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By: Joe Cantlupe, for HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
Lacking congressional action, the federal government has essentially halted a 21.2% Medicare pay cut for physicians that was to go into effect today. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has ordered contractors to hold claims for 10 days, which temporarily shelves the Medicare pay cut. CMS expects that provider cash flow will not be interrupted.
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By: Joe Cantlupe, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
The House overwhelmingly approved a measure to postpone a proposed 21.2% pay cut to physicians, which was scheduled to go into effect on Monday, for at least 30 days. The American Medical Association is not happy, however, with the Senate, which left for the weekend without voting on the measure.
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By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
Insurance commissioners from three states expressed concerns that health insurance reform proposals put forward by Democrats and Republicans would destabilize state markets and create more problems than they're designed to solve.
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By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
In his radio address on Saturday, President Obama, fresh from the seven-hour bipartisan healthcare summit held two days earlier, said: "It is time for us to come together. It is time for us to act." However, in the entire speech, one word was missing: reconciliation. But it wasn't missing from the discussion of health policy leaders talking on the Sunday news shows.
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By: Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
While diagnostic and therapeutic medical radiation have many important benefits, a House subcommittee on Friday took a closer look at recent reports in which radiation reportedly caused injuries in a variety of settings—and how to avoid these risks and hazards. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), chair of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said the hearing was not because Congress thinks that medical radiation is bad. "I would like to assure you, this is not the case," he said. "We are not here today to make the statement that medical radiation should not be used."
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By: Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
Healthcare CIOs are excited about what is undoubtedly a hot time in the health IT world, the flames fanned in part by health reform, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and its HITECH provision, which promises millions in stimulus money for those organizations that achieve meaningful use of healthcare technology, such as EHRs and CPOE in the coming years. But amidst that excitement is the nagging concern that—despite the fact that CIOs and other healthcare technology leaders have the expertise to help their organizations prepare for change—CIOs still aren't getting the recognition they deserve or the accompanying seat at the C-suite table.
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By: Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
The "all or nothing" approach to defining and achieving meaningful use is too ambitious and will only widen the "digital divide," according to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, which held its annual meeting in Atlanta, GA, on Sunday. Other "critical concerns" that CHIME expressed in comments on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' EHR Incentive Program include the fact that it doesn't take into account providers' need for flexibility and does not reward incremental progress.
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By: Ben Cole, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
Proponents of The Hospital of Central Connecticut's newly available iPhone application that posts wait times at its facilities' emergency rooms say the information will improve both patient satisfaction and ED efficiency. Every five minutes, the free iPhone app posts emergency room wait times at HCC's New Britain General and Bradley Memorial campuses.
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By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, FL, has disciplined several employees for taking cell phone pictures of a shark attack victim who later died, and has asked anyone with copies of the photos to destroy them. The disciplinary actions included written warnings, suspension, and demotion to loss of position, but nobody was fired, the hospital said.
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By: John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, in Patchogue, NY, will pay $2.92 million to settle whistleblower Medicare fraud allegations, the Justice Department said. DOJ reported the Long Island hospital fraudulently inflated outlier charges to Medicare in 2002 and 2003 to get higher reimbursements for cases that were not extraordinarily costly and which didn't qualify for outlier payments.
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By: Philip Betbeze, for HealthLeaders Media, February 26, 2010
One well-known saying in poker is that if you don't know who the sucker is at the table, it's probably you. The same could be said for healthcare reform.
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