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Five hundred hours. That's how much time a large hospital had to spend each week recently dealing with recovery audit contractor audits, the hospital's CEO told me at a conference.
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On June 6, I went to have my annual physical. I paid a $15 copay, but I also had blood work done, and when I walked out of the office, I had no idea how much I was going to be obligated to pay for those tests.
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At the center of so many critical issues in healthcare today lies the electronic health record. It's driving the meaningful-use regulations, ICD-10 implementation, updates to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the most basic of all questions—how to reduce the cost of...
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In the scramble to find ways to slow rising healthcare costs, experts are finding good ideas from organizations that are virtually unknown beyond their hometowns.
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From volume to value is the industry's current rallying cry as it attempts to shift from a system of paying per case to one that pays for results.
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We no longer have to wonder about what the future under Obamacare may look like, as it has been forced on Massachusetts in legislation just passed as Senate Bill 2400.
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Last week, Massachusetts took the next significant step in reforming its healthcare system: a bill that will save the state as much as $200 billion in the next 15 years. Monday, Governor Deval Patrick signed it into law, saying that Massachusetts has "cracked the code" on controlling healthcare...
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It was Saturday night, and I was at the local Cheesecake Factory with my two teen-age daughters and three of their friends. You may know the chain: a hundred and sixty restaurants with a catalogue-like menu that, when I did a count, listed three hundred and eight dinner items (including the...
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Paul Barr, reporter for Modern Healthcare, discusses the Medicare woes unique to rural providers with Tim Wolters, director of reimbursement for Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Bolivar, Mo., at the Healthcare Financial Management Association's 2012 Annual National Institute.
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Maryland is the only state in the nation to enjoy a federal exemption that allows it to regulate how much hospitals can charge patients, much like the state public service commission regulates utility rates.
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