Reimbursement

Chartered Health Plan, the oldest Medicaid managed care organization in the District of Columbia, is launching a new text messaging program for 50 of its members to help them better manage diabetes, which requires regular care to avoid costly complications.

At America’s Health Insurance Plans’ Policy Summit last mong, it was impossible not to hear the theme and message AHIP leadership wanted everyone to eat, sleep and breathe: underlying hospital and group medical practice costs are rising too quickly and insurance plans are merely the conduit for how these costs are passed on to the public.

The U.S. Supreme Court has completed three days of hearing oral arguments as part of the judicial process of determining the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The proceedings have focused on the questions of penalty or tax, individual mandate to purchase health insurance, severability and the federal abrogation of state rights. With all of the controversy and media frenzy it might benefit all of us to step back and put this entire issue in some sort of perspective.

In a story worthy of a prime time serial drama, Highmark Inc. on April 1, fired its CEO Kenneth Melani, MD, for "cause" just four days after Melani was arrested for assaulting the estranged husband of a Highmark employee with whom Melani has allegedly been having an affair.

The Health IT Policy Committee has concerns over some of the health information exchange requirements contained in the meaningful use Stage 2 proposed rule.

In Texas, where everything seems larger than life, the need for health IT workers is big, according to the Department of Health Information Management at the Texas State University-San Marcos.

Building on the success of its patient-centered medical home (PCMH) program with primary care physicians, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced it has inked a deal with St. Luke's Health System, the first under its new hospital-focused Collaborative Value Program.

CGI Federal Inc. has released a new version of the CONNECT Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) Exchange gateway, seeking to make it easier for organizations to deploy, use and maintain the open-source technology and support more widespread adoption.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder highlighted Wednesday the Obama Administration's efforts to prevent Medicare fraud, through the Affordable Care Act and the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT).

Chemotherapy treatments for privately insured patients delivered in an outpatient hospital setting cost 24 percent more than when the treatments are provided in a doctor's office, according to a new study by Avelere Health.