Reimbursement
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced that 3 million Medicare beneficiaries have saved money on prescription medications as a result of the Affordable Care Act, via $250 rebate checks mailed to beneficiaries in the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap.
Texas lawmakers under Republican leadership unveiled a budget proposal this week to cover the years 2012-2013 that would cut Medicaid reimbursements to long-term care facilities by 33 percent and payments to hospitals by 10 percent.
UnitedHealth Group executives said healthcare information technology helped drive the insurer's strong showing in 2010, with a reported $84.2 billion in revenues, up by 8 percent year over year.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has proposed a two-year project targeting the barriers Medicaid providers face in meeting meaningful use requirements in order to receive federal incentives.
A survey of almost 3,000 physicians indicates 65 percent are worried that healthcare reform would result in less pay for them and lower the quality of care for their patients.
It’s been estimated that fraud adds as much as $60 billion a year to our healthcare costs. Well, the problem has gotten the attention of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) which is tasked with protecting the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the health and welfare of program beneficiaries.
Healthcare reform could close the gap between recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, charged by the government to review clinical preventive health services for older adults, and Medicare coverage for those services, according to a new study.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted last week to recommend to Congress a 1 percent increase in Medicare hospital inpatient and hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates for 2012, in addition to a 1 percent pay rate increase for physicians.
Medicare coverage for home care visits has a checkered history. The original rationale for including home care in Medicare was straightforward and compelling: it's much cheaper, healthier and pleasant for a patient to be at home receiving skilled care than to stay in a hospital for lack of enough support in the home environment.
MEDecision published an e-book Tuesday, Medical Loss Ratios: Important Implications for Care Management, which examines the impact new Health and Human Services mandates will have on care delivery models - and explores the critical role of health IT as health plans work to meet the new requirements.