The Social Security Act says that pharmacists aren't providers. But many in the healthcare industry are now saying the expanded role of pharmacists, especially in long-term care, deserves another look. Read More »
From courtship to a permanent union, hospitals and long-term care facilities have a lot to gain by working together. A look at the evolution of the AC/PAC relationship. Read More »
Long-term and post-acute providers who fail to adopt information technology may find themselves at a distinct disadvantage—or owned by someone else—down the road, one survey report suggests. Read More »
A bipartisan team of lawmakers has struck a deal to repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and set new guaranteed pay increase for physicians that provide services under Medicare. Read More »
A new federal rule will allow senior care residents and their family designees direct access to lab test results, encouraging consumer care involvement. Read More »
Does your skilled nursing facility care for residents with mental heath conditions? Medicare recovery audit contractors for mental illness issues may threaten access to care. Read More »
After a mixed year of progress and stumblings, accountable care organizations are expected to surge as a care model in 2014, according to a year-over-year trends report. Read More »
Congress may be ready to do away with the sustainable growth rate (SGR), re-fix the “doc fix” and ditch therapy caps, but will skilled nursing become the scapegoat for the costs? Read More »
The Office of Inspector General wants hospitalization rates to be added to CMS's nursing home quality rankings. But will the numbers tell the real story or just muddy the waters? Read More »
Healthcare scams have sprung up since the October rollout of the Affordable Care Act. A California congressman's response to healthcare scams victimizing seniors in his jurisdiction is introduced as a bill in Congress. Read More »
Payers, providers and care networks are making vast efforts to combine care delivery, coverage and costs—merging control over the once-siloed segments of healthcare business. Will the post-acute care sector be the golden ticket to success or the cost-laden component that drags the system down? Read More »
Seniors with diabetes, COPD, heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease need to pay careful attention when choosing a drug coverage plan, a new study says. Read More »
A South Carolina health system owes the government millions for fraudulent billings and violations of the Stark anti-kickback law for the way it funnelled business to its outpatient services. Read More »
After a weekend of squabbling over the federal budget, the Senate has rejected a proposal to delay the Affordable Care Act. With the budget crisis still unsolved in the 11th hour, what would a government shutdown mean for long-term care? Read More »
Farzad Mostashari, MD, has announced that Jacob Reider, MD, will take over as acting national coordinator. The ONC also announced that David Muntz has decided to step down as principal deputy national coordinator for health IT. Read More »
Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs) are doing an effective job of rooting out Medicare fraud and billing errors, but federal Medicare agencies need to be more diligent about tracking cases, a new government report says. Read More »
Farzad Mostashari, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) for the past four years, has announced his resignation. Read More »
Following President Obama’s July 2 announcement to delay the employer insurance benefits mandate required by the ACA, the U.S. House voted today to delay the individual insurance mandate as well. But will the Senate agree? Read More »
After one year, quality benchmarks may be up, but cost savings are not—and nine ACOs have decided to leave the Pioneer ACO program, CMS announced today. Read More »
