U.S. hospitals, falls are a persistent concern for healthcare facilities. They raise issues of care quality and are increasingly a financial issue.

In its June report to Congress, MedPAC made recommendations that would change the way post-acute care providers are reimbursed. Reviews from providers are mixed.

A newly released scorecard by the AARP Policy Institute, with support from The SCAN Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund, ranks states on how well each delivers long-term services and supports to older adults and people with disabilities.

The ACA created the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to launch experiments in every state, changing the way doctors and hospitals are paid, building networks between caregivers and training them to intervene before chronic illness gets worse, but one of the biggest experiments is the center itself.