News From Around the Web
> Total healthcare spending growth will likely average 5.8 percent in aggregate over 2014-2024, according to a report published today in Health Affairs authored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Office of the Actuary. Study
> A three-month highway spending bill scheduled for a vote Wednesday in the House includes nearly $3.4 billion to fill a budget hole that the Department of Veterans Affairs claims would force it to close hospitals and clinics nationwide, The New York Times reported. Article
> Former employees of two Kansas City-area hospitals who claimed in a class action lawsuit that they weren't paid promised separation benefits after the hospitals were sold to Prime Healthcare Services have agreed to settle the dispute, according to KCUR. Article
Practice Management News
> Fifteen percent more nurse practitioners and 11 percent more physician assistants received Medicare payments in 2013 than 2012 for all types of care, USA Today reported. Meanwhile, 5 percent fewer physicians received payments from the program. Article
> The American Academy of Family Physicians is calling upon major insurers to revisit how they reimburse for primary care physicians consulting with hospitalists caring for their patients, AAFP News reported. Article
And finally… A happy ending. Article