Reimbursement
The American Academy of Family Physicians is warning its members that there may be a delay in the receipt of Medicare payments if an agreement on raising the federal government's debt ceiling is not reached by the Aug. 2 deadline.
State health insurance exchanges, to be built by 2014 under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), may prove to be good for vendors who provide consulting services on how to make customer service available on health plan websites, experts say.
Insurers' investments in health IT have not yielded the personalized service customers crave, according to a new survey from global consulting firm Accenture.
The trend of primary care physicians earning lower wages for their services compared to specialists is not tied to the number of hours they work, according to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine last month.
The Minnesota-based insurer sees a greater need for healthcare in rural America, as well as an increase in people on government-funded insurance programs and a decrease in physicians, and points to telehealth and telemedicine as possible solutions.
For some reason the Boston Globe devotes its top slot on the July 25 Opinion page to a tired and faulty argument (If a law doesn't work, waive it away?) from former US GOP Senator John Sununu against the employer mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Department of Health and Human Services has granted waivers to some employers to allow them to continue offering plans with low annual caps (aka mini-med plans)
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has released its June 2011 Data Book: Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program.
Detailing a laundry list of potential benefits to its health plan clients, their members and company shareholders, Express Scripts announced today a definitive merger agreement with competing pharmacy benefits management company Medco - a deal valued at $29.1 billion.
The lack of the correct patient discharge status code has been cited by Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) as a problem in the claims of inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). The problem is actually twofold; improper use has resulted in overpayments in some cases and underpayments in others.
Jonathan Blum, deputy administrator and director for the Center of Medicare at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, says most physicians recognize that U.S. healthcare is inefficient and must change, and are eager to try accountable care organizations (ACOs).