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Reform Update: GOP lawmakers seen as bullying navigator groups before open enrollment

By Jonathan Block | September 06, 2013 | Basic Web

Organizations receiving federal funds to help Americans sign up for healthcare coverage on the state insurance exchanges are coming under pressure from House Republican lawmakers who are demanding that they provide extensive information by Sept. 13.
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2 more health insurers get preliminary OK for Wash. exchange.

By Donna Gordon Blankinship / Associated Press | August 31, 2013

Washington's insurance commissioner announced Friday he has reached a settlement and approved two more health insurers for the state's new healthcare exchange, which is Washington's contribution to healthcare reform.
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Obamacare and voting rights clash over health exchanges

By USA Today | August 16, 2013

Two of the fiercest political disputes between Washington and the states could soon come together in legal fights that involve tying the new federal health care overhaul to voter registration.
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Group Health names Trehearne VP of primary care

By Rachel Landen | August 07, 2013 | Basic Web

Group Health, a not-for-profit health system based in Seattle, has named Barbara Trehearne VP of primary care, effective July 26.
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Feds challenge Wash. mental health system

By Mike Baker / Associated Press | August 04, 2013

The federal government has indicated there are problems with the system Washington state uses to deliver mental health services, and officials say hundreds of millions of dollars could be at risk unless changes are made.
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Wash. law relaxes restrictions on doc assistants

By Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) | August 01, 2013

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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OIG wants skilled-nursing access for all Medicare beneficiaries

By Jessica Zigmond | July 30, 2013 | Basic Web

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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Reform Update: Public health organizations work to prepare providers for Medicaid expansion

By Steven Ross Johnson | July 30, 2013 | Basic Web

Three leading public health organizations have announced plans to partner in a project aimed at helping the nation's healthcare providers prepare for the 2014 expansion of Medicaid coverage.
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Feds charge hedge fund SAC Capital in N.Y. case

By Tom Hays / Associated Press | July 25, 2013

The hedge fund operated by embattled billionaire Steven A. Cohen made hundreds of millions of dollars illegally and allowed unprecedented and pervasive insider trading to go unchecked for years, federal prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed Thursday.
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Reform Update: HHS rule allows hospitals to bill state for some presumed-eligible Medicaid patients

By Rich Daly | July 09, 2013 | Basic Web

Hospitals girding for an influx of Medicaid patients in 2014 under the healthcare reform law's Medicaid coverage expansion recently were given some new regulatory tools to deal with the financial fallout.
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