No matter who wins the election, rising heath care costs will near certainly continue to be a financial burden.
As the shift to value-based purchasing of healthcare services nears, in fits and starts and at different speeds in different areas, leaders of hospitals, health systems, and physician practices know they need to rethink quality, safety, and reimbursement.
Over the next 18 months, between one quarter and one half of Americans who get insurance coverage through their employers will pay more of their doctor bills themselves
Video: How The Individual Mandate Penalty Will Be Calculated
Researchers are discovering more ways that obesity can damage the body. These include altering a person’s ability to smell, disrupting sleep and sexual function, and accelerating cancerous tumor growth.
The Obama administration will soon take on a new role as the sponsor of at least two nationwide health insurance plans to be operated under contract with the federal government and offered to consumers in every state.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that lets states opt out of Medicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could saddle the nation’s safety net hospitals with $53.3 billion in uncompensated care costs
Deloitte Acquires Fast-Growing Health-Care Data Warehousing And Analytics Firm, Recombinant
Back in August, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that if lawmakers failed to reach a deal that would avert massive spending cuts and tax hikes set to take place early next year, the economy would tumble into a shallow recession.
Over the next 18 months, between one quarter and one half of Americans who get insurance coverage through their employers will pay more of their doctor bills themselves as companies roll out healthcare plans with higher deductibles, benefits consultants say. The result: sticker shock.
McKesson Corp., the largest U.S. drug distributor, agreed to acquire PSS World Medical Inc. for about $1.62 billion to expand in medical supplies and services.
Spending on Medicaid, the U.S. health insurance program for the poor, grew at its slowest rate since 2006 in a signal the economy is improving, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Health-care companies sitting on piles of cash may start doing more deals next year as they seek products that can bolster sales, said four top U.S. dealmakers.
Feds Take Critical Look At Meaningful Use Payments – Office of Inspector General investigating whether providers’ EHR use has resulted in Medicare overcharges.
Leica Biosystems Completes Acquisition of Aperio, a Galen Partners Portfolio Company
AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions, one of the nation’s leading providers of medical billing, practice management, and coding services for specialty physicians, hospitals, and surgery centers, has acquired Medrium, Inc.
With a revamped hospital safety and quality ranking system, Healthgrades takes its place among other groups scoring health systems: Leapfrog Group, Consumer Reports, U.S. News & World Report, Truven, and Hospital Compare.
Hospitals charging fees for facility use
To recruit more doctors to treat the poor, President Barack Obama’s health law took a simple approach: temporarily pay doctors more money.
Large employers look to on-site health clinics to reduce costs and absenteeism
In the Las Vegas area, with about 2 million people, patients and doctors said it can take six months to see a primary-care doctor for a simple check-up.
Health Costs: How the U.S. Compares With Other Countries
The presidential election is unlikely to change the landscape for people picking health plans this fall. If President Obama is re-elected, the changes stay. If GOP candidate Mitt Romney wins, getting rid of the law is unlikely to be a quick or easy process
A state-by-state look at the Medicaid expansion part of Obama’s health care law
If providers and insurers hope to improve medical care, they need to join forces to maximize the amount of patient data available to clinicians
A public-private consortium is about to make a quantum leap in the interoperability among disparate electronic health record (EHR) systems and health information exchanges (HIEs).
Wolters Kluwer Health To Acquire Health Language, Inc., A Leader In The Medical Terminology Management Market
SHPS, Inc. sells its collaborative care management software subsidiary Landacorp, Inc. to EXL Service
The health care industry plays a gigantic game of Blind Man’s Bluff, keeping patients in the dark while asking them to make life-and-death decisions.
The Riverside Company has acquired Premier Medical Corporation (Premier), a provider of rental respiratory equipment, liquid oxygen, durable medical equipment and related services to skilled nursing facilities and hospices in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. The acquisition is an add-on to platform company Specialized Medical Services, Inc.
UPMC is taking its big data initiative a step further by announcing a five-year $100 million investment to create a comprehensive data warehouse that brings together clinical, financial, administrative, genomic, and other information
Safety-Net Hospitals Brace For Cut To Federal Subsidies
UnitedHealth Group Inc. , the biggest U.S. health insurer, raised its 2012 profit forecast as enrollment in its Medicare and Medicaid plans surged in the third quarter and medical costs stayed stable
CROMSOURCE Acquires PDR Partners – Expands UK Staffing Solutions Services
Workday IPO prices above range, valuing company at $4.5 bln
The United States faces major obstacles in taking advantage of “value-based healthcare”-one of the most promising developments in healthcare, according to a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
A Harvard study raises questions about whether paying for performance—or penalizing hospitals for poor performance—improves quality of care.
