Policy and Legislation

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday issued its first public rebuke under its new powers to review health insurance increases greater than 10 percent, calling on Everence Insurance in Pennsylvania to cut its planned premium increases to 5,000 members.

The announcement on November 14 that the Supreme Court will review various aspects of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act has set legal experts to guessing possible outcomes.

Kaiser Permanente is suing the California Nurses Association saying it violated terms of the current contract when the union authorized a sympathy strike last September.

In an effort to provide some sense of certainty about an ACO's ability to reach the so-called triple aim of reducing cost, improving quality and enhancing patient experience, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released on Monday its standards and guidelines which are the basis of its ACO accreditation program.

As policymakers and employers struggle with the rising costs of healthcare, there's a direct solution to cutting healthcare costs while not sacrificing quality of care says the Institute for Women's Policy Research: paid sick days.

Even with the major revisions to the final regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs), uncertainty remains. The risks and technical challenges hospitals will face in transforming to the ACO model are daunting and require consideration.

Occupy Healthcare, an offshoot movement of Occupy Wall Street, is not covered as much as its parent, even though it is united in effort and, unlike the better known movement, has clear demands.

Within the past month, the Occupy Wall Street movement has moved to other political regimes. A new website, occupyhealthcare.net, with the mission of "Working together for change," has been drawing Americans' attention to the current healthcare system in this country and how together we can address common concerns.

For the third straight month the number of Americans who continue to smoke topped 21 percent, despite the fact that access to life's basic necessities such as food, shelter, medicine and healthcare reached a four-year low, according to the October 2011 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI).

If healthcare organizations are going to achieve reductions in medical errors, hospital-acquired infections and hospital readmissions, folks are going to have to work together and senior leadership at those organizations must engage patients and their families in the effort.