Recent Stories
New Medicare data show steep increases in drug prices

The CMS on Wednesday released data on the price history of 5,000 prescription drugs over five years, shedding light on the fastest rising source of healthcare costs in recent years.
How hospitals fared in Medicare's value-based purchasing program

Search the results by hospital and location and see the bonuses and penalties for individual hospitals for 2017 compared with 2016.
What Medicare pays doctors for services and drugs

In the third round of what's now an annual event, the CMS posted a huge data set that breaks down the $91 billion Medicare has paid individual physicians, diagnostic labs, ambulance services and other companies.
What Medicare pays doctors for services and drugs

In the third round of what's now an annual event, the CMS posted a huge data set that breaks down how much Medicare paid individual physicians, diagnostic labs, ambulance services and other companies.
Blog: Latest CMS data dump reveals what Medicare pays for medical equipment

At $28,444, an electronically controlled prosthetic elbow was the highest-priced piece of equipment Medicare paid for in 2013. But it was rentals of oxygen concentrators, referred by more than 210,000 providers at an average price of $120, that cost Medicare the most money, about $1 billion.
Blog: Think a $500K salary for Planned Parenthood's CEO is a ton of dough? Think again

When she testified before Congress on Tuesday, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards took heat for her six-figure salary. But a look at the money earned by CEOs of other not-for-profit healthcare organizations in 2013 shows that Richards is in the middle of the pack.
Blog: New exchange enrollment surged most in South and Midwest

In Colquitt County in rural southwest Georgia, nearly 80% of the people who signed up for healthcare coverage through a federal marketplace in 2015 were new to the program, according to county-level enrollment data for the federal marketplace recently released by the CMS.
Data show Genentech paid the most to providers

Genentech, the maker of Avastin and other pricey cancer drugs, paid physicians and teaching hospitals more than any other drug or device company did in 2014, according to data published last week on the CMS' Open Payments website.
Blog: What drug and device companies paid teaching hospitals in 2014

According to the data posted to the CMS' Open Payments website, drug and medical-device companies paid teaching hospitals $543 million in general payments, which include speaking and consulting fees, gifts, travel and royalties for drugs based on research conducted by the providers. See which hospitals got what.
Which companies disclosed the most to Open Payments

Genentech, the maker of Avastin and other expensive cancer drugs, paid physicians and teaching hospitals more than any other drug or device company in 2014, according to a new round of data posted to the CMS' Open Payments website.
Blog: Docs accused of fraud get more Medicare bucks (a lot more)

Of the 18 physicians identified so far in last week's national Medicare fraud takedown, more than half collected at least three times as much from Medicare as the average doctor in their specialty, according to Medicare physician payment data for 2013.
Blog: Here are the average payments Medicare makes to every medical specialty

Looking at Medicare physician payment data, it would appear that oncologists were among the highest-paid specialists in 2013. But this tool created by Modern Healthcare reveals that a lot of the money going to oncologists covers the cost of administered drugs.
Blog: Spreads between highest and lowest hospital charges vary widely city to city

There are vast disparities in hospital charges, or list prices, for similar treatments at hospitals in the same area, according to Medicare inpatient charge data released earlier this week. And those spreads vary dramatically from market to market, as seen in our interactive map.
Blog: Single-payer advocates tally ACA's administrative burden

The Affordable Care Act will add more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in additional insurance administrative expenses from 2012 to 2022, according to an analysis of federal data released Wednesday by two medical school professors.
Blog: Drug costs exceed $100,000 a year for more Americans

The number of patients taking at least $100,000 worth of prescription drugs annually tripled from 2013 to 2014, according to new research by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. High-cost medications for hepatitis C and cancer were among the biggest cost drivers.