Hospital CEO, CFO arrested in $2M kickback scheme
The owner and chief financial officer of Sacred Heart Hospital in Chicago, along with four affiliated physicians, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients.
9 southern states remain Medicaid expansion holdouts
Policymakers in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma say they can't afford to expand the program, even though the federal government would fully fund expansion between 2014 and 2016.
How Integris Health uses data analytics to improve collections
In this exclusive interview, Brent Grimes, administrative director of patient account services at Integris Health, tells FierceHealthFinance how Integris is using data analytics to weather shrinking reimbursements and inform its collections strategy.
How healthcare finance distorted pharma distribution
Cost-containment plan boosts price transparency
Under state law, Massachusetts payers and providers will both offer pricing information to consumers starting in October.
Study: Which states will benefit from Medicaid expansion?
A new study by the Urban Institute examines projected state-by-state spending burdens under the planned Medicaid expansion in 2014 and shows a wide variation in who pays what.
DRG reform could reduce costs, improve quality
A review of Europe's diagnosis-related group payment codes suggests the United States could cut down on healthcare costs by refocusing its own DRGs, according to a new study in Health Affairs.
Moody's: Medicare sequester cuts to hit nonprofits hard
Sequestration-related cuts are posing a bottom-line threat to nonprofit hospitals, as indicated by a recent downbeat report from Moody's Investors Service.
Reform expanding Medicaid to ex-prisoners, parolees
The Affordable Care Act extends Medicaid eligibility not only to the roughly 650,000 Americans released from prison custody every year, but also the approximately 5 million others who are on parole and probation.
Hospitals asks HRSA to delay change to discount drug program
The American Hospital Association has asked the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to delay by at least six months the imposition of a new rule for the 340B drug discount program that would bar institutions from purchasing drugs for outpatients through a group purchasing organization.
Nonprofit hospitals get help to avoid community health needs penalties
Nonprofit hospitals could get leeway concerning community health needs assessments (CHNA) requirements, thanks to a newly proposed rule from the Internal Revenue Service that will excuse minor and inadvertent omissions and errors.
Put medical testing to a financial means test
Mortality rates rise at critical access hospitals
Mortality rates at critical access hospitals have been increasing 0.1 percent annually in recent years.
Healthcare credit cards wane with more insured patients
The era of healthcare-related credit card has waned since the Great Recession, accelerated in part by the likelihood of greater access to insurance starting next year, reported Fox Business.
Bill would require hospitals post procedure costs online
A bill being debated in the North Carolina legislature would enhance transparency regarding hospital costs and bills, reported the Winston-Salem Journal.
States debate hospital tax exemption bills
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and California are considering legislation that would clarify the work hospitals need to do to preserve their not-for-profit status.
Rural hospitals feel fiscal squeeze
Rural hospitals, particularly facilities in the South, are seeing their finances come under greater pressure as a result of factors ranging from healthcare insurance to their states' refusal to participate in the Medicaid expansion as part of the Affordable Care Act.
Maryland gets tough on hospital pricing
Maryland is considering a plan that would prevent hospital costs from rising more than the rate of inflation--and would effectively cut future price increases in half.
Hospitals bracing for sequester-related cuts
The 2 percent pending cuts to Medicare payments as a result of the budget sequestration are expected to affect the bottom line of some hospitals to the tune of millions of dollars a year.
Providers, state regulator at odds over hospital margins
Maine's hospitals and a state agency are at odds over determining profit margins for inpatient facilities--a potentially complicating factor in deciding how much money is owed to providers under the state's Medicaid program.
