Policy and Legislation
In a move that dramatically changes how it pays end-stage renal disease facilities, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Wednesday issued a final rule that will allow payment adjustments based on how well facilities meet dialysis performance standards.
Citing low reimbursement rates that could threaten its ability to provide medical care to all patients, Appalachian Regional Healthcare on Monday filed a lawsuit against the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and its Bureau for Medical Services for inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates.
A new OIG report, “Questionable Billing for Medicare Outpatient Therapy Services,” reviews 20 counties with the highest Medicare outpatient therapy payments per beneficiary and overall high outpatient utilization levels in 2009.
State policy experts have named healthcare reform as one of the top issues that state lawmakers should expect to face in 2011.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has awarded $206 million in bonus payments to 15 sates that have made significant progress in increasing the number of children enrolled in Medicaid.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, is pressuring the Obama administration to defend how it has spent money fighting Medicare fraud.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced that registration for the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health records incentive programs opens January 3. Eligible professionals, hospitals and critical access hospitals must use certified EHR technology to be eligible.
Before I worked for a carrier I’d often wonder if the folks who write health plan benefit descriptions go to a special school that teaches them how to write these documents in as confusing and obtuse a manner as possible. After all, each carrier writes documents in their own way sometimes using the same or similar terms to mean something different.
According to a new study, one in six physicians in 2008 reported that their practice owned or leased advanced imaging equipment.
In a war of words that has implications for Pennsylvania's budget crisis, Governor Edward Rendell on Monday released data from a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report that showed the state's Medicaid error rate was 4.07 percent, much lower than the rate in excess of 15 percent claimed last month by Auditor General Jack Wagner.