Legislation news and information

Groups seeking to protect patients with chronic conditions from an increase in out-of-pocket spending beyond the limits set in the reform law aren't happy with a response from the Labor Department.
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With healthcare costs already strangling many families, a lawmaker wants to make sure Pennsylvania residents aren't surprised by controversial facility fees that have angered some residents.
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Two Kansas doctors who have filed a lawsuit against a sweeping new state abortion law are attacking its form as well as its substance, hoping their objection to how lawmakers enacted the statute dooms it quickly.
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Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that "all options are on the table" in looking for ways to accept federal money to expand Medicaid for the working poor.
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Two months before open enrollment begins on the state insurance exchanges, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner downplayed concerns from GOP lawmakers that the 2010 healthcare law will hurt jobs and expressed confidence that the employer mandate delay won't affect the law's implementation.
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Federal legislators are pushing a ban on self-referral in radiation therapy in the wake of a U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the impact of physician financial incentives on prostate cancer treatments.
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Increasing enrollment in health insurance is one of the primary goals of the health reform law. The CMS took a major step to achieve that by signing agreements with five online insurance brokers.
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A new state law that took effect this week in Washington allows more physician assistants to work with doctors. Previously, Washington state limited the number of assistants that a physician could supervise to three, but the new law allows for five assistants per doctor.
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It's Christmas in July for Medicare-participating physicians—though the gift is far from being delivered. On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare's sustainable growth-rate formula and replace it with a stable system of...
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HHS' office of the inspector general is urging the CMS to ensure Medicare beneficiaries have the same access to skilled-nursing care after leaving the hospital, regardless of how their stay is coded.
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