Reimbursement

The Michigan Department of Community Health's Medicaid Management Information System, called CHAMPS, has received certification from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

According to the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has thus far failed to report certain measures of the complex value-based purchasing (VBP) program – a reality that might not only undermine the law but ultimately make it harder for hospitals to engage VBP for performance improvements.

One hundred patients with diabetes have signed up for a telemonitoring pilot spearheaded by HEALTHeLINK, the regional health information organization (RHIO) serving Western New York State.

Apparently so. But she's only understood half the message. For several years now, NCPA scholars have been calling for a radical change in how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals -- in The Wall Street Journal, in NCPA publications and at this blog. Here's the idea: Instead of having Medicare fix millions of prices for predetermined packages of care, we should allow providers the opportunity to produce better care and cheaper care by repackaging and re-pricing their services.

A provision of the 2010 Affordable Care Act that intends to increase Medicare beneficiaries' share of healthcare costs is meeting resistance from a group charged with revising Medigap insurance policies that cover most out-of-pocket expenses.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held National HIPAA 5010 Testing Week last week, and those clearinghouses, providers and payers that were unable to participate should take heed.

athenahealth announced Monday it will launch the Patient-Centered Medical Home Accelerator Program, which aims to assist primary care physician groups in meeting the National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA) newest PCMH recognition standards.

North Carolina employers have a chance to help improve patient care and save healthcare costs thanks to First in Health, a public-private partnership that will make it possible for them to tap into a medical home created for Medicaid recipients that has helped improve care while saving more than $1 billion.

With Medicare soon releasing a final rule on reducing hospital readmissions, hospitals need to strengthen their efforts in this endeavor. Hospitals with the highest rates of readmissions can face the harshest penalties, with the CMS cutting 3% of their reimbursements.

A broad-based, year-and-a-half old program aimed at improving the safety of in-patient care across California helped save 800 lives in its first year, according to a report from the National Health Foundation, one of the collaborators in the program.