Category: ACO

Health care spending has increased faster and reached higher levels in New Hampshire than in most other states, but hospitals, insurers and others have been trying to tackle the problem long before the Affordable Care Act. The New Hampshire Citizens Health Initiative, which promotes affordable, effective and accessible health care, has overseen several of the…

The following is a guest post by Jackie Risley, Director of Product Marketing, Data and Document Capture Products at ABBYY USA As providers face the demands of HITECH, the Accountable Care Act and outcome-based payments, much of the healthcare IT focus has been on clinical applications. But it’s important to remember that Patient Accounting is…

As American workers prepare for the first open enrollment season of the Obamacare era, hints are surfacing about what awaits them – higher deductibles, more incentives for staying well and premium hikes that continue to out-strip wages, albeit by more moderate amounts than in the past. For coverage in 2014, the first year in which…

In one sense, a stolen laptop that cost Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center more than $500,000 in lawyers and crisis experts paid off in helping the hospital deal with security issues in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing in April. read more Source: Laptop breach helped Beth Israel’s security during Boston Marathon bombing

Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) are growing faster than non-Medicare ACOs, as the former now comprises more than half of all accountable care contracts nationwide, according to new analysis from the healthcare consulting business Leavitt Partners. Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) are growing faster than non-Medicare ACOs, as the former now comprises more than half…

An estimated 7.8 million of the 15 million young adults who were enrolled in a parent’s health plan last year likely would not have been eligible for this coverage without the health reform law’s dependent coverage provision, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey. Source: Nearly 8M young adults enrolled in parent’s health plan gains…

As a Sept. 30 budget deadline approaches, many in the Republican Party are pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The law’s most radical opponents are even threatening to shut down the government by refusing to pass a continuing resolution, which would fund existing government programs at current or slightly adjusted…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will form computer matching agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and the Veterans Health Administration to help regulate information to be shared via the Affordable Care Act's data hub, it announced this week. read more …read more Source: CMS looks to develop computer matching agreements for data hub

For cynics and critics, nine Pioneer ACOs dropping out of the program spells doom for the entire accountable care movement. While I understand that sentiment to some degree, I think people are willing to write their obituary far too soon I’m used to deflecting negativity. It’s part of where I come from and how I…

Essentia Health in Duluth, Minn., has used telemedicine to remotely monitor congestive heart failure patients since 1998, helping provide the company the “competence and confidence to move forward as an accountable care organization,” John Smylie, the company's chief operations officer, told Kaiser Health News. read more …read more Source: How Essentia Health uses remote monitoring…