Reimbursement

UnitedHealth Group's Center for Health Reform and Modernization has released a report outlining policy ideas for improving the nation's financial and physical health, with proposals for nationwide diabetes prevention campaigns, the use of risk coordinated care and alternative Medicare payment systems designed to eliminate the problems associated with fee-for-service payments.

In a report released last week, the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System describes a set of three healthcare policies that could slow health spending by $2 trillion over 10 years by focusing on the way public and private purchasers pay for healthcare, enhancing consumers' choices of higher-value care and streamlining administrative procedures.

Reimbursement rates for treating Medicare patients will continue to be a major issue for physicians in 2013 some industry experts predict.

In pursuit of integrated care delivery and more integrated business, two Atlanta health systems are forming the Georgia Health Collaborative and launching joint health plans.

The St. Louis-based insurer Centene said it's buying a comprehensive speciality drug company called AcariaHealth for $152 million, as part of its plan for treatment of complex illnesses.

UnitedHealth Group is pushing a theme of behavior change and incentives to improve America's troubled healthcare system -- and, more importantly, the American patient. It's a battle that Reed Tuckson, MD, UnitedHealth's executive vice president and chief of medical affairs, says won't be easy.

California's top insurance regulator is backing a state ballot initiative asking voters to give his office the power to approve health insurance rate increases.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission intensified its call to repeal the SGR (sustainable growth rate) formula despite the legislative fix at year-end to avert the fiscal cliff and override the planned 26.5 percent cut to provider payments.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission intensified its call to repeal the SGR (Sustainable Growth Rate) formula despite the legislative fix at year-end to avert the fiscal cliff and override the planned 26.5 percent cut to provider payments.

Were Mark Twain still around, he might say that reports on the killing off of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have been greatly exaggerated.