News From Around the Web
> The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs this week installed paperless disability claims processing systems in 36 of 57 regional offices, Nextgov reports. According to Acting CIO Stephen Warren, five more offices are set to receive the system next week. Article
> Former U.S. family doctor Grady Snyder, who began practicing medicine in Australia in 2011, cited the Meaningful Use program--and specifically cuts to Medicare reimbursements for not installing electronic health record systems starting in 2015--as a big reason he moved abroad, CNNMoney reports. "I couldn't afford that expense," Snyder said. "I didn't have $100,000 lying around." Article
Provider News
> Heart failure could cost every American taxpayer $244 per year by 2030 as costs to treat the condition double, the American Heart Association warned in a policy statement published online Wednesday in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. In all, direct and indirect costs to treat heart failure could more than double to $70 billion by 2030, according to the the heart association. Article
> Pressure continues building to kill Medicare's Independent Payment Advisory Board, with more than 500 organizations banding together to send a letter to Congress on Thursday urging its repeal. As now structured, the presidentially appointed 15-person IPAB will have the authority to recommend Medicare spending cuts, which the organizations said would almost entirely come in the form of reduced reimbursements to providers. Article
And Finally... I'm not surprised by this at all. Article