Topic

Health Insurance


HHS announces $46 million to ensure transparency in health insurance markets

Industry News | Wednesday, August 18 2010
Affordable Care Act grants totaling $46 million will be distributed to 45 states and Washington, D.C. to help improve the oversight of proposed health insurance premium increases, take action against insurers seeking unreasonable rate hikes and ensure consumers receive value for their premium dollars, announced U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
 

AJR: Lack of insurance coverage could prohibit wider CTC screening

Top Stories | Wednesday, July 21 2010
Patients who have previously refused colorectal cancer screening are willing to undergo CT colonography (CTC), or virtual colonoscopy, but are not willing to pay for the exam themselves when not covered by insurance, according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
 

CDC: Mammo rates plateau, uninsured women least likely to receive exams

Top Stories | Tuesday, July 20 2010
In recent years, mammography rates have plateaued, based on a bi-annual report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), which also revealed that critical gaps in screening remain for certain racial or ethnic groups, lower socioeconomic groups and the uninsured.
 

Colon cancer screening rates can be raised by CTC availability

Industry News | Saturday, July 10 2010
The CTC (CT colonography) Working Group has reiterated the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s call for added colon cancer screening and increased access to non-invasive procedures like CTC to facilitate increased screening rates.
 

Conn. AG, Health Net reach $250K settlement over large security breach

Industry News | Thursday, July 08 2010
Health Net and its affiliates have reached a settlement with the Connecticut Attorney General (AG) Richard Blumenthal over Health Net’s failure to secure private patient medical records and financial information on nearly half a million Connecticut enrollees and promptly notify consumers endangered by the breach.
 

JHM: Declining profits, staff reductions could hurt quality of care

Clinical Studies | Monday, June 14 2010
Declining profits and decreasing staffing may hinder hospital quality and safety, according to an analysis in the June issue of Journal of Hospital Medicine.
 

Sebelius to grant $51M for state insurance premium review

Industry News | Tuesday, June 08 2010
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the availability of $51 million in Health Insurance Premium Review Grants through the Affordable Care Act.
 

Obama Administration attempts to dismiss Virginia's reform suit

Top Stories | Wednesday, May 26 2010
Federal attorneys, acting on behalf of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, filed a 39-page brief in the U.S. District Court of Richmond in Virginia this week, in an attempt to dismiss Virginia’s lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform law.
 

HRS: Experts debate doc involvement, quality measures in healthcare reform

Top Stories | Tuesday, May 18 2010
Written by Justine Cadet
DENVER—The six-week-old healthcare reform legislation aroused a heated debate between former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., NPR journalist Juan Williams and physicians Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, and Richard I. Fogel, MD, who discussed government involvement and the questions that remain about quality measures within clinical practice, during the opening plenary session of the 31st annual conference of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) on May 13.
 

Harris awarded $72M to expand VA's billing, collection services

Contracts & Installations | Thursday, April 22 2010
Harris has received a three-year, $72 million contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to support the agency's expansion of its Consolidated Patient Account Center business model.
 

AHRQ: U.S. healthcare quality is s-l-o-w-l-y improving

Top Stories | Wednesday, April 14 2010
According to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Department of Health and Human Services, the quality of healthcare is improving, but slowly, especially in the areas of preventive care and chronic disease management.
 

Five more states join AG suit against healthcare reform

Top Stories | Thursday, April 08 2010
Nevada, Arizona, Indiana, North Dakota and Mississippi have joined the 13 attorneys general (AG) who are party to the suit challenging the healthcare reform law, filed by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. Two of the state governors, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, have sidestepped their AGs to partake in the lawsuit.
 

Virginia law expands access to telemedicine

Industry News | Wednesday, April 07 2010
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has signed into law a bill that will expand telemedicine coverage in the state by ensuring that health insurers cover and reimburse for healthcare services provided through telemedicine.
 

More on how healthcare reform will affect providers

Top Stories | Monday, March 29 2010
As part of the passage of the healthcare reform legislation last week, various provisions, several of them imaging related, were enacted as part of the legislative process that will affect the management of routine clinical practice.
 

AMA: Competition is dwindling for U.S. health insurers

Industry News | Thursday, February 25 2010
A study conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that within 24 of the 43 reporting states in the study, two large insurance payors had a combined market share of 70 percent or more, and that overall competition in the health insurance industry is decreasing.
 

RAND: House bill could halve U.S. uninsured by 2019

Top Stories | Wednesday, January 13 2010
The House of Representatives healthcare reform bill, if passed, could reduce the number of uninsured to 24 million by 2019, a 56 percent decrease relative to the current projected trend, said a recent analysis of the Affordable Health Care for America Act by the RAND Corporation.
 

AHA on healthcare reform: More positives than negatives

Top Stories | Wednesday, January 13 2010
The American Hospital Association (AHA) has sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging that Congress maintain the level of insurance coverage offered in the House version of healthcare reform when it reconciles the competing Senate and House healthcare reform bills.
 

HRSA to dispense $600M to community health centers to bolster health IT

Top Stories | Thursday, December 10 2009
President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will administer nearly $600 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awards to support construction and health IT projects in community health centers around the U.S.
 

Demographics, health risks drive geographic healthcare spending variance

Industry News | Thursday, November 12 2009
As U.S. healthcare costs inflate, factors such as insurance status, demographics and increased patient health risk must be investigated when defining ways to realign healthcare spending, according to a report released by the American Hospital Association this week.
 

House delivers healthcare reform victory in late-night session

Top Stories | Monday, November 09 2009
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives managed to squeak out a healthcare reform victory (220-215) late Saturday evening, after ratifying the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that will prohibit abortion funding for both the public option and affordability credits.
 
Web Exclusives

Feature: U.S. needs national strategy to curb imaging overutilization

Medical imaging overutilization--a growing concern in the U.S.--exposes patients to unnecessary radiation, while also adding to rising healthcare costs, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Radiology. In an interview, William R. Hendee, PhD, lead author, reviewed various methods by which medical imaging could be curtailed.

Radiology: Prelim study shows CE breast CT outperforms CT, mammo

Dedicated contrast-enhanced (CE) breast CT delivered significantly improved conspicuity of malignant breast lesions, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), compared with unenhanced breast CT and mammography, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology.

Radiology: Rad role may evolve as image-guided biopsies trend up

CT, ultrasound and MRI have helped shift biopsy techniques away from more invasive approaches toward image-guided percutaneous techniques, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology. The trend toward less-invasive approaches translates into enhanced safety and efficiency and could lead to more interaction between patients and radiologists.

CMS Webinar: Incentive payments to offset EHR adoption, not reimburse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) EHR incentive payments are not considered reimbursement for money expended on EHR technology, but are intended to offset the cost associated with adoption and ongoing meaningful use, according to CMS during an Aug. 12 webinar.

CMS webinar: Eligible professionals can expect EHR incentives in 2011

Funding incentives for EHR use is the main goal of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) meaningful use initiative, and there are incentive programs for both hospitals and eligible professionals, according to Elizabeth Holland, health insurance specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke during a CMS-sponsored webinar Aug. 8.

Webinar: Stage 1 of meaningful use is for quality reporting acclimation

Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use incentives aim to strike a balance between the overall goal of EHR use and widespread adoption, while avoiding added work, said Jonathan Teich, MD, PhD, chief medical informatics officer at Elsevier Health Services, during a HIMSS webinar titled “Meaningful Use: Safety and Quality of Care.”

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