Medicare news and information

One expert is waving a warning flag at the federal government's race to increase healthcare price transparency.
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The changes driven by the reform law make it crucial that providers stay on top of a growing list of compliance issues.
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A Chicago pulmonologist has been identified as holding the same position at Chicago's Sacred Heart Hospital as “Physician D,” the doctor federal authorities say performed medically unnecessary tracheotomies at the West Side hospital, according to a report.
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Dr. Andrew Gurman, speaker of the American Medical Association House of Delegates, is known for starting off the AMA policy-making body's annual meeting in Chicago with a light and humorous touch.
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The last time the American Medical Association had a contested election over who would be its next president was three years ago. And, just like in 2010, the candidates were asked about the AMA support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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Medicare patients who have been treated for prostate cancer and other solid tumors will continue to have access to PET scans to guide subsequent therapy. Physicians, patients and medical imaging companies talked the CMS out of virtually ending payment for post-treatment PET scans.
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Medicare's accountable care push isn't doing enough for the patients who need them the most, said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Wyden, speaking last week at the National Accountable Care Organization Summit in Washington, said the attribution rule under the Patient...
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Congress may be salivating over a long list of opportunities to cut hospitals' outpatient services. In March 2012, the MedPAC said the government could save as much as $1 billion a year by paying a uniform rate for evaluation and management office visits.
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From industry media to your hometown newspaper, news about the push for transparency in healthcare pricing is hard to miss these days.
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It's long been known that healthcare does not fit the economist's standard model for perfect competition. But Douglas Hough, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, goes further: He says patients, providers and other stakeholders are irrational. His book, Irrationality in...
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