Topics
Reimbursement
Volume growth contributes to improved hospital margins in October, finds Kaufman Hall
Hospital margins up in October, driven by volume
Revenue Cycle Management
Referral process going digital as healthcare providers look to stem revenue leakage
Referral processes going digital
Strategic Planning
Managing risk in a hyper-outsourcing world requires facilitating good vendor relationships
Managing risk in an outsourcing world
Capital Finance
Healthcare real estate: The pros and cons of buying versus leasing
To lease or to buy? The pros and cons
Supply Chain
Unnecessary healthcare supply chain spending reaches almost $26 billion; savings opportunities remain
Unnecessary supply chain spending reaches $26B
Accounting & Financial Management
Healthcare spending rises to $3.6 trillion in the U.S., driven partly by health insurance tax
Health spending rises to $3.6T
Budgeting
'Care cascades,' or unwarranted tests, show hidden costs
Unnecessary tests show hidden costs
Quality and Safety
Hospitals given latitude to select transplant candidates don't prioritize sickest patients
Hospitals don't prioritize sickest transplant candidates
Billing and Collections
Poor digital billing process associated with uncollected payments
Poor digital billing associated with collections
Claims Processing
BCBS Institute and Solera partner, pay SDoH organizations through outcomes-based medical claims
BCBS Institute, Solera, to pay organizations through outcomes-based claims
Workforce
Shortage of specialists negatively impacting patients in rural areas
Specialist shortage hurting rural patients
Operations
Getting a handle on identity and access in healthcare isn't just a technology problem
Identity and access: Not just a tech problem
Medical Devices
Apple is developing custom health information tracking chips
Apple is developing custom health chips
Hospital/physician relations
Quality of initial training makes a big difference in EHR satisfaction, KLAS report finds
Poor EHR training brings down provider satisfaction
Construction & Facilities Management
Cape Cod Healthcare building $180M patient tower, investing in EHR
CCHC building $180M patient tower
Compliance & Legal
AHIP, BCBS Association support lawsuit against health insurance tax for Medicaid managed care
AHIP, BCBS Association support health insurance tax lawsuit
Policy and Legislation
Mayor Pete Buttigieg unveils plan to reduce inequities in healthcare access
Mayor Pete releases plan to curb health inequities
Community Benefit
Advocate Aurora Health contributed $2.1 billion to community charitable care and services in 2018
Advocate Aurora: $2.1B in charity care
Accountable Care
Physician-led accountable care organizations outperform hospital-led counterparts
Physician-led ACOs outperform hospital ACOs
Acute Care
Pressure ulcers cost the health system $26.8 billion a year
Pressure ulcers cost the health system $26.8B a year
Ambulatory Care
Medical schools, teaching hospitals account for 3% of US GDP, report shows
Med schools, teaching hospitals are 3% of GDP
Analytics
Anthem, MassChallenge HealthTech to collaborate on accelerator launch
Anthem, MassChallenge HealthTech launching accelerator
Business Intelligence
While the price of healthcare is growing, utilization is dropping and price variations persist, report says
HCCI: Price of healthcare is growing, utilization is dropping, price variations persist
ICD-10 & Coding
Physician practices examine risk adjustment coding in wake of federal lawsuits
Practices keeping close watch on risk adjustment coding
Meaningful Use
CMS overhauls meaningful use EHR program, renames it 'Promoting Interoperability'
CMS overhauls meaningful use as 'Promoting Interoperability'
Medicare & Medicaid
Final days of ACA open enrollment show 10% drop in signups
ACA enrollment down 10% going into final days
Patient Engagement
Patients intrigued by digital health services, but still value face-to-face interactions
Patients still value face-to-face visits
Pharmacy
Suicide attempts and hospitals admissions linked to non-opioid drugs on the rise
Suicides, admissions linked to non-opioid drugs
Population Health
Majority of parents say socioeconomic factors negatively impact their families' health
Socioeconomic factors impact families' health
Risk Management
Cybersecurity needs to be put in business terms
Cybersecurity needs to be put in business terms
Telehealth
Laws ensuring commercial insurance coverage for telehealth increasing among states
Laws ensuring commercial insurance coverage for telehealth increasing among states
Mergers & Acquisitions
CVS Health to acquire IlliniCare Health in agreement with Centene
CVS to acquire IlliniCare in Centene deal
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Policy and Legislation

Dec 09 | Susan Morse
Final days of ACA open enrollment show 10% drop in signups
Open enrollment is ongoing as the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to soon rule whether the ACA is constitutional.
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Mobile telehealth appointment.
Dec 05 | Dave Muoio, Mobihealth News
Laws ensuring commercial insurance coverage for telehealth increasing among states
Still, a new state-by-state survey from Foley & Lardner suggests there is still plenty of ground to…
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Dec 04 | Jeff Lagasse
How changing Affordable Care Act rules affect health insurance premium costs
It's the unanticipated consequence of the 2017 cut of the ACA's cost-sharing reduction payments to…
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Dec 04 | Susan Morse
AHIP, BCBS Association support lawsuit against health insurance tax for Medicaid managed care
The tax is scheduled to go into effect in 2020.
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Dec 04 | Jeff Lagasse
Mayor Pete Buttigieg unveils plan to reduce inequities in healthcare access
Buttigieg would combat racial and gender bias in part by redirecting funding to under-resourced communities.
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Nov 27 | Susan Morse
Legislation to stop surprise billing could negatively affect air ambulance operators
A decrease in private payer rates without an increase in government payment would threaten the air…
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Nov 26 | Jeff Lagasse
Pennsylvania partners with GetInsured to build and operate state-based health insurance exchange
Chief among the partnership's goals is higher quality service and better affordability…
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Nov 22 | Healthcare Finance Staff
HIMSSCast: CMS price transparency rule, telehealth parity laws, and healthcare consumerism
The HFN team discusses some recent pieces of news from federal and state governments, and…
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Nov 22 | Susan Morse
ACA open enrollment picks up in week 3, but is still a 13% drop over last year
Week 3 of open enrollment sees 26% fewer signups than in 2017, when there were two additional days to enroll.
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Nov 20 | Susan Morse
AHA and CVS Health are behind pharma bashing radio ads, says STAT report
CVS Health says it provided funding to help counter the hundreds of millions of dollars the pharmaceutical industry…
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