Healthcare Finance News | Medical Banking

Med Data Inc., a provider of medical billing services has acquired revenue cycle management and personalized patient communications company MedDirect, Inc.

8 keys to help physician practices track financial performance

December 20, 2011 |

Michelle McNickle

A new set of eight MAP keys was recently released by the HFMA, and when used correctly, aids hospitals, health systems and physician practices in tracking performance over time. Here are the eight new MAP keys for physician practice management.

Managing bad debt: Four key factors

November 3, 2011 |

Richard Pizzi

According to Francis Hollweck, a senior manager in the Healthcare Advisory Services group at the public accounting firm Crowe Horwath, if hospitals’ bad debt expenses are not identified or collected in advance of a procedure or at the time of check-in, it becomes much harder for the hospital to recoup the payment.

Leaving paper behind

October 4, 2011 |

Emdeon to transfer U.S. Healthcare Efficiency Index ownership to CAQH

September 26, 2011 |

CAQH and Emdeon announced that they have reached an agreement for Emdeon to transfer ownership and management of the U.S. Healthcare Efficiency Index (USHEI) to CAQH.

Hot healthcare finance topics in 2011

June 21, 2011 |

Richard Pizzi

Many predictions were made early in 2011 about the issues that would challenge healthcare finance leaders this year. Does your experience bear them out?

Aetna to acquire Genworth's Medicare supplement business for $290M

June 13, 2011 |

Healthcare Finance News Staff

Aetna has agreed to buy the Medicare supplement and related blocks of in-force business of Genworth Financial for $290 million.

Employers may be rethinking retiree medical options

June 10, 2011 |

A new survey suggests rapid development of post-healthcare reform retiree medical options is empowering employers to help active employees prepare for retirement and enable current retirees to obtain more cost-effective healthcare coverage.

Providers, payers must find common ground

June 2, 2011 |

John Andrews

An adversarial relationship between providers and payers is counterproductive to the purpose of healthcare – with patients being caught in the middle.

Offering up the ‘ACO-in-a-box’

June 2, 2011 |

Eric Wicklund

Healthcare organizations dealing with information overload in the shift to value-based healthcare might be interested in checking out Vieosoft.

Making your budget work: Hospitals

June 2, 2011 |

John Andrews

With an overwhelming number of vectors and variables to consider, planning a hospital budget may now be considered in the same league as rocket science.

HHS to pay brokers for enrolling consumers in federal high risk pool

June 1, 2011 |

Should brokers be compensated for helping consumers to enroll in government programs like the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) created by the new healthcare reform law? Until now, the federal government’s answer has been “no.”

Identifying tipping point helps hospitals be more inclusive with charity care

April 28, 2011 |

James C. Bohnsack

Thousands of patients each year who are eligible for financial assistance programs are not being identified at the front-end of the billing process. For those healthcare organizations interested in identifying these patients, determining a “tipping point” could be particularly helpful.

Consumers look for solutions to tackle healthcare expenses

April 4, 2011 |

Mitch Patridge

For American drivers, the recent spike in the price of crude oil has evoked painful memories of the summer of 2008, when the average price for regular gasoline reached an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon. What does this have to do with healthcare? Well...everything.

Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity

February 7, 2011 |

John Halamka, MD

In the era of healthcare reform when accountable care organizations, global payments, and partial capitation are the buzzwords filling board rooms, healthcare executives are wondering what to do next.

MLR to Mean Greater - and More Interesting - Disclosure

November 17, 2010 |

Much of the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's medical loss ratio provisions have focused on what expenses are to be considered claims and quality improvement spending, which are to be treated as administrative costs, and what carrier expenditures should be removed from the MLR calculation altogether.

How hedge funds get inside information from doctors about clinical trials

November 10, 2010 |

David Williams

Last week's arrest of a French doctor for leaking information about a clinical trial to a hedge fund is disturbing, but the alleged activity is neither new nor particularly rare.

Potential RAC Targets: Pacemaker and Defibrillator Implantations

November 1, 2010 |

Barbara Vandegrift

Cardiac pacemaker implantations (DRG 116) made the headlines in the first-ever Medicare Quarterly Provider Compliance Newsletter (issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] just this month).

Addressing Medical Costs

October 27, 2010 |

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has lots of what can objectively be called "patient protections" - at least if one defines "health insurance policyholders” as patients. But most objective observers - and quite a few of the more biased ones - will agree that the PPACA focuses more on health insurance reform than health care reform.

