Tag: Healthcare Costs

Affordable Care Act

Affordable Care Act Plans Will Be Able To Offer Wellness Incentives Under CMS Pilot

Insurers can offer premium discounts or other incentives to engage in healthy activities, but questions remain as to whether wellness programs work. Affordable Care Act plans in 10 states will be able to offer wellness programs, as employer-sponsored plans have been doing for years. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday announced the opportunity for […]
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Optimizing revenue cycle management

Optimizing Revenue Cycle Management For 2020

With patients seeing higher medical bills than ever and healthcare costs continuing to rise, healthcare organizations need to stay on top of the revenue cycle to ensure they can capture payments and be prepared for changes in 2020. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) in Chicago, Cassi Birnbaum, […]
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Medicaid DSH payments

CMS Finalizes How It Will Cut Medicaid DSH Payments

The Senate passed a continuing resolution that would temporarily stop the implementation of Medicaid DSH payment cuts until Nov. 22, 2019. CMS on Monday finalized a rule that will reduce Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments by $4 billion next year and $8 billion a year until fiscal year 2025. The new final rule will implement Medicaid DSH payment […]
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Value-Based Care Models

Verma Presses Hospitals to Assume Risk in Value-Based Care Models

Hospitals assuming downside financial risk under value-based care models is the key to lowering healthcare costs and improving quality, CMS believes. CMS Administrator Seema Verma urged hospitals on Tuesday to accept new value-based care models and price transparency requirements or face greater administrative burden, less competition, and lower reimbursement rates under Medicare for All. “Our choices are […]
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The Rx For Improved Patient Billing Experiences

Helping patients understand their financial responsibility and pay for services continues to be driven by an outdated and unnecessarily complex experience. Last year, three in 10 Americans had an unpaid healthcare bill go to collections. As more of the financial burden falls to patients with rising costs and an increase in high-deductible health plans, consumers are frustrated […]
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Healthcare Costs

Out-of-Pocket Costs Increased Across All Healthcare In 2018

Patients experienced out-of-pocket increases as high as 12% for their healthcare costs last year, according to a new analysis by TransUnion Healthcare. Released this week at the 2019 Healthcare Financial Management Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, the analysis shows increases occurred in all categories including inpatient, outpatient and emergency department (ED) care. Specifically, inpatient care costs […]
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Allzone MACRA MIPS

Thinking Strategically About MACRA and MIPS: Will it Be Sink or Swim in 2019?

In Part One of this two-part article exploring the implications of MACRA for healthcare providers, healthcare leaders and health IT experts discuss why it’s critical for clinicians to think strategically, rather than tactically, about MACRA compliance. Numerous industry surveys have highlighted that U.S. physicians, by and large, remain unprepared for managing and executing Medicare Access […]
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