Reimbursement
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has released for public comment a first draft of its national priorities for research and research agenda. The research requires the use of electronic health records, much in the way accountable care organizations use health data to improve care. The outcomes are conveyed to physicians electronically.
Telehealth services offer substantial opportunities for healthcare cost savings, as well as a proven effectiveness with improving patient care, particularly in rural areas. However, to get the most bang for the buck, there is still much work that needs to be done. Fred Pennic offers five key thoughts on telehealth's expansion.
In the 1952 Florida Senate race, George Smathers campaigned against incumbent Claude Pepper in the democratic primary, using this characterization attributed by journalists of the day as key to his win:
"Are you aware that the candidate is known all over Washington as a shameless extrovert? Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to have practiced nepotism with his sister-in-law... He matriculated with co-eds at the University, and it is an established fact that before his marriage he habitually practiced celibacy."
Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund and a nationally recognized economist, has a bone to pick with the federal government's recent report on U.S. healthcare spending.
South Carolina has received kudos for improving its methods to expand and retain eligible children in Medicaid by using information from other safety-net programs, such as food stamps, for enrollment.
A new study from healthcare management consulting firm Beacon Partners finds that many healthcare executives recognize the benefits of participating in a health information exchange, but lack an HIE budget.
Vermont lawmakers are taking steps to move the state toward a publicly-financed insurance program and craft a state health exchange, which is required by the 2010 federal health law and which state officials hope to use as the groundwork for their eventual move to a unique single-payer system.
Millions of federal employees, retirees and their families will soon have access to Blue Button to download their personal health data from the websites of their health plans.
A Miami-area resident pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Miami for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $200 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, announced the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
More than one half of states expanded and simplified their Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs' eligibility, enrollment and renewal procedures in 2011, often using technology to streamline and automate processes.