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Topic: US healthcare reform

Daily phone calls to high-risk patients becoming standard in push to cut readmissions

Daily phone calls to high-risk patients becoming standard in push to cut readmissions

May 19, 2013 4:40 am by | 0 Comments

Stephanie Celani not only knew the phone number of her patient John Pantalone, she also knew his weight to the half-pound when asked one day this month.That's because Celani, a ... Read more
The IRS and its role in the Affordable Care Act

The IRS and its role in the Affordable Care Act

May 16, 2013 9:24 am by | 0 Comments

Mary Agnes Carey talks to Joanna Kerpen, a partner at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery, about the role of the IRS in implementing and enforcing provisions of the ... Read more
Sebelius seeks donations from companies to fund exchange outreach group Enroll America

Sebelius seeks donations from companies to fund exchange outreach group Enroll America

May 12, 2013 10:14 am by | 0 Comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is asking companies for financial donations to help implement President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, months before it is due to ... Read more
States managing their own exchanges get more money for outreach to consumers

States managing their own exchanges get more money for outreach to consumers

May 5, 2013 2:12 pm by | 1 Comments

The wide variation in spending to hire and train people to provide consumer assistance in the first year of the new marketplaces could have a major impact on how many ... Read more
Crowdsourcing research ideas from patients finds cost, prevention top of mind

Crowdsourcing research ideas from patients finds cost, prevention top of mind

May 3, 2013 12:28 pm by | 1 Comments

The Regenstrief Institute, an informatics and healthcare research foundation affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine, recently did something PCORI would approve of. It asked patients across the country ... Read more
IRS: Wellness plans don’t count toward minimum coverage requirements

IRS: Wellness plans don’t count toward minimum coverage requirements

May 1, 2013 7:25 pm by | 0 Comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employer-sponsored healthcare plans cannot include most "wellness programs" as part of minimum coverage requirements, dealing a setback to many businesses, according to new federal rules for U.S. ... Read more
Four investment opportunities in the brave new world of private insurance exchanges

Four investment opportunities in the brave new world of private insurance exchanges

May 1, 2013 3:39 pm by | 0 Comments

Psilos seems to have the investment philosophy that it is better to be smart than hip. You won’t find any mobile apps or corporate wellness programs in the company’s portfolio. ... Read more
Two healthcare innovators join “Super Mayor” and Zappos CEO on Dreamers & Doers list

Two healthcare innovators join “Super Mayor” and Zappos CEO on Dreamers & Doers list

April 29, 2013 12:31 pm by | 0 Comments

Government Technology issues its Top 25 list every year to recognize the “hardest-working and most innovative individuals in the public sector.” Two people working to improve public health and healthcare ... Read more
Oncologists get serious about drug prices

Oncologists get serious about drug prices

April 29, 2013 7:28 am by | 0 Comments

A new article in the journal Blood shows that even doctors who have never worried about the price of drugs are starting to consider cost and effectiveness before prescribing. ... Read more
Oregon picks 33 criteria to measure health as part of $2B healthcare reform experiment

Oregon picks 33 criteria to measure health as part of $2B healthcare reform experiment

April 28, 2013 4:39 pm by | 0 Comments

The Obama Administration gave Oregon almost $2 billion to come up with its own system to coordinate care better. The idea is to get doctors, nurses, hospitals and other caregivers ... Read more
Ohio leaders put Medicaid expansion in limbo for next two years

Ohio leaders put Medicaid expansion in limbo for next two years

April 28, 2013 7:21 am by | 0 Comments

The only certainty about Medicaid expansion in Ohio at this point is that it will not be in the two-year budget bill now under discussion. Keith Faber, the Senate president, ... Read more
Memphis health system and Aetna to launch fee-for-value, data-driven insurance policy

Memphis health system and Aetna to launch fee-for-value, data-driven insurance policy

April 27, 2013 10:50 am by | 0 Comments

Baptist Memorial Health Care unveiled a plan Friday to partner doctors and hospitals on data-driven teams to push down health costs for employers with up to 3,000 workers.Baptist's new health ... Read more
Physician compensation survey: A little more money and a LOT more paperwork

Physician compensation survey: A little more money and a LOT more paperwork

April 26, 2013 2:53 pm by | 5 Comments

Despite reported cuts in reimbursements, the average physician enjoyed a moderate-to-significant boost in income this year. But that came at a price. Namely, docs are spending way more time on ... Read more
What does it mean if the architect of the device tax retires?

What does it mean if the architect of the device tax retires?

April 25, 2013 12:29 pm by | 0 Comments

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is calling it quits at the end of next year.Brian Johnson at MassDevice examines the opportunity this offers enemies of the device tax.Apparently there are rich ... Read more
In support of bundled payments as a driver of innovation and ACO success

In support of bundled payments as a driver of innovation and ACO success

April 25, 2013 10:34 am by | 0 Comments

One of the fatal flaws of proposed accountable care organizations, according to some critics, is that they aren’t designed to support physician behavior change at the scale that’s necessary to ... Read more