Reimbursement

A new report released Wednesday examines the health and well-being of people living in nearly every county in the United States, and finds that rates of premature deaths are at the lowest level in 20 years. Nevertheless, people in the unhealthiest counties are dying too early at more than twice the rates of those in the healthiest counties, according to the 2013 Health Rankings, published by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Providers will drive the overhaul of the health system when they focus on the value of their care delivery to produce measurably better outcomes for patients.

State governors who say expanding the Medicaid program as spelled out in the Affordable Care Act is bad for business, may in fact be hurting business owners more by refusing to expand the insurance program for the poor.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, will launch a three-day series of hearings today to investigate issues involving mobile health -- particularly how to keep innovation flowing without over-regulating.

Any patient will tell you that a good bedside manner is just as important as solid medical credentials. As far as Dr. Hubert Fu is concerned, that extends as much to the practice of debt collection as it does to the practice of medicine and that's why he started Debt M.D.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the state's largest insurer, formerly tax-exempt and serving as a guaranteed issuer since 1980, is now subject to the same market rules as its competitors as it becomes a nonprofit mutual company -- with a 70 percent share of the state's commercial market -- under a law signed by the governor Monday.

Even though 2 percent reductions are scheduled to hit Medicare payments due to sequestration cuts beginning on April 1, a recent Standard & Poor's (S&P) report said the futures outlook for for-profit hospitals is stable.

The Congressional Budget Office's reduced estimate of the cost of an SGR repeal may offer an opportunity for the Congress to act, MedPAC said in its annual report to Congress.

Vermont Health Connect, the state insurance exchange, has released a draft version of administrative rules for small group coverage, the first of several frameworks that will govern what's envisioned as a stepping stone to a publicly-financed, single-payer health system.

A new report from non-profits Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3) finds that 29 states get a grade of "F" for their lack of laws to provide for healthcare cost transparency.