New legislation from Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) is welcome news to 20 state hospital associations working to eliminate a contentious hospital wage-index provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. FULL STORY »
The CMS center charged with testing new payment and delivery models has pinpointed post-acute care as a high-cost area in dire need of novel new approaches, and experts in the field are applauding the move. FULL STORY »
As the deadline nears for Medicare's first accountable care organizations to decide whether they will continue with the initiative, at least one is debating whether to leave. FULL STORY »
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus opened the panel's first hearing in six years on Medicare physician pay with assertive rhetoric about scrapping the hated sustainable growth-rate formula this year. . FULL STORY »
Because of the program's history of low payments, fewer than half of U.S. doctors and other healthcare professionals accept Medicaid patients, according to a recent study. For those that do, getting an appointment sometimes can take months because of the high demand, particularly among specialists. FULL STORY »
Physician advocates see signs of progress in the Senate Finance Committee's hearing Tuesday—the panel's first in six years on replacing Medicare's physician payment system. FULL STORY »
The CMS and Medicare beneficiaries could have saved an estimated $510 million on drugs used to treat end-stage renal disease in 2011 if the reimbursement rate more accurately reflected current usage of these drugs, according to a report from HHS' inspector general's office. FULL STORY »
A, jury concluded that Tuomey Healthcare in Sumter, S.C., violated the False Claims Act by submitting tens of thousands of illegal bills to Medicare worth $39 million. FULL STORY »
Providers are coalescing around a five-year transition period before moving to a new Medicare physician payment system, according to a House Republican involved in developing the replacement. FULL STORY »
