Policy and Legislation
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts struck down a state law in effect since 2009 that barred some legal immigrants residing in the state from receiving subsidized health insurance coverage.
Robert Aquino, former CEO of Parkway Hospital in Queens, NY, pleaded guilty earlier this week to bribing former state senator Carl Kruger to obtain his help in keeping the hospital open.
In a recent blog post, I discussed a growing trend in patient choice of healthcare providers being based on the cost of services. This has become most apparent in the willingness of private health insurers to provide the insured with provider options based on a "tiering" according to the level of deductibles or co-pays.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today that a new Affordable Care Act rule requiring electronic funds transfers will reduce administrative costs for doctors and hospitals, private health plans, states and other government health plans by $4.5 billion over the next 10 years.
Recently, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took a look back and recounted some of the department's biggest accomplishments in 2011. From discounting brand name prescriptions for seniors to helping prevent the nearly 2 million heart attacks and strokes every year, the HHS' efforts resulted not only in a healthier America but significant cost savings across the industry.
Mitt Romney won in Iowa Tuesday by a slim margin of eight votes over Rick Santorum and a few percentage points over Ron Paul. Although healthcare was not a major topic of debate for GOP candidates, it's a matter of great importance to Iowans.
A federal judge ruled last week to block California's plan to cut Medicaid payments to hospitals by 10 percent.
The United States Justice Department has joined a whistleblower case alleging that a national chain of for-profit hospices violated the False Claims Act by spending millions of taxpayer dollars to care for Medicare recipients in hospice who were not terminally ill.
Republican primary voters could help trigger a substantive health care policy debate in this country by giving Jon Huntsman a turn among the frontrunners.
Candidates' views on healthcare reform will matter to Iowa voters but won't be the deciding factor, says Dr. Peter Damiano, director of the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in Iowa City. In this Q&A, Damiano shares his thoughts on the upcoming vote.