Vermont has received preliminary approval by the Federal government to implement an all-payer reimbursement system that would set the rates for all healthcare providers for all insurers that provide healthcare services in Vermont. Maryland has had an all-payer system since the 1970’s but only for hospitals.
Read more here.
When the Affordable Care Act first rolled out a few years ago, several states (and large on partisan lines) rejected the federal government’s call for states to adopt Medicaid expansion. However, this has started to change as hospital and religious organizations lobby state legislators to change this. Tennessee is one of the states that is looking to expand Medicaid if (and that’s a big if) they can get it passed by their state legislators.
Read more here on the previous proposal that was rejected and the current one to replace it.
30% of Medicare payments are now being reimbursed on alternative payment models such as ACOs and no longer tied to fee-for-service payments. HHS set this goal beginning of 2015 w/a target date of the end of 2016. Read more here.
It is no secret that Steve Jobs made a huge impact on how we go about doing routine tasks today. For example, receiving a (cell) phone call, watching tv shows and movies (iTunes), and listening to music (iPod). What would he have said about the healthcare industry? Here is an interesting interview of someone who had the fortune of meeting him.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
With ICD-10 (mostly) put to bed in 2015, what do you want Santa to bring you health IT-wise for 2016?
