Reimbursement

Editor's note: The following report is published here with permission from the Center for Public Integrity. Electronic medical records, long touted by government officials as a critical tool for cutting health care costs, appear to be prompting some doctors and hospitals to bill higher fees to Medicare for treating seniors.

Organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of value-based purchasing. One industry expert offers three strategies for getting started immediately and making the most of this new payment model.

The Institute of Medicine says we are wasting 30 cents of every dollar we spend on medical care. Originally I was going to pan the study, but I can't resist a good read. Like this: If banking were like health care, automated teller machine (ATM) transactions would take not seconds but perhaps days or longer as a result of unavailable or misplaced records.

Officials: Wisconsin will need another $650 million for Medicaid Wisconsin's Department of Health Services submitted a proposal to Gov. Scott Walker for an additional $650 million needed to fund the state's Medicaid program for the next two-year budget cycle.

According to the authors of a new analysis published Wednesday in Health Affairs, there are three overlying lessons for state and federal healthcare policy makers to be learned from Massachusett's healthcare law experiences.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are projected to increase enrollment by 11 percent in 2013 and that average premium prices will remain unchanged. The news follows last month's announcement that Medicare Part D prescription drug plan premiums would also hold steady.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder wants to turn Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan into a mutual insurance company and bring it under the same laws regulating other insure -- a plan that has company executives shrugging their shoulders.

U.S. Senator John Kerry is sponsoring legislation that would expand Meaningful Use financial incentives for providers that serve predominantly lower-income Americans but don't qualify for the Medicaid EHR incentive program.

Health Care Services Corp., the largest customer-owned health insurer in the country with more than 13 million members, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana announced they would be aligning in a deal that is expected to provide the Montana Blue with added operational efficiencies.

A recently released health policy brief examining the efforts in the U.S. healthcare system to improve care transitions concludes that simple solutions would go a long way to improving patient care and saving costs.