Healthcare Finance
Size, trust key to MDs in choosing billing firms
A new survey suggests that size and trustworthiness of the company are key factors when physicians choose a medical billing firm. Other factors that matter to physicians include that the billing... Read more...
AL study questions need for CON process
A new study by an Alabama policy research group questions whether the state needs to have a certificate of need process in place to limit the growth of healthcare facilities in the state. The study,... Read more...
PA hospitals won't charge for 'never events'
Pennsylvania's hospitals said yesterday that they won't charge for care related to serious medical mistakes that occur during an inpatient stay at an acute care hospital, such as wrong-body-part... Read more...
Study: Retail clinics at about 1,000 in U.S.
A new study of U.S. retail clinics has found that there are about 1,000 in operation in the U.S. at present. The study, by Verispan, listed a total of 921 clinics currently open today. According to... Read more...
WellPoint rolling out physician reviews system
WellPoint has announced that it expects to roll out its planned physician reviews system sometime during the first quarter of this year in partnership with restaurant reviews giant Zagat. As planned,... Read more...
Report: Incentive program could save U.S. $368B
A new report suggests that if the U.S. created a program designed to provide the right incentives and improve decision making, payers could save $368 billion on health costs over the next 10 years.... Read more...
Small pharmacies fight Medicaid drug reimbursement cuts
A trade group representing community pharmacies is fighting vigorously to change proposed new Medicaid regulations which could cut back reimbursement substantially for generic drugs. The National... Read more...
Coalition urges changes in controlled-substance prescribing
A group of IT and pharma-related companies has begun lobbying for changes in the rules around controlled drugs which would allow physicians to prescribe them electronically. Members of the group, the... Read more...
IL hospital must prove community benefit, or else
Of late, state and federal regulators have been challenging non-profit hospitals to prove they deserve their tax exemption. Hospital associations, health systems and individual facilities have responded by aggressively touting their estimates of the community benefit and levels of uncompensated care that they provide.
This exercise is important for all U.S. non-profits, but there's even more at …
Study: When uninsured get Medicare, it's costly
A new study suggests that when chronically-ill uninsured adults age into Medicare eligibility, they're sicker than adults who had commercial insurance when they entered Medicare. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found formerly uninsured adults were hospitalized more often and had greater medical expenses through at least age 72.
The study, conducted by Dr. John Z. Ayanian of Harvard Medical School, looked at 9,760 adults who were 51- to …
