Electronic records are a boon in many ways, but failures and frustration in the field are too common. Jean Antonucci is a family physician in Farmington, Maine – northwest of […]

As CMS launches its mandatory bundled payment program, payers on the fence may be wondering if it’s time to push their providers toward bundles also. A number of commercial insurers […]

Over the past 10 years, Medicare Advantage (aka Medicare Part C) has become increasingly popular among beneficiaries and health plans. Seniors enjoy significant monthly cost savings over Original, fee-for-service Medicare, […]

We have discussed payment adjustment for readmission measures in previous blogs. In those blogs, we focused upon risk-adjustment, preventability and the need to account for socioeconomic status (SES) when necessary […]

When was the last time you saw a government program, any government program, implemented ahead of schedule? Or on time, for that matter? We’ve grown accustomed to setbacks and delays […]

CMS released seven sets of core quality measures earlier this month. They come from a collaboration with AHIP, NQF and other stakeholders to harmonize performance measures across commercial and government […]

In the MedPAC October meeting, the commission returned to the seemingly intractable problem of equalizing access to health care for rural communities. Medicare payment offers three sources of support within […]

It seems that wishes are not just for fairy tales, they can come true after all. So far, it looks like the wish for an uneventful ICD-10 transition is a […]

Ever wonder how states (or CMS) set thresholds for readmission rates? Much has been said about and written on the subject, but there a few things I think are highly […]

Donna: Hey, Sue! We haven’t talked since AHIMA. Did you get back in time for ICD-10 go-live? Sue: Yes, I was in my office, bright and early on October 1. […]

Keep calm and carry on…that was the title of the first thing I ever wrote, in early 2010, about the hype surrounding ICD-10. Less than six months after the CMS […]

Improving care coordination for the sickest, most vulnerable and highest cost patient segments remains an important component of population health management and achieving the goals of the Triple Aim – […]