Policy and Legislation

National health spending in 2012 increased at a 3.7 percent rate to $2.8 trillion, the fourth consecutive year of slow growth, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in an analysis.

Hospitals and health systems will face ever more pressure in 2014 to establish the core skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing healthcare market.

Risk management programs instituted by the Affordable Care Act may make older, higher-cost members more profitable for insurers than expected.

In late December, President Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which includes the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013. While SGR drew most of the media attention, the Act includes a number of other provisions impacting the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay the United States $5.475 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by paying improper kickbacks to induce doctors to use some of its products.

The December issue of Healthcare Finance News highlights the biggest stories our staff covered across the previous 12 months. And as has been the case for much of the past decade, many of the top issues deal with the tremendous changes impacting the healthcare industry.

Doctors are getting a three-month reprieve from Congress. Included in the bipartisan two-year budget deal to fund the government is a delay until March of a scheduled 24 percent Medicare payment cut and a 0.5 percent pay increase.

Oversight of the health insurance exchanges and the shift to value-based payments are the leading management challenges facing the Department of Health and Human Services in the coming year and the most concerning to the HHS Office of Inspector General.

The Obama administration's 2014 fiscal year budget proposal included a 28 percent cap on the benefits of tax-exempt bonds that could have a dramatic impact on healthcare providers.

Things are looking up for physicians fighting to get their payments from Medicare stable.