Reimbursement

When Americans talk, pharmaceutical companies listen. And what they've heard is that initiatives to contain or regulate medical costs get labeled as "rationing," a word with very un-American connotations.

New law reinforces the need for hospitals and health systems to establish strategic ties with physicians, ratings agency says.

Kicking off the spring season of managed care earnings statements, UnitedHealth Group shows that business is bustling for modernizing American healthcare and expanding insurance.

For example, among narrow network plans, median premiums are 10 percent higher for plans with an academic medical center than for those without.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is offering businesses long-awaited guidance on employee wellness programs, condoning controversial financial incentives while also raising some questions about other practices.

In an effort to make comparing hospitals more like shopping for refrigerators and restaurants, the federal government has awarded its first star ratings to hospitals based on patients' appraisals.

Greater Philadelphia's largest insurer ended 2014 with a healthy margin, if one lower than a year before, and a portfolio full of new products and ventures.

American healthcare does not need more technology, but leaders to think about systematic problems and how to create solutions for consumers, argues the CEO of Humana.

The SGR repeal legislation could kill the proverbial two birds with one stone, replacing once and for all the unpopular SGR, while also supporting the Department of Health and Human Services' push for fee for value in general and ACOs in particular.

Though new Medicare LTAC regulations are challenging health systems, they're a big opportunity for giants in the long-term care business.