Policy and Legislation

Immigration reform is once again being taken up in the country's capital, and depending on the final shape it takes, it could be a boon for the long-term care industry.

When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed, in mid-February, an additional 2.3 percent cut to the rates it pays private insurers for running Medicare Advantage plans in 2014, the reaction from America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) was swift, comprehensive and sustained.

By 2014, the core operating rules will likely have a major effect on reimbursement and revenue cycle processes and, as a result, payments, according to speakers who represented the payer, provider and banking perspectives at a Tuesday session titled "The Business Side of Care" during the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition.

Doctor-owned hospitals are earning many of the largest bonuses from the federal health law's new quality programs, even as the law halts their growth.

As the dust settles from the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the results of the presidential election and, more recently, the sequester cuts, acute care providers are now turning attention to the looming reimbursement cuts.

With the Affordable Care Act entering the home stretch of implementation, U.S. Senators are still trying to understand the costs and benefits of insurance market reforms, while diagnosing problems in the greater healthcare system.

A new report by Trust for America's Health says prevention improves health and productivity and saves billions, but is prevention really cost effective?

The American Medical Association has challenged a Georgia court’s blocking of a prompt payment law and in the process has raised questions about some of the pillars of federal preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) as it relates to third-party administrators and self-funded insurance plans.

In January, the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s individual mandate will enter the next phase of its roll out. Millions of uninsured Americans will face penalties if they do not enroll in a health plan. Uninsured problem solved, right?

Hospitals in states that don’t expand their Medicaid program as outlined under the Affordable Care Act are facing significant revenue reductions due to regulations that will reduce some Medicare and Medicaid payments in 2014, measures that were written into the law to help pay for the expansion of the insurance program for the poor.