Reimbursement

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is on the trail of all things data, with a new executive position given a charge of making sense of it all, plus some other major comings and goings.

The likes of Lowe's and Walmart are moving ahead with the providers of excellence bundled payment model, applying it to a costly surgical treatment that's being marketed to an aging workforce with a low back pain epidemic.

One health system is getting on the wave of health transparency and posting price estimates, although it still comes with barriers to patients shopping around for health services.

Out of 1,010 large medical groups that Medicare evaluated under the physician value-based payment modifier, just 14 are getting payment increases this year. But at the same time, only 11 groups will be getting reductions for low quality or high spending.

A lot of health insurers still have many miles to go on the road to parity for consumers seeking mental health and substance abuse treatment, patient advocates maintain.

New evidence from Massachusetts suggests that expanded health insurance may not bring the needed benefits of reduced hospitalization, and could spur a rethinking of cost-sharing for valuable primary care.

As the palliative care movement grows, more and more physicians feel that so much effort is spend trying to extend life that few focus on what patients want in their last days.

Even though consumers are digging deeper to cover rising out-of-pocket medical costs, they're contributing less to health savings accounts that could help take the sting out of their expenses.

The agency is also briefly delaying enforcement of the 'two midnight rule' until Senators have a chance to vote on the bill.

Consolidation is a fact of life in American business. In fact, some of our biggest industries--banking, retail stores, airlines--have been fundamentally reshaped by consolidation and the application of more competitive business models.