Quality and Safety
There are nearly 4 million births a year in the U.S. and 98 percent still arrive in hospitals, but the increase in birth centers run by midwives has obstetricians, health insurers and hospitals taking notice.
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey's new ONMIA health alliance is under scrutiny from legislators in the state who want to delay the plan's rollout amid questions of how hospitals were chosen for the Tier 1 network.
A significant number of people accessing ED care for overdoses are coming from underinsured populations where almost no subsidy is paid back to the healthcare provider.
Private Health Management, a Los Angeles based company that - for a substantial fee - helps patients figure out what's wrong with them, often after an array of doctors have failed to do so.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday launched a new accountable care model for kidney care companies, linking dialysis facilities, nephrologists and other providers in more than a dozen ACOs that will share in the risk associated with treating Americans with end-stage renal disease.
While the Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell that cleared subsidized health insurance premiums under the Affordable Care Act removed a lot of uncertainty from hospital finance, little has changed when it comes to hospitals' access to debt. But that may change.
Earlier this year Medicare gave bonuses to 1,700 hospitals and reduced payments to 1,360 hospitals based on their mortality rates, patient reviews, degree of improvement and other measurements.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Friday said it has awarded more than $110 million to 17 hospital associations and health systems to support efforts in reducing patient harm tied to preventable medical errors and hospital-acquired conditions.
Dedicated funding is needed for research, the report says, and hospitals and doctors need to develop better ways to identify, reduce and learn from "near misses."
A new consumer website unveiled Monday by the California Department of Insurance hopes to help Californians better shop for health care based on both quality and price.