News From Around the Web
> John Glaser, chief executive officer of Siemens Health Services, will join Cerner as a senior vice president. In a Nov. 17 blog post, Glaser stated that he will be focused on driving technology and product strategies, interoperability and government policy development at Siemens. Cerner's acquisition of Siemens is set to close in the next several months. Blog post
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a news update on how providers can meet the summary of care requirements of the Meaningful Use incentive program. Providers have the option of reporting it in Stage 1 of the program, but will be required to meet the core objective in Stage 2. The agency also updated its answer to frequently asked question about this requirement. FAQ
> Two health information exchanges in upstate New York--Southern Tier Health Link in Binghamton and Taconic Health Information Network and Community in Fishkill--have decided to merge in order to become a larger, more regional HIE, according to Health Data Management. The new entity, HealthlinkNY, will cover 11 counties. The merger is subject to approval from the New York attorney general and the New York Supreme Court. Article
Health Finance News
> The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether insider trading took place during a 2013 incident in which financial institutions were tipped off that Medicare was about to raise reimbursement rates. The SEC is looking into an email blast made in April 2013 by Haight Securities discussing the potential rate increase before it was publicly announced. Article
> Hospital executives are challenged to recruit physicians, given their costs and the limits of the labor pool, but their inability to get ahead of the issue may start to hurt their organizations' bottom lines. Article
Health Insurance News
> Some hospitals and medical groups are starting to make insured patients pay out-of-pocket costs up front. With one in five Americans now on a high-deductible health plan, healthcare providers say that asking for advanced payments--or setting up payment plans for patients--helps them ensure that care gets paid for. Article
> The Medicare enrollment process is daunting enough as it is. Now two new reports highlight ways the government is making it even harder for seniors to get information about their benefits--and the consequences to beneficiaries. Article
And Finally... Not exactly Cujo. Article