Outlines

Seven organizations will receive a total of $639 million in federal low-interest loans to launch new health insurance plans in eight states, the federal government announced Tuesday. […]

In Friday action, the House and Senate OK'd legislation that prevented a 27.4 percent reduction in Medicare physician pay, which was scheduled to kick in on March 1. […]

USA Today reports that the Supreme Court's review could cause the the health law debate to stretch through the presidential campaign. Other media outlets take a look at what would happen without the individual mandate, and at stakeholders' positions related to the law's Medicaid expansion. […]

A selection of stories from Arizona, California, Virginia, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Kansas and Oklahoma. […]

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has called for a broader investigation of Minnesota's Medicaid system after allegations that the state inflated premiums for low-income residents. Elsewhere, Maine's Medicaid system costs more than in other states, and the Florida Hospital Association is pushing back against forced contracting with Medicaid managed c […]

By Thomas Tsang, MD and Faraz Ahmad, MD With unsustainably high costs and tremendous gaps in quality and patient safety, the health care system is ripe with opportunities for improvement. For years, many have seen quality measurement as a means to drive needed change. Private and public payers, public health departments, and independent accreditation organiz […]

By Al Lewis North Carolina Medicaid recently reported, for the third time, using a third consulting firm, the achievement of massive savings through its patient-centered medical home (PCMH) program, now called Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC). Among other things, CCNC pays the physicians more money in order to encourage and compensate behaviors and pr […]

By Ron Gutman There’s a new movement in healthcare – and it’s growing from a surprising place.  Instead of emerging from government or industry, it’s budding from the grassroots –from everyday physicians. The movement is democratizing health information and giving birth to a new landscape: Interactive Health. Interactive Health is transitioning clinical care […]

By David M Sack MD An ancient maxim  of dinner party etiquette, which  I believe has been proffered  from more than one source,  is “never discuss politics, religion or sex in polite company”. In some ways, for me as a physician, entering the exam room with a patient seems to require some similar degree of discretion. But […]

By Naveen Rao The numerous changes in the healthcare sector are forcing stakeholders to develop new business models to prosper, to survive. Among health insurers, this means one thing: diversification. Health reform was the nail in the coffin of yesterday’s business model, a model that had no restrictions on margins, a model where payers sold […]