March 28, 2013
Medicare and Medicaid should not be significantly altered, because spending for these programs is trending downward and incentives tied to the programs are working, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Accountable care organizations and bundled payment initiatives are harbingers of the future healthcare system in the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a speech on Tuesday. Sebelius addressed the American Medical Association National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C.
Answering the question on the minds of many state policymakers, the Obama administration said Monday it will not provide full federal funding for states that go only part of the way on expanding Medicaid.
Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee have threatened to subpoena federal health officials to gain access to public relations contracts related to the Affordable Care Act.
September 19, 2012
Enrollment in Medicare Advantage has jumped by 28% since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, federal health officials said Wednesday.
August 08, 2012
Providers will save time and money through a proposed regulation that would allow providers to electronically post and reconcile payments from health plans, government officials said Tuesday.
July 27, 2012
A new federal fraud-fighting initiative will apply increased scrutiny to provider health claims submitted to both government and private payers, government officials announced Thursday.
July 23, 2012
Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee have accused the Department of Health and Human Services of overstepping its authority in implementing a controversial Medicare Advantage demonstration project.
July 12, 2012
Although states can opt out of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, they still may not tighten eligibility requirements, the nation's top health official warned this week.
June 15, 2012
Congress and federal health officials announced separate avenues of funding for the prevention and response to cases of elder abuse Thursday.
A House Republican has doubts about a program created by the Affordable Care Act to test new care delivery models for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and dual eligibles.
May 24, 2012
Since I am sucker for celebrity commencement addresses, mid- to late-May is like my own, personal Christmas.
The Obama administration has given healthcare providers, including those in long-term care, an extra year to become compliant with a set of disease diagnosis codes.
Two top Congressional Republicans are concerned that a report on federal Medicaid spending is thus far two months late.
More than 1,000 technology vendors are in Las Vegas this week to participate in the 2012 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference. The annual event comes at a pivotal time for the IT sector. The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to release proposed rules for Stage 2 of its Meaningful Use incentive program for adoption of electronic health records. National health IT coordinator Farzad Mostashari, M.D., will deliver a keynote address Thursday morning. And last week, HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters her department might delay the deadline for complying with the ICD-10 diagnostic coding regimen.
About 500 Catholic nursing homes in the United States will be affected by a regulation requiring employer health insurance plans to cover contraceptive services.
February 02, 2012
The House of Representatives repealed the CLASS Act on Wednesday night, although its future is far from clear. Many observers expect Republican efforts to repeal CLASS will die in the Senate, where there is likely not enough support to push through the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act.
The Affordable Care Act benefits nursing homes and other residential care facilities, according to an amicus curiae brief filed in the Supreme Court by six aging groups.
A panel of Alzheimer's experts is kicking off a two-day meeting in Washington today to formalize an Obama administration goal of developing effective ways to treat and prevent Alzheimer's by 2025.
November 16, 2011
A government crackdown on improper payments in federal programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, cut wasteful payments by $17.6 billion in 2011, the Office of Management and Budget reported Tuesday. The administration's Campaign to Cut Waste saved $7 billion in Medicare fee-for-service payment errors between 2010 and 2011, according to the OMB.
Although all signs point to the CLASS Act being shelved indefinitely, the program's former leader says the silver lining is the ongoing discussion about long-term care needs.
If opponents of the CLASS Act think they've beaten down or somehow subdued chief advocate Larry Minnix or his LeadingAge members, they have another thing coming. Despite a week of roiling controversy and confusion that has some official sources leaving it for dead, CLASS still has an active champion in Minnix. That much was abundantly clear in a video interview with McKnight's on Wednesday.
October 18, 2011
The Department of Health and Human Services may have shelved the CLASS long-term care benefit, but advocates of the program said mixed messages from the White House suggest otherwise. One major provider association said it would continue to fight to keep the program alive while another issued a statement Monday that was more resigned that the CLASS Act was all but dead.
October 16, 2011
When the White House effectively killed the CLASS Act, the program's most vocal advocates dug in their heels in hopes of resurrecting the long-term care insurance program.
August 25, 2011
A Congressional Budget Office update issued Wednesday indicates there will be a one-year delay in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act's long-term care insurance plan.
Reports of drug dosage mistakes, drug interactions and other electronic prescription errors have prompted members of Congress to request additional studies into health information technology systems.
June 27, 2011
In an editorial published on Politico.com, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius defended the Affordable Care Act's controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board, which critics charge rations care.
Healthcare provider organizations are asking the Department of Health and Human Services for guidance on implementing electronic health records under Medicare and Medicaid's "meaningful use program."
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has sent a letter to state Medicaid programs clarifying the ability to offer same-sex couples the same protections opposite-sex couples receive when one partner needs facility-based long-term care.
May 31, 2011
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to issue a rule amending the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) program, a top official says.
