Reimbursement
An analysis from HealthPocket raises the specter that individuals who obtain health coverage under Medicaid starting in 2014 will have to dig to find a clinician who will treat them.
Getting uninsured Americans covered by insurance is not just a goal of the federal government's. It has also become a goal of the American Hospital Association's and at its annual membership meeting in April, a panel discussion focused on how to reach that goal.
When it comes to paying for new procedures or new ways of delivering care, private insurers often keep their eyes on payment policies from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. If CMS begins compensation for a service, the private payers will likely follow. But that rule of thumb may not apply in the new world of reimbursing for telemedicine and telehealth services.
Electronic health records, when used correctly, produce more accurate documentation leading to more complete coding, and ultimately, more accurate reimbursement claims, according to Sue Bowman, senior director of coding policy and compliance of the American Health Information Management Association.
Every week, I get an email from the Maryland Health Connection -- the state run health insurance exchange. Maryland is one of a minority of states that are building their own Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") exchange.
Cigna Corp. announced its net earnings fell to $57 million or 20 cents per share in the first quarter 2013 down from $371 million or $1.28 per share last year, largely the result of a previously announced $507 million charge from its Febraury reinsurance deal with Berkshire Hathaway.
Patient Privacy Rights appointed Adrian Gropper, MD as its first chief technology officer. Gropper is an expert in the regulated medical device field, an experienced medical informatics executive, and he has a long record of contributing to the development of state and national health information standards, according to a PPR news release.
West Virginia is the latest state deciding to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act, opening the state-federal insurance program to an additional 91,500 low-income residents, while also expanding managed care.
Collaborations between primary care and behavioral health providers are not new but the leaders of two such organizations believe their newly formed joint venture is a winning formula.
Healthcare costs in Vermont grew by a modest 1.5 percent in 2011 -- a positive sign, say members of the Green Mountain Care Board, but not cause for celebration, especially considering other recent findings of hospital cost-shifting from public-payers to commercial health plans.