Commissions: In or Out of MLR Calculation?

October 21, 2010 |

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is meeting with the intent of finalizing rules surrounding the medical loss ratio requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The impact of their decision will be profound on consumers, employers, carriers and brokers.

Been There, Done That, Bought the T-Shirt

October 20, 2010 |

James C. Bohnsack

What can the healthcare industry learn from the financial services industry? The parallels may not seem obvious to an outsider, but the evolution of the financial services industry and the impact on the use of credit may in fact provide valuable guidance for healthcare executives.

Seven elements of low cost health care

October 12, 2010 |

David Williams

Grand Junction, Colorado is touted as a low cost, high performance health care market. A New England Journal of Medicine Perspective (Low-Cost Lessons from Grand Junction, Colorado) provides seven reasons for this success.

GAO report finds GPOs keep costs down

October 5, 2010 |

Kester Freeman

An important report has been released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) pertaining to GPOs. It reaffirms what many of us have been saying for years now - that GPOs help unite a fragmented healthcare system.

UMB Healthcare Services’ CEO provides perspective on common HSA myths

September 9, 2011 |

Offered since 2004, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are still relatively new to the health care marketplace. The relative newness of these accounts leaves much room for education and opportunity for misconceptions. Dennis Triplett, CEO of UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: UMBF), provides the following perspective to address common myths surrounding HSAs.

CGI announces offering for cost-effective and sustainable state Health Insurance Exchanges

July 14, 2011 |

CGI Group Inc., a leading provider of information technology and business process services, today announced CGI Health Insurance Exchange360, a suite of business, technology and consulting services designed to help states launch cost-effective and sustainable Health Insurance Exchanges in time to meet the 2014 deadline set by federal health reform legislation.

Aite Group's payments report finds BillingTree has highest product penetration rate

July 14, 2011 |

BillingTree, one of the nation's leading on-demand payment processors, was rated to have the highest product penetration of the organizations surveyed in the recent report Patient-to-Provider Payments: A Vendor Overview, published June 2011 by financial services research analysts Aite Group.

IVANS helps home care and hospice providers comply with new Medicare mandates

July 13, 2011 |

IVANS, Inc. is putting thousands of healthcare providers on the fast track for compliance with Medicare Face-to-Face Encounter Requirements by enabling home health agencies and hospices to send patient documentation electronically to a physician in minutes using IVANS eFormManager.

BillingTree hosting MedicalBillPaid.com at HFMA's 2011 ANI

June 23, 2011 |

BillingTree, one of the nation’s leading on-demand payment processors, today announced it will introduce ANI conference attendees to MedicalBillPaid.com during expo hours, presenting alternatives for medical bill payments as a service.

CRL Senior Living Communities' execs become major shareholders

June 21, 2011 |

CRL Senior Living Communities, which operates 16 independent and assisted living residences in the Midwest, announced that CRL president and CEO Ari Weinberger and new chairman Douglas Cameron have collectively acquired a majority stake in the company.

Hometown Health Plan selects Portico Systems

June 16, 2011 |

Portico Systems, the payer platform for Integrated Provider Management (IPM), was selected by Hometown Health, a 100,000 member health plan with a network of more than 1,600 providers, which is part of northern Nevada’s largest integrated health network, Renown Health.

Portico Systems debuts provider platform to unlock network performance for affordable care

June 13, 2011 |

Portico Systems, the payer platform for Integrated Provider Management (IPM), will debut its Portico 9.0 platform at AHIP Institute 2011, June 15-17 in San Francisco, CA in booth #713.

MEDecision announces Highmark Inc.'s selection of Its Collaborative Health Management Platform

June 13, 2011 |

MEDecision, Inc., today announced that Highmark Inc., an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, has selected MEDecision's collaborative health management solutions to support the care management of its more than 4.8 million members.

Sandbox Industries announces a business accelerator for healthcare startups

May 27, 2011 |

Sandbox Industries, a venture capital firm and leading incubator for startup companies, today unveiled Healthbox, one of the first business accelerators in the country to focus exclusively on the healthcare industry.

BillingTree exceeds growth targets, expands healthcare presence

May 26, 2011 |

BillingTree, one of the nation's leading on-demand payment processors, today announced quarter-over-quarter company growth of 24 percent during Q1 of 2011.

MagnaCare releases landmark white paper on chronic care management

May 20, 2011 |