U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) news and information

A showdown is shaping up between federal healthcare privacy regulators and the nation's largest pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers over a healthcare privacy rule affecting upwards of 100 million prescription-refill reminders sent to patients each year.
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Robert Ritz was named president of Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines (Iowa). Ritz, 51, is president and CEO of St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Ill., operated by Springfield-based Hospital Sisters Health System. In Des Moines, he takes over leadership from Dave Vellinga, who has been...
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One of the most disturbing challenges faced by American healthcare is the enormous geographic variability in both access and quality. We are one nation, and no matter which state we live in, we are all Americans. But (to paraphrase Bono) where we live actually determines if we live.
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A fundraising push by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is drawing criticism from a key Senate Republican who questions whether she has a conflict of interest.
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The CMS and Medicare beneficiaries could have saved an estimated $510 million on drugs used to treat end-stage renal disease in 2011 if the reimbursement rate more accurately reflected current usage of these drugs, according to a report from HHS' inspector general's office.
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HHS keeps a list of people who are excluded from giving even indirect care to Medicare patients, and new guidelines urge providers to check their personnel rosters against the list once a month.
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Otis Bowen, who overhauled Indiana's tax system as governor before helping oversee the federal response to the burgeoning AIDS epidemic during President Ronald Reagan's second term, has died. He was 95.
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Health Management Associates, Naples, Fla., is facing a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission, potentially related to its billing and accounting practices.
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PITTSBURGH—UPMC, a not-for-profit health system with its tax-exempt status under attack, is fighting back with a lawsuit against its hometown and mayor. The health system's lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleges the city of Pittsburgh...
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Editor's note: At a time of rapid change in the healthcare industry, HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson's office is charged with steering healthcare companies on the path of honest and transparent work. Modern Healthcare reporter Joe Carlson sat down with Levinson last week to talk about new...
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