Policy and Legislation
Much of the focus in Washington has been on fixing Social Security's retirement system, but the disability system is in much worse shape. The trust fund that supports disability benefits will run out of money by 2017, according to new estimates.
The Affordable Care Act’s medical loss ratio issue (requiring insurers’ administrative and other non-medical costs to remain below prescribed percentages) has dropped out of the limelight recently, but that doesn’t mean that it’s been forgotten.
Ignoring months of protests, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Friday the next steps for an expansion of a competitive bidding program designed to help lower costs for quality durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies.
Quality improvements and lower costs have been touted as benefits of hospital-physician alignment, but such results are not guaranteed says a briefing released by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), a nonpartisan health policy research organization.
A new survey by the National Business Group on Health shows that most large employers plan to ask employees to share a greater portion of the costs for health benefits in 2012. Employers are also increasingly turning to consumer driven health plans in an effort to control costs.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday $40 million in grants for efforts to identify and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Western Missouri and Kansas filed a lawsuit yesterday challenging a new Kansas state law prohibiting insurance companies from providing abortion coverage in their health plans.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken its national 5010 testing days to the next level: a whole week – Aug. 22 to 26 – dedicated to testing in advance of the Jan. 1, 2012 compliance date.
Drug shortages across the U.S. are hitting record rates and are causing a variety of issues when it comes to patient care. Among the concerns, some “gray market” vendors may be charging unfair prices and in some cases, may be selling drugs that are ineffective, unsafe or both.
In October 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will launch value-based purchasing, which will impact discharge payment structures for all short-term acute care hospitals.