Reimbursement
Peter Harbage explains the differences between the individual market and employee-sponsored health insurance in the context of health insurance reform in this video from the Center for American Progress' YouTube channel.
In this video from the Center for American Progress' YouTube channel, Peter Harbage explains how small businesses are impacted by high healthcare costs.
The Internal Revenue Services has released its continuing professional education training materials on governance. IRS Form 990, which tax-exempt organizations are required to file annually, is a major focus of the CPE materials.
Digital games are one of the latest tools being used to improve health outcomes, says one expert.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced late last week that acute care hospitals will receive an inflation update in their payment rates of 2.1 percent in fiscal year 2010.
Looking to distance itself from similar-sounding competitors, the iMedica Corporation has announced a new name and launched a new Web site.
The Carrollton, Texas-based developer of electronic health record and practice management systems for physician practices announced that it will now be known as Aprima Medical Software, Inc., and that the Aprima name will be used for the company's EHR/PM solution. The company also unveiled its new Web presence at aprimaEHR.com.
When Community Health Plan of Washington implemented ZeOmega's Jiva care management software in October 2008, the health plan saw the immediate elimination of duplicate assessments being done on the same patients by its use, disease and case management departments, said Sandra Hewett, the plan's delegated services administrator.
Some of CHPW's departments have since exceeded the goal of achieving 30 percent improved efficiency through the integration of IT systems, automation of processes and streamlined workflow, she said.
After a successful pilot in its Hudson, N.Y. region, MVP Healthcare is rolling out McKesson's Advanced Diagnostics Management (ADM) to the rest of its provider network to automate the clinical review and authorization of imaging tests.
The two-month pilot has been projected to save an annual $2 million-plus in staff time, enabling staff redeployment for other projects, said Holly Smolinski, assistant director of utilization management at MVP.
Since Geisinger Health Plan began predictive modeling for Health Navigator, its medical home program, nearly two years ago, the payer has seen a decrease in hospital admissions for its high-risk members in disease and case management.
The case management team is now applying program resources to its moderate risk and well segments of its membership.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it has posted new ratings on 4,000 hospitals on its "Hospital Compare" Web site, including new mortality and readmission data. According to the new data, CMS estimates that the national 30-day mortality rate for patients originally admitted for heart attack care is 16.6 percent. For heart failure patients, the national 30-day mortality rate is 11.1 percent, and for pneumonia patients the national rate is 11.5 percent.