HHS Announces 89 New Accountable Care Organizations
July 9, 2012 (CMS News Release) - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today, that as of July 1, 89 new Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) began serving 1.2 million people with Medicare in 40 states and Washington, D.C. ACOs are organizations formed by groups of doctors and other health care providers that have agreed to work together to coordinate care for people with Medicare.
These 89 new ACOs have entered into agreements with CMS, taking responsibility for the quality of care they provide to people with Medicare in return for the opportunity to share in savings realized through high-quality, well-coordinated care.
» CONTINUE READING
IRS to Tax-Exempt Hospitals: Go Easier on Medical Debt Collection
by Connie Prater
July 5, 2012 (FOX Business) - A little-noticed provision of the health care reform law could help millions of people avoid staggering medical bills, liens on their homes and debt collection calls.
In passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress directed the Internal Revenue Service to draft rules to flesh out a portion of law, spelling out the consumer protections for those receiving charitable care at nonprofit hospitals. The agency complied, issuing its detailed proposal a few days before last week's favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed the bulk of the law as constitutional.
» CONTINUE READING
CMS Proposed Rule Would Increase Payment to Family Physicians by 7 Percent
July 6, 2012 (CMS News Release) - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today issued a proposed rule that would increase payments to family physicians by approximately 7 percent and other practitioners providing primary care services between 3 and 5 percent. The increase in payment to family practitioners is part of the proposed rule that would update payment policies and rates under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2013. Under the MPFS, Medicare pays more than 1 million physicians and nonphysician practitioners that provide vital health services to Medicare beneficiaries.
» CONTINUE READING
How safe is your hospital?
Our new Ratings find that some are riskier than others
August 2012 (Consumer Reports Magazine) - Hospitals should be places you go to get better, but too often the opposite happens. Infections, surgical mistakes, and other medical harm contribute to the deaths of 180,000 hospital patients a year, according to projections based on a 2010 report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Another 1.4 million are seriously hurt by their hospital care. And those figures apply only to Medicare patients. What happens to other people is less clear because most hospital errors go unreported and hospitals report on only a fraction of things that can go wrong.
» CONTINUE READING
Proposed EHB Rule Draws Few Comments
by Margaret Dick Tocknell
July 9, 2012 (HealthLeaders Media) - The latest effort by the Department of Health and Human Services to establish requirements for essential health benefits drew fewer than 30 comments from interested parties during the proposed rule's 30-day comment period, which ended July 4.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires HHS to define EHBs. These are 10 categories of service that must be offered beginning in 2014 by health insurance exchanges, as well as individual and small group health insurance policies.
» CONTINUE READING
Like It or Not, Facebook and Friends Can Be Used to Influence Health Behavior
July 5, 2012 (ScienceDaily) - Most people call it the "art" of persuasion, but public health researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) are trying to pinpoint the "science" behind social influence.
They hope a better understanding of human interactions -- both face-to-face and online -- can help prevent disease and promote general health. Whether the goal is to curb smoking at a local school or to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases within a community, it is important to understand the social structure of the group and the dynamics of influence at play, says Thomas W. Valente, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
» CONTINUE READING
Statement from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the signing of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act
July 9, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Today, the President signed into law S. 3187, the “Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.” This legislation, which passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, will help speed safe and effective medical products to patients and maintain our Nation’s role as a leader in biomedical innovation.
S. 3187 is the culmination of the work of the administration and Congress, in partnership with patients, the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, the clinical community, and other stakeholders, to provide the Food and Drug Administration with the tools needed to continue to bring drugs and devices to market safely and quickly and promote innovation in the biomedical industry, and to help secure the jobs supported by drug and device development.
» CONTINUE READING
Family doctor recognized for being ‘rural health hero’
by Brianne Fleming
July 9, 2012 (AltoonaMirror.com) - Dr. Russell Miller is seen around town a lot - from volunteering in the community to making house calls to his patients. Those are a few of the reasons he was chosen by the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health for the 2011 Rural Health Hero of the Year Award. "It's a chance to represent health care workers in rural areas," he said. "There are a lot of rewards and good things about being in a rural area."
» CONTINUE READING
Georgia health care in limbo
by
Misty Williams and Carrie Teegardin
July 8, 2012 (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) - Georgia hospitals were depending on the health care law to ease the burden of treating hundreds of thousands of uninsured patients each year for free. But that relief may never come.
While upholding the law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could reject the massive expansion of the Medicaid program that is a cornerstone of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For hospitals, not expanding the health program for poor and low-income Georgians would mean having to treat almost as many uninsured patients as ever while facing significant cuts to their reimbursements.
» CONTINUE READING
eHealth Initiative urges feds to reconsider HIE regs
by
Diana Manos
July 6, 2012 (HealthcareIT News) - The eHealth Initiative (eHI) has concerns that the proposed regulations for health information exchange could unintentionally stifle innovation and hinder the growth of data exchange.
In a letter submitted this week to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as part of a public comment period, eHI expressed concern that ONC is attempting to overregulate an activity that is still evolving.
» CONTINUE READING
» TOP |
National Cooperative of Health Networks