CMS issues 2014 IPPS
April, 29 2013
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed April 26 its fiscal 2014 Medicare payment schedule. Included in the proposal are payment cuts to hospitals that treat uninsured individuals and slightly higher rates for acute care and long-term care hospitals. The proposal also prepares the groundwork for a program that imposes a penalty on facilities that lag on reducing the frequency of hospital-acquired conditions. Read more »
ConnectedLiving, CDW Healthcare partner to get seniors online and connected
April, 29 2013
ConnectedLiving, a mission-based organization helping senior citizens live richer, more connected lives through the use of technology, today announced a partnership with CDW Healthcare, a provider of technology solutions for healthcare. Together both organizations will deliver the technology, services and training necessary to get entire senior living communities online. Read more »
Fragmented care leads to higher costs
April, 26 2013
A complex conditions project in Maine has found that behavioral health disorders have as much impact on medical costs as having three chronic medical conditions and that fragmentation of care leads to higher overall costs. Read more »
Lone senator blocks Tavenner nomination
April, 26 2013
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has put a halt to what appeared to be smooth sailing for Marilyn Tavenner to officially take the helm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. At a budget hearing Wednesday, Harkin put a hold on Tavenner’s nomination. Read more »
Survey finds rate for young adult coverage improves while others decline
April, 26 2013
While the number of medically uninsured young adults dropped over the past two years, coverage of the overall working age population failed to improve, according to the findings of the Commonwealth Fund's 2012 biennial health insurance survey released Friday. Read more »
Senate Finance Committee takes fraud reduction suggestions
April, 26 2013
Five members of the Senate Finance Committee, including outgoing Montana Senator and Affordable Care Act architect Max Baucus, say they plan to draft policy proposals for reducing Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse based on input from more than 100 healthcare organizations. Read more »
Oregon bill aims to reduce Medicaid, HIX 'churn'
April, 25 2013
The Oregon House has unanimously passed a bill that tries to take a step towards limiting Medicaid "churn" — a problem some think may grow under expanded Medicaid and insurance exchange coverage, with individual and family incomes fluctuating in an uncertain economy. Read more »
Presence Health and Harris team on clinical integration platform
April, 25 2013
Presence Health, the largest Catholic health system based in Illinois, has announced it will team with Harris Corporation to implement a new clinical integration platform. Read more »
WellPoint's Q1 earnings surge
April, 25 2013
WellPoint Inc., the second largest health insurer in the country, posted first quarter earnings Wednesday that significantly beat analysts estimates largely based on continued light usage of health services. Read more »
Unions, schools, employers air 'play or pay' concerns
April, 24 2013
About seven months before the Affordable Care Act's "play or pay" employer responsibility provisions take effect, the Internal Revenue Service is still finalizing regulations for questions like whether seasonal tourism workers or part-time school instructors qualify for coverage and how to calculate hours across corporate structures. Read more »
CDHP members likely to be older than previously thought
April, 24 2013
A new analysis of seven years of consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) membership shows that enrollees in these plans were less likely than those with traditional insurance coverage to be between the ages of 21 and 34 according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Read more »
One step closer: The Senate Finance Committee approves Tavenner
April, 24 2013
The Senate Finance committee on Tuesday unanimously approved Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Tavenner, who has been temporarily running CMS for the past two years, now faces a full Senate vote before she can officially assume the CMS Administrator position. Read more »
Bipartisan Policy Center urges payment reform toward patient-centered care
April, 23 2013
Delivering what founder and president Jason Grumet described as "one of the most challenging projects we've undertaken," the Bipartisan Policy Center on April 18 delivered what it hopes will be "a viable political plan to reign in the spiraling costs" of healthcare while also improving quality. Read more »
AMA launches health outcome effort
April, 23 2013
The American Medical Association (AMA) launched on Monday a multi-year, multi-million dollar effort to improve health outcomes for those with cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes and to prevent it in those who may be at risk. Read more »
HIX Digest: Week of April 22, 2013
April, 23 2013
CCIIO is trying to clear any confusion on navigators, in-person assistors, application counselors and agents and brokers; small government advocates are making continued arguments against state HIXs; and California gets set to hire 500 for a call center. Read more »
Senate bill to strengthen national drug distribution chain with IT
April, 22 2013
Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), along with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), unveiled on April 19 a bipartisan plan to strengthen and improve nation’s drug distribution supply chain. Read more »
Questions abound in Arkansas' private Medicaid option
April, 19 2013
Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has signed a new law expanding Medicaid eligibility through the state's federal-partnership health insurance exchange — one of the most unusual evolutions in Affordable Care Act policy, if also one HHS hopes will bring insurance to some 250,000 working class Arkansans who otherwise might continue to go uncovered amid the politics of Mediciad expansion. Read more »
Ohio health systems form collaborative
April, 19 2013
University Hospitals, a healthcare system in northeast Ohio, has joined up with three smaller health systems in the state to create a new purchasing collaborative to save money on supplies and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of care delivery. Read more »
Despite CMS delay, CT moves forward with HIX SHOP
April, 18 2013
Connecticut's health insurance exchange, Access Health CT, has selected HealthPass and bswift to provide services and technology for a choice of health insurance options to small businesses throughout the state. Read more »
Lawmakers, consumers push Medicare drug rebate bill
April, 18 2013
Consumer advocates and some lawmakers are promoting a new bill they say would save Medicare $141 billion over the next decade by requiring prescription drug rebates for Medicaid-Medicare eligible patients and low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Read more »
Some in Mass. bear high cost burden purchasing insurance through the exchange
April, 18 2013
A study conducted by Harvard researchers on the insurance purchased through the state insurance exchange, the Commonwealth Connector, showed that some families experienced high levels of financial burden and higher-than-expected costs. Read more »
Florida Blue targets interoperability
April, 18 2013
Florida Blue, the Sunshine State's largest insurer, has launched a project with data exchange platform Availity and ambulatory electronic health record vendor Greenway that will enable physicians to exchange clinical summaries with the health plan through their EHRs. Read more »
TEDMED speakers propose some innovative new uses for big data
April, 18 2013
Big data offers big promise for the future of medicine, and at the annual TEDMED conference Tuesday in the nation's capital, speakers put forth ideas that included the use "digital traces" and "digital bread crumbs" as ways to help guage a patient's health. Read more »
ACA spurs healthcare investment
April, 18 2013
The healthcare industry has been notoriously slow at identifying methods and tools it needs to reduce costs and improve quality noted a report by healthcare investment firm the Psilos Group, but health reform is producing promising opportunities for investors to fuel needed innovations. Read more »
Premier steps up on population health
April, 18 2013
The Premier healthcare alliance, which includes 2,800 hospitals and 93,000 other provider and payer organizations across the country, has partnered with Phytel to automate population health services in order to help its members scale their efforts to improve patient care and adapt to a rapidly changing healthcare system. Read more »
