Tag:

Medicare Payments

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Report: Medicare overpays skilled nursing facilities by more than $1B

Because of flawed payment incentives, Medicare paid skilled nursing facilities $1.1 billion more than it needed to in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, according to a new government agency report.  

Medicare rules may encourage nursing homes to over-treat patients

​Even as the healthcare industry puts an increased emphasis on cutting costs, Medicare's payment rules for nursing homes seem to encourage these facilities to provide expensive--and even harmful--excess care.

GAO: Remove financial incentives from 340B program

A new Government Accountability Office report recommends that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services curtail the financial incentives offered to safety-net hospitals that participate in the 340B drug discount program.

Deadly infections cost Medicare billions

As the number of sepsis cases among hospitalized patients rises dramatically, the cost to public and private insurers is also skyrocketing: The newest hospital payment data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services put the cost to Medicare in the billions.

CMS releases new physician, hospital payment data

Newly released data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that Medicare reimbursements to doctors are far from evenly distributed, while hospital charges for top procedures and conditions have increased moderately.

Do Medicare's financial penalties to improve care actually work?

The Medicare program has financially penalized hospitals for years for not preventing avoidable injuries to patients while they're hospitalized, but it is hard to determine whether that program has had a concrete impact.

Hospitals base discharges on payments, not patient progress

Many providers discharge Medicare patients based on when it is most lucrative to do so rather than improved patient condition, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Hospitals don't want cuts outlined in Obama budget proposal

For-profit hospitals have a clear message on the Obama administration's recently proposed budget for 2016: Don't make any cuts that would impact our business.  

Anthem, insurers on board for value-based payments

As new payment methods gain traction, the nation's second-largest insurer is taking leaps and bounds to transition away from the traditional fee-for-service model toward value-based payments.

Will there actually be any takers on the HHS plan to speed up value-based payments?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' announcement yesterday that it plans to more aggressively sync provider payments with the quality of care they provide is a bold and overdue...