Medicare

 
CMS allows some IT expenses in Medicare Advantage, Part D MLR
May 22, 2013 |
Anthony Brino
In final medical loss ratio rules for Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans, CMS offered a fairly broad set of allowable IT expenses under the category of quality improvement, with some exceptions.
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Mostashari: Beacons highlight needed national action
May 22, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
The ONC announced the first learning guide for Beacon Nation to disseminate wisdom gained in 17 communities to help improve care quality and safety while transforming how healthcare is paid for.
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Survey finds Medicaid expansion popular even in Southern states
May 22, 2013 |
Kaiser Health News www.kaiserhealthnews.org

Nearly two-thirds of adults across 5 of the America's most conservative states are in favor of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
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WEDI, state collaboratives prep ICD-10 initiative
May 21, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
WEDI aims to align state-based organizations to streamline the conversion, reduce costs and create best practices around ICD-10 implementation.
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Why modernizing state IT infrastructures is crucial for HIX
May 20, 2013 |
T. David Smith
IT decisions made today will affect future initiatives and health insurance exchanges' ability to keep pace with healthcare reform.
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GOP fears about IRS access to medical records disputed
May 20, 2013 |
Kaiser Health News www.kaiserhealthnews.org

The IRS does play a key role in implementing the health law but will not have access to patient health records.
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IDC's 5 stages to ACO maturity
May 17, 2013 |
Mike Miliard
Accountable care is a long and arduous process. The analyst house released a framework to help healthcare organizations avoid floundering along the way.
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HHS puts a cool $1 billion toward Innovation Awards
May 16, 2013 |
Bernie Monegain
The awards are meant to fund projects to improve care quality and reduce costs for patients and taxpayers.
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Tavenner confirmation triggers applause from industry
May 16, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
Healthcare associations and organizations said her career experience and progress as acting administrator of CMS make Marilyn Tavenner a strong leader to drive the policy changes in Obamacare.
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Medicare Strike Force nails 89 fraudsters
May 16, 2013 |
Anthony Brino
Suspected scheme leader already bought Lamborghinis, a Ferrari and a Bentley before the the DOJ and HHS cracked down on him and 88 other alleged criminals.
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GOP raises concerns about Sebelius, IRS
May 15, 2013 |
Kaiser Health News www.kaiserhealthnews.org

Senate GOP leaders take issue with the HHS secretary soliciting money from private groups to implement the health law.
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CMS won't fine hospitals in states slow to expand Medicaid
May 14, 2013 |
Kaiser Health News www.kaiserhealthnews.org

On Monday the Obama administration said it won't penalize states that have yet to expand coverage by targeting them for reduced Medicaid funding for the next two years.
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Advanced Text Mining Improves Medicare Advantage Coding
November 9, 2012 | White Papers
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are private health plans that have contracted with Medicare to receive a fixed monthly fee in exchange for providing comprehensive healthcare to plan members. In order to provide appropriate care to beneficiaries with varying medical conditions, plans are paid according to the Risk Adjustment Factor (RAF) score of each patient. Insufficient documentation of chronic conditions can be an obstacle to MA reimbursement. However, even when a condition has been properly documented by the provider, it is often not coded and submitted to Medicare. Read this white paper to learn how to take the complexity out of MA reimbursement.
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Best Practices to Deploy ECM Technologies: Ensure Decisions are Made Based on all the Information, not a Portion of it
October 11, 2011 | On Demand Webinars
In this Web seminar, learn firsthand from five healthcare organizations how, after integrating Perceptive Software enterprise content management (ECM) products, they are realizing cost and time-saving benefits enterprise-wide. The customer panel will share lessons learned and best practices for deploying ECM technology with their business and health information systems.
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CMS updates ICD-10-PCS code set
May 20, 2013 |
Carl Natale
When the U.S. transitions to ICD-10 on October 1, 2014, these are the codes that will be used for inpatient procedures.
Editor's Desk: T.W.I.G. Notes
May 2, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
This week in Government Health IT: Reports expose state and local governments as ill-prepared, whether that be for Big Data or cyber-attacks. Also, think tanks talk patient-centered care for cost-savings.
Tavenner moving closer to Senate approval as formal CMS head
April 23, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
The Senate Finance Committee, as was expected, endorsed acting CMS administrator Marilyn Tavenner to officially lead the agency.
ICD-101: How much training will you need?
April 22, 2013 |
Carl Natale
AHIMA has charted a map of education courses that Carl Natale says serves as a place to start planning.
Quick take: 3 changes CMS and OIG proposed to EHR safe harbor
April 9, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
Aiming to modify safe harbor within the anti-kickback statute, the agencies suggest changes for the sake of continuing to facilitate EHR adoption.
5 ICD-10 challenges that may surprise you
March 26, 2013 |
Carl Natale
Migrating to the mandated code sets is more than just a technology issue. You already know that. But there are obstacles that might surprise you.
Editor's Desk: T.W.I.G. Notes
March 21, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
No easy answers this week on patient engagement, EHR usability, mobile health questions.
Editor's Desk: T.W.I.G. Notes
March 15, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
Am I the only one who took until mid-week to fully recover from HIMSS13? It was a blast, after all, even reminiscent of the tech tradeshows of old, brimming with glitz and new products.
Editor's Desk: T.W.I.G. Notes
March 1, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
Imagine: A physician fresh from med school walking into an MS-DOS clinic while streaming Spotify on an Android device. Inconceivable?
Editor's Desk: T.W.I.G. Notes
February 22, 2013 |
Tom Sullivan
A new hashtag, VA CIO and CTO announce plans to leave, a Medicaid surprise in Florida, and tips for HIT recruitment and retention.
Ahead of March sequestration, a new Simpson and Bowles proposal
February 19, 2013 |
Anthony Brino
While the President and Congress look for deficit reduction paths and healthcare organizations brace for Medicare changes, the duo from the Fiscal Commission is renewing its plans for spending cuts ($600 billion in healthcare) and new tax revenue.
Mobile HIX enrollment: A critical asset for ACA success
February 13, 2013 |
Lucy Streett
A large percentage of the Americans that the Affordable Care Act aims to bring into the insurance pool access the Web primarily through their smartphones. For the ACA to achieve its potential, federal and state governments must reach those citizens where it's most convenient for the consumer.