A long-awaited ruling from the Internal Revenue Service regarding hospital subsidies of physicians’ costs for electronic health records said HHS-approved information technology contributions won’t jeopardize the tax-exempt status of not-for-profit...
Hillenbrand Industries, Batesville, Ind., said it approved a plan to split its medical technology business, famous for hospital beds, from its equally dominant casketmaking business into two independent, publicly traded companies. Under the plan,...
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt furthered his push for healthcare reform last week with a high-powered panel discussion on his “four cornerstones of a value-driven healthcare system.”
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association last week called on Congress to create an independent institute tasked with studying medical procedures, techniques, drugs and devices, and determining which work best, a move that received a mixed response...
A study released last week examining hospital billing policies toward the uninsured reopened old wounds suffered by the hospital industry by a rash of billing lawsuits over the past several years.
The American Hospital Association is shaping what is expected to be an extensive reform agenda that tackles not only how its own members can improve the healthcare system, but also on how individuals can better their overall health.
There were 639 fewer disciplinary actions taken against physicians last year, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards, but no one can really fully explain why—just like it’s hard to explain why there were 344 more actions taken last year...
When Robert Betz left his post as the contracted president and chief executive officer for the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association in December 2005, it appeared to be an amicable parting motivated by HIGPA’s reorganization efforts.
The U.S. Justice Department said it has intervened in three whistle-blower Medicare false-claims billing lawsuits brought against HealthEssentials Solutions, a defunct Louisville, Ky.-based home-healthcare provider, and three of its executives,...
The Internal Revenue Service is following through with a plan to survey charities that access the public bond markets on their record retention policies, an issue that is especially worrisome for hospitals that have refinanced their debt over long...
Modern Healthcare has won 13 awards from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors, more than any other organization this year in its annual competition recognizing editorial excellence. The magazine garnered four gold, five...
There was an interesting edition of an electronic newsletter published by the American Hospital Association last week. There were nine news items, with the first being about how the turning of baby boomers into senior boomers will unleash a “tidal...
A diverse crowd ranging from clinicians to academics met in Irving, Texas, in March at the wonky but well-named National Conference on Small Numbers. The purpose was to address “the measurement of indicators of quality of care in small community...
Regarding your cover story on the “45% rule” (“Sensitive trigger,” April 30, p. 6): What the CMS and many in Congress don’t understand is that no matter how much the CMS tries to rein in the growth of Medicare, it will be hampered by the for-profit...
Christy Stephenson, who most recently served as president and CEO of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Hamilton (N.J.) for eight years, has joined TRG Healthcare, a national healthcare consulting company. Stephenson, 57, is serving...
The state of New Hampshire will appeal a federal court decision striking down a 2006 state law that bars data-miners from using patients’ prescription drug information to directly market pharmaceuticals to physicians.
For several years now radio-frequency identification—the same technology that allows warehouses to control and track their inventory between locations—has been touted as an advance on bar-code technology in healthcare. New research says, “Not so...
