Despite the Federal Trade Commissions' warning that Americans avoid carrying their social security numbers in their wallets CMS wants some 44 million Medicare beneficiaries to carry their Medicare cards, which include SSNs. CMS says changing the system would be too expensive for the agency and for healthcare providers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to do a better job monitoring the billions of dollars it provides in supplemental payments through the Medicaid program, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

The NHIC Corp., a subsidiary of global technology company EDS, has been awarded a $148 million contract to administer Part A and Part B Medicare claims payments to healthcare providers in four Northwestern states.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is leading a renewed push to develop a nationwide universal healthcare model, participants in recent Senate meetings say. Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) staff have attended the discussions with Kennedy.

Based on results of an annual study conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), hospitals are expected to spend about 3 percent of their operating expenses on healthcare information technology over the next couple years, with overall adoption remaining low for most hospitals.

In a move expected to give a major boost to the interconnectivity needed to accelerate the adoption of electronic prescribing, the two networks formed to support electronic prescribing will merge into one network.

Though Congress is in recess until July 8, the battle rages on over how to fund a potential physician payment fix needed to forestall a 10.6 payment cut for physicians participating in Medicare that was to take effect on July 1.

While the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has pushed back the proposed 10.6 percent Medicare payment cuts to physicians until mid July, the agency has proposed new efforts to promote access to higher-quality and more efficient healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries under the 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

The New $829 million Ronald Reagan Medical Center has opened its doors after relocating 275 hospital patients and 60 psychiatric patients to its new facility.

The state of California began a new budget year today with no finalized budget in place. The delay in finalizing the budget is expected to be costly and affect people who depend on the state for healthcare services.