Government Affairs Breaking News news and information

It's no surprise that collaboration between payers and providers will continue to increase as the launch of health insurance exchanges in October approaches. But sustaining that cooperation will require “physician champions” to work closely with payers and more simplified contracts...
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A leading proponent of Medicare reform on Capitol Hill says Congress should change the accountable care program to make sure ACOs are improving care for the sickest patients.
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Reacting to a settlement in March over the rejection of two medical school students who have hepatitis B, HHS and the Justice and Education departments have sent letters to medical, dental and nursing schools to emphasize updated nondiscrimination policies released by the Centers for Disease...
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U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin will step down from her position in July, a spokeswoman for HHS confirmed late Wednesday.
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Managed care rapidly gained and quickly lost favor more than a decade ago, but even as it lost ground, it never fully lost a hold in the market. Now, it's an increasingly popular option among seniors enrolled in Medicare, and some managed-care tenets—care coordination led by primary care and...
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Physicians, patients and medical imaging companies talked the CMS out of virtually ending Medicare payment for post-treatment positron emission tomography scans for solid tumors.
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The recently appointed federal Commission on Long-Term Care has elected its top two leaders and announced it will hold its first meeting June 27.
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Four Republican House members are asking pointed questions about the security of patients' healthcare data based on allegations in a lawsuit in which an anonymous company claims that a raiding party of IRS agents confiscated protected health-information files on about 10 million Americans.
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Medicare beneficiaries may not have felt the sting of the budget sequester yet, but those working on the provider side—from hospitals to physician groups to medical billing vendors—say the 2% cuts are having a real impact.
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The coming weeks are shaping up to be a big deal for states still on the fence regarding Medicaid expansion.
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