Archive for March 2015
Consequences of Illegal Behavior in Pharma
When it comes to reputation Big Pharma has some serious problems, at least according to the 2015 Harris corporate reputation poll. Pharmaceutical companies rank ninth out of 14 industries when it comes to respect – or a lack thereof. There is no question that pharmaceutical companies provide an invaluable public service, but their reputation has…
Read MoreNow is the time to protect against cyberthieves
For the second time in as many months, a major healthcare insurer has become the target of cyberthieves. This week, Premera Blue Cross announced it had been the target of hackers who gained access to the financial and medical information of 11 million members. In February, Anthem, Inc., announced that personal information of around 80…
Read MoreCMS announces next generation of ACO model
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid this week launched a new Accountable Care Organization model that the agency says will “reward value over volume in care delivery.†The Next Generation ACO Model, as it has been named, is an initiative from CMS’ Innovation Center. ACOs are groups of providers that contract with the Medicare program…
Read MoreGAO: Government misspent billions on Medicare/Medicaid
Last year, Medicare financed health services for approximately 54 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries at a total cost of $603 billion. Of that, approximately $60 billion went toward improper payments, according to a report issued last week by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Most of that misspent money, about $45.8 billion, went toward the Medicare…
Read MoreCMS says ICD-10 testing successful: Are you prepared?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is reporting that it successfully completed the first week of end-to-end testing of the soon-to-be-implemented ICD-10 coding. The testing, which took place between Jan. 26 and Feb. 3, included 661 participants with about 1,400 National Provider Identifiers registered. They were split equally between direct submitters and clearing houses/billing…
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