Laura Joszt, MA

During the third year of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, CMS will penalize more hospitals than it did during the second and third years of the program; however, the overall readmission rate for Medicare beneficiaries is down.

The rising cost of prescription drugs, CMS initiative updates, and successes in home and community-based services for dual Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries were discussed at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC.

Hepatitis C and the price of Sovaldi were, understandably, the main focus of aconversation on rising prescription drug prices at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC.

A new information governance framework of 8 principles from the American Health Information Management Association aims to help meet the patient care, safety, and operational goals of healthcare organizations.

At $531 billion, Medicaid is the second largest piece of healthcare spending and cannot be pushed off to be thought about another day, Cindy Mann, JD, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, said at the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conferences on Medicare and Medicaid and Dual Eligibles Summit.

The first round of Open Payments data, known as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, were made public Tuesday and revealed 4.4 million payments valued at nearly $3.5 billion paid out to 546,000 individuals and almost 1346 teaching hospitals.

At the America's Health Insurance Plans' National Conference on Medicare and Medicaid and Dual Eligibles Summit in Washington, DC, Patrick Conway, deputy administrator for innovation and quality and chief medical officer for CMS, spoke on the future of delivery system reform.

Plans designed specifically for disabled dual-eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries are not necessarily enough to reduce use of costly services, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Medicaid enrollment under the Affordable Care Act grew even in states that chose not to expand eligibility, making access to care a more pressing issue, according to a new report issued by HHS' Office of the Inspector General.

Nearly $212 million in grant awards has been made available to all 50 states and the District of Columbia to support programs aimed at preventing chronic diseases, according to a recent announcement by HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.

UnitedHealthcare is establishing new accountable care organizations with Advocate Health Care and Illinois Health Partners that will provide coordinated care for more than 65,000 Illinois residents.

Healthcare providers have shown a lack of progress regarding ICD-10 readiness compared with a year ago, while vendors are mostly prepared, according to a new WEDI survey.

Poor interoperability across health information technology systems is preventing accountable care organizations from using the technology to improve clinical quality.

The uninsured rate among Latinos dropped sharply under the Affordable Care Act, but there were stark differences between states that have expanded Medicaid and those that have not.

The Affordable Care Act will save hospitals a projected $5.7 billion in uncompensated care this year, according to a report released by HHS. Roughly three-quarters of those savings are coming from Medicaid expansion states.

Patient experience and satisfaction is becoming an increasingly important aspect of providing healthcare, and a new roadmap outlines opportunities and key strategies to include patients and families in healthcare delivery.

The health insurance Marketplace will have 77 new insurers offering coverage in 2015, according to a report released by HHS. Overall, there will be a net 25% increase in the number of insurers that consumers will be able to choose from.

Driven by a consolidation of offerings, the number of Part D prescription drug plans will decrease by 14% in 2015. While monthly premiums will decrease overall by 2%, there will be large premium variations.

Only a small proportion of industry stakeholders find any value in using the unique Health Plan Identifier within transactions, according to survey results from WEDI.

In 2013, lower health insurance rates saved consumers a total of $1 billion. States that enhanced their rate review programs will receive $25 million in rate review grant awards.

Since 2000, small-group health insurance premiums averaged annual increases of 5.5% nationally; however, double-digit increases were not uncommon, according to a report from the Urban Institute.

Although a majority of adults with health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act's marketplace said they find it easy to afford the care they need, the number of people still enrolled has dipped to 7.3 million, according to recent numbers.

After examining the security and privacy of the Healthcare.gov website and its supporting systems at CMS, the Government Accountability Office published a report with 6 security management and 22 technical security recommendations.

As part of National Health IT Week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, outlined its 10-year vision to achieve interoperability for health IT.

In a study of 3 hospitals in Massachusetts, more than a quarter of patient orders were considered partially defensive medicine, but they only accounted for 13% of costs.

Anthem Blue Cross is partnering with 7 rival hospital systems in California to create a new integrated health system in the Los Angeles and Orange counties. The members will share financial risk and gain.

During the second year of the program, Medicare accountable care organizations reported improvements in nearly all of the quality and patient experience measures, according to data reported by CMS.

Ascension Health will form a joint venture with a division of Envision Healthcare to provide an array of post-acute services, including home care, hospice care, and infusion therapy.

The federal government will terminate health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act for 115,000 individuals who failed to prove they were United States citizens or legal immigrants. Furthermore, another 363,000 people could lose their financial aid because of income reporting discrepancies.

In the wake of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem's proposed merger, America's Health Insurance Plans is leading the charge to prevent this and similar mergers and acquisitions.