The Federation of American Hospitals says that the CMS isn’t being fair to for-profit hospitals in its application of revised Stark rules that went into effect Dec. 4, 2007. The CMS in November announced it would wait a year before applying the...
With a new CMS report showing that Medicare spending rose almost 19% in 2006, healthcare providers are facing an uphill battle in trying to jockey for more money from the Medicare program, which ultimately might be looking for areas where it can...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended increases in hospital and physician payments in 2009, but voted for payment freezes on skilled-nursing facilities, inpatient-rehabilitation facilities and home healthcare.
Although federal actuaries reported total healthcare spending at $2.1 trillion in 2006 represented only a slight acceleration of overall growth, a separate study determined that the moderate increase in overall healthcare spending still hit some...
A new report from HHS’ inspector general’s office on physician-owned specialty hospitals is being cited by both sides in the debate on whether such facilities should be allowed.
Despite a limited federal moratorium on new long-term acute-care hospitals, growth is expected to continue with more facilities scheduled to open this year.
Two months after HHS’ Office for Human Research Protections told hospitals in Michigan to suspend quality activities it deemed were conducted illegally, quality proponents are worried the federal agency’s ruling will create an “unprecedented...
The hospital lobby last week said it would challenge the Bush administration’s plans to further restrict Medicaid eligibility to children under a directive that was originally intended for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Profits sagged for the Healthcare Financial Management Association in the fiscal year ended May 31, 2007, with expenses far outgrowing revenue, according to a just-released Internal Revenue Service filing.
Alan Levine, tapped to be the next secretary of the Louisiana Health and Hospitals Department, plans to focus on improving outcomes, evaluating disaster-preparedness plans and implementing electronic medical records in his new role.
The Catholic health system seeking to acquire Denver-based Exempla Healthcare met with another legal hurdle last week when Exempla’s directors sued to halt the deal.
The U.S. Supreme Court has disappointed hospitals that hoped the justices would tell federal courts to respect state laws that protect peer-review records from becoming lawsuit fodder.
Expect hospitals to spend much of 2008 trying to put the brakes on regulations that could adversely affect their payments under federal insurance programs.
Although national healthcare reform is on hold until at least next year, the states—those laboratories of democracy—aren’t waiting, perhaps aware that Washington—a laboratory of dysfunction and hyperpartisanship—may never get around to the job. With...
The moment you are fired from a job, you learn a bittersweet lesson; you find out who your real friends are. Some who have seemed like real admirers vanish like ghosts because the fired executive has lost power and prestige. Then there are others...
Catholic hospitals have long been able to refuse to perform abortions on religious grounds. But can they deny a transgender patient’s request for an elective surgery? That’s the question at the heart of a new lawsuit pitting religious doctrine...
