Reimbursement
Two new toolboxes came to market Tuesday, aiming to help providers manage the sprawling ICD-10 conversion.
3M Health Information Systems introduced its 360 Encompass System, while Contexo unveiled the ICD-10 Preparation Analyzer.
Premiums for employer-provided health insurance, where 150 million Americans get their coverage, jumped 9 percent in 2011 while workers' wages grew just 2 percent, according to our annual employer survey. The average family policy now costs more than $15,000 per year, more than the cost of a Chevy Aveo or a Ford Fiesta. Since we began doing this survey thirteen years ago, worker contributions to premiums have increased 168 percent, wages 50 precent, and inflation 38 percent.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intends to establish an appeals process for the Medicare electronic health record (EHR) incentive program.
A new report from human resources consulting firm Aon Hewitt and healthcare consulting firm Polakoff Boland says employer interest in accountable care organizations is ramping up as they seek new ways to continue offering healthcare benefits to employees.
They might be late to the Health 2.0 party, they said. However, a panel of employers and healthcare insurers at the Health 2.0 conference on Monday made it clear they are ready to play.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation that would equip the nation's 48-million-and-counting Medicare enrollees with smartcards, thus improving access to healthcare and saving an estimated $30 billion a year in fraud and waste.
On October 1, 2013, the entire US healthcare system will shift from ICD-9 to ICD-10. It will be one of the largest, most expensive and riskiest transitions that healthcare CIOs will experience in their careers, affecting every clinical and financial system. It's a kind of Y2K for healthcare.
Health Care Service Corp. (HCSC), WellPoint Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced last week a joint effort to offer a nationwide private insurance exchange and defined contribution solution for employers via an investment in Bloom Health.
Humana Inc. announced today an agreement to acquire Southern California's MD Care, a Medicare Advantage HMO with approximately 15,000 members.
New York, North Carolina and Texas are examples of how states take different paths to expand and improve Medicaid managed care, including medical home models, new services and health plan competition. Regardless of the tools, managed care is fast approaching as the primary method to deliver health care to low income populations.