News From Around The Web
> A Congressional Budget Office report suggests that the Affordable Care Act would prompt many Americans to quit their jobs rather than lose them. But that hasn't stopped its opponents from trying to use that data to find a political advantage, The Washington Post reports. Article
> Although Arizona is one the few Red States that has expanded Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act, Republican lawmakers want new enrollees to seek work and make co-payments on emergency room visits. They also want to establish a lifetime limit of five years' eligibility for all able-bodied adults, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Article
> California healthcare labor unions are pushing a ballot measure that will prevent hospitals from charging more than 25 percent above the actual cost of providing patient care, potentially saving consumers as much as $3 billion a year in hospital charges if approved, The Business Journal reports. Article
Provider News
> As the result of a federal judge's decision that an Idaho health system violated antitrust laws when it purchased the state's largest independent physician practice, hospitals and systems interested in similar acquisitions will need to consider the ruling's potential effect on referrals both to their facilities and those adjacent. Article
Healthcare IT News
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday that it will extend the deadline for eligible professionals to attest to Meaningful Use in the Medicare electronic health record incentive program for 2013 from Feb. 28 to 11:59 p.m. on March 31. Article
And finally... Leeches to the rescue. Article