Policy and Legislation

Allscripts and Humedica have announced their collaboration on a next-generation, cloud-based clinical informatics platform designed to assist physicians and hospitals as they adapt to value-based reimbursement.

One of the hallmarks of Obama's healthcare reform was ensuring that people with pre-existing conditions would not be denied health insurance. The clause went into effect in September 2010.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s controversial plan to privatize Florida’s Medicaid and CHIP programs covering 2.9 million people continued to move through the Florida legislature last month, though a May 6 end to the current session will leave the House and Senate a short window to reconcile the two versions of the bill.

Consumer Watchdog, a non-partisan consumer advocacy group, has called on the administration of President Barack Obama to make health reform waivers "the exception, not the rule."

Is it too early to start thinking about the 2012 elections and potential candidates' takes on healthcare? I don't think so.

Congress has approved the repeal of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that would have required small businesses, including physicians, to file an IRS 1099 form starting in 2012 for each vendor purchase of $600 or more.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued its proposed update for Medicare payment policies and rates for hospitals in fiscal year 2012, and as always, its not great news for providers.

Adverse events cost the healthcare industry billions of dollars. According to a 2010 report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, hospital-acquired sepsis and pneumonia in the United States caused more than 48,000 deaths and cost more than $8 billion to treat in a single year.

In an April 13 televised speech, President Barack Obama outlined his plan for reducing the federal deficit and cutting Medicare costs. Unlike the GOP plan, he said, his plan would "use a scalpel, not the machete."

As the administrative burdens associated with Medicare pile up, some doctors are growing frustrated and walking away from the program or limiting the number of Medicare patients they see.