The Role of Technology in Health Care Consumer Engagement
The research is clear, experts say — hospital mergers and consolidations historically have led to higher prices, no matter the rosy promises to the contrary. There’s little evidence that quality improves, either.
In its simplest form, the concept of patient navigation is about guiding people through the complexities of the health care system. But proponents of that concept want people to understand is that it’s not just the patients who benefit, but also hospital systems and insurance companies.
Clinipace Worldwide acquires Paragon Biomedical
For the past decade, scientists have been toying with the notion of encapsulating medicine in microscopic balls.
Top health care experts meeting at the Institute of Medicine this week delivered a stern message to the nation’s 15,000 oncologists and their patients: Either learn to deliver care at lower costs or watch the government and insurance companies impose limits.
Edison Ventures has sold Octagon Research Solutions to Accenture. Based in Wayne, PA Octagon’s regulatory and clinical solutions support drug development at over 200 life sciences companies.
As electronic medical records systems make their way into healthcare’s regular workflow, two recent, but separate surveys show that physicians may be buying into the value of joining health information exchanges.
The proliferation of gadgets, apps and Web-based information has given clinicians a black bag of new tools: new ways to diagnose symptoms and treat patients, to obtain and share information, to think about what it means to be both a doctor and a patient.
The MMS study says single-specialty practices are least likely to embrace ACOs over multi-specialty groups or teaching hospitals.
Community health clinics to feel impact of hospital cutbacks
A quarter of all initial hospital admissions and roughly 60% of all walk-up emergency department (ED) visits are potentially preventable, the nonpartisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) said Friday.
Open Enrollment and Obamacare: What You Need to Know
UnitedHealth to Buy Control of Brazilian Company for $4.9 Billion
Popularity of medical spas raises regulatory and health concerns
Allscripts Said to Get Bids From Blackstone, Carlyle
Insurers Get Ready For Exchanges, But Exchanges May Not Be Ready For Them
A first-ever U.S. News analysis of nearly 6,000 health insurance plans marketed to individuals and families reveals that many of the consumers who enroll in these plans may confront budget-wrecking out-of-pocket costs that deplete their savings.
Chicago area workers can expect their average health care costs to jump 9.2 percent next year from 2012, according to an analysis by Lincolnshire-based Aon Hewitt released Wednesday.
U.S. Charges 91 Over Millions in False Medicare Bills
Washington Post Co said it would acquire a majority stake in privately held Celtic Healthcare Inc, branching even further away from its newspaper roots.
Electronic med. billing may inflate payments
A computer programming error led the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to miscalculate financial penalties against hospitals that have high rates of patients returning within 30 days. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, established by the 2010 health care law, kicked in Monday, with 307 hospitals losing 1 percent of their regular reimbursements.
So, six out of 10 of you docs want to quit. Turn out the lights. Lock the door. Goodbye.
The future of Medicaid — the state-federal workhorse of the nation’s health system that provides health coverage to the poorest and sickest Americans — hangs in the balance on Election Day.
Allscripts Healthcare’s best hope for shareholders now lies in private equity after management turmoil and disappointing earnings erased half of the medical-software provider’s market value.
Studies show that patients who log their thoughts and behaviors–”observations of daily living”–via mobile apps or sensors so docs can monitor them between visits get better care.
Since 1960, transfer payments to individuals have grown from one-third to two-thirds of all federal government spending. It is crowding out investments in defense, infrastructure and research.
A new study says almost one third of Medicare’s beneficiaries use the program to pay for end-of-life care at nursing homes, which may not be equipped to treat or prevent pain and suffering.
Allscripts Sale Talks Follow Shareholder, Board Battles
EHR Savings Debate Grows – Credible sources are raising serious concerns about the value of health IT
End the Health Care Tax Break: Reduce Coverage?
Hospital Observation Units Could Save Billions in Health Costs, Study Says
Allscripts Said to Hire Citigroup to Explore Company Sale
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act begins its two-pronged impact on the way hospitals receive payment for care provided to Medicare patients, arguably the most significant pay-for-performance program impacting acute care facilities in federal history.
In the past few years, coupons and discount cards have become nearly ubiquitous for prescription drugs. Such incentives are available for 395 medications, according to a recent report from industry consultant IMS Health
Vita Advisors, LLC is a research-based strategic advisory firm serving the health care industry.
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