Policy and Legislation
With national budget crises and many in Congress fearing healthcare will be taking a back seat these days, we decided to ask our Healthcare Finance News social media followers how they felt CMS' competitive bidding program would perform.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a rule Wednesday for its 2011 Medicare Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program that pushed back a deadline for physicians seeking a hardship waiver to Nov 1.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday awarded $40 million in grants to public health departments across the country to help them strengthen their infrastructure, performance and efficiency and to create new jobs.
In a 3-to-1 decision, the National Labor Relations Board overruled a decision made 20 years ago that set the standard for determining how bargaining units were formed at non-acute care facilities. Opponents have warned that if the NLRB changed the way units are determined at non-acute care facilities like nursing homes, costs will increase and quality of care may suffer.
A new AHCA and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care multi-month media campaign says preserving federal funds for skilled nursing and rehabilitative care will preserve both access to care and jobs.
Many health care provider organizations have not been overly eager to jump onto the Accountable Care Organization (ACO) bandwagon, citing high startup costs and uncertain returns on investment given the complexity of the program.
A provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act that intends to increase Medicare beneficiaries' share of healthcare costs is meeting resistance from a group charged with revising Medigap insurance policies that cover most out-of-pocket expenses.
Republicans have done a good job attacking the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and I’ve criticized their criticisms for being largely cheap shots and inaccuracies.
The Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be dodging its responsibilities to veterans in need of mental healthcare by seeking to appeal a ruling made by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last spring. The side effects of the VA's stonewalling include an increased burden on the nation's healthcare system and dire consequences for the veterans in need of services.
The National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule last week requiring employers to post notices advising employees of their rights to unionize. The new rule, which goes into effect Nov. 14, faced much opposition from businesses that argued that current rules suffice and the board lacks the authority to create such a rule.