Reimbursement
On Jan. 1 2013, 106 new accountable care organizations began participating in the Medicare shared savings program, as federal health officials try to show that new health reform programs powered in part by better IT are starting to reap financial benefits.
What will be some of the pressing issues in the healthcare sector that will impact financial administrators in 2013? There's a lot to choose from, that's for sure, but a few healthcare experts narrowed the options down during a daylong session for members of the Maine chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
An Oregon lawmaker wants to open the state insurance rate review process to consumer watchdog groups, potentially making public certain financial data and giving consumer groups the right to intervene.
While only 17 percent of the working age U.S. population, adults with disabilities account for disproportionately high (almost 40 percent) emergency department visits, according to a recent study from National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers.
During December, CMS estimated that it paid 10,000 Medicare eligible physicians $175 million and 4,200 Medicaid physicians $80 million in EHR incentives. In December, 850 hospitals under the combined programs received $1 billion. Total payments since the program's inception have reached $10.3 billion.
Insurers, lobbyists and state regulators are weighing in on the federal government's proposed rules for market regulations and rate reviews under the Affordable Care Act, with some worried about the potential for price shocks and market distortions associated with new age rating rules and limitations on geographic price variation.
An analysis by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that for the third consecutive year, healthcare spending grew in 2011 by 3.9 percent or a total of $2.7 trillion, the lowest growth rate recorded since CMS began tracking healthcare spending in 1960.
The insurance and technology firm SeeChange Health landed $15 million in capital funding from two investment firms, the Psilos Group and Maverick Capital, who say they sense a shift in the employer-provided insurance market towards more focus on wellbeing and early intervention.
The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has designated Booz Allen Hamilton as a Common Security Framework (CSF) Assessor.
In Reducing surgical complications: How to make it happen faster, I contrasted the way a hospital gets paid for rework with what happens in a manufacturing environment.