News Room

As the health care workforce shifts to treat patients in less expensive primary care settings, the number of nurse practitioners has nearly doubled in the last decade to more 200,000, new data shows. The American Association of Nurse...
Members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health are working on yet another attempt to reform the unpopular Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, according to Healthcare Finance News. Healthcare industry groups have long...
Based on first year results, the CMS says its two advanced primary care initiatives show promise for saving money and improving health-care quality. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in a Jan. 23 blog post said the...
A large payer and health system in California are embroiled in a bitter feud over expired contract terms, the type of fight all too common in the fee-for-service world. With healthcare switching to value-based care, some had hoped these...
For all the handwringing about what the new Republican-controlled Congress could to do Obamacare, another health insurance program could be dropped entirely if lawmakers don't take action this year: the Children's Health Insurance Program...
Money talks. A temporary Medicaid pay raise that was part of President Barack Obama’s health law made it easier for poor adults to get appointments with primary care doctors, according to a study published Wednesday. Paying more to...
For some primary care physicians, the idea of transforming a practice into a medical home sounds like a major risk. Yet practices that have made the change in states such as Rhode Island have reported smooth transitions, thanks in part to...
Members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted last week to forestall a 10 percent pay cut for primary care physicians who treat Medicare patients that is slated to take effect next January. Rather than allowing a...
Patient emergency room visits rose sharply at hospitals with the highest ER use in 2013, the last year before the Affordable Care Act's insurance expansion kicked in, according to Modern Healthcare magazine's latest By The Numbers.  And...
A review of two years' worth of healthcare claims data on thousands of patients reveals, contrary to the prevailing view, that unlimited primary care drives down overall costs while improving patient outcomes and experience. The analysis...
Halfway through the four-year Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative(innovation.cms.gov) CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launched in October 2012, two recent reports shed light on what about 1,300 family physicians ...
Adjusting medications before someone gets sick enough to visit the doctor. Updating outside specialists so one doctor's prescription doesn't interfere with another's. Starting this month, Medicare will pay primary care doctors a monthly...
Rita Gorenflo’s 7-year-old son Nathaniel was in severe pain from a sinus infection. But since the boy was covered by Medicaid, she couldn’t immediately find a specialist willing to see him.  After days of calling, she was finally able to...
Many doctors' offices across the country have a resolution for the New Year: switching to a team-based model of care called the patient-centered medical home, reports the January 2015 Harvard Health Letter. "It's the highest and best...
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has become a widely-used frameworks for a healthcare organization’s transition to value-based accountable care.  With its focus on quality, care coordination, preventative services, and chronic...
Designed and launched by the state’s Medicaid program and some of its largest private insurers, including Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and QualChoice, the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII) has been a multi-payer...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is working to continue some form of payment bonus to primary care physicians (PCPs) in light of the expiration in 2015 of the existing 10% payment boost included in the Affordable Care Act...
Medical practices have significantly increased the implementation of patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices over time to try and provide better care for patients with chronic illnesses, according to an article published online...
That was the expiration day of a two-year bump in Medicaid reimbursements for primary care physicians seeing Medicaid patients. The raise, which was part of the Affordable Care Act, temporarily raised Medicaid rates to the level of...
A flurry of pay cuts for doctors hit today as physicians struggle to implement electronic health records, deal with new measurements to improve quality and deal with myriad changes in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement formulas. The...

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