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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that accountable care organizations (ACOs) that participated in its Shared Savings program during 2012 saved $380 million in health spending. However, more than half of the 114 participating organizations did not produce any savings.

While expensive hospitals might earn a better reputation, there is little evidence that they provide better care.

Nearly half of the organizations in the CMS' largest test of accountable care slowed Medicare spending, but just 29 of 114 ACOs saved enough to receive bonus payments, the agency said.

Three provisions in the health law that proponents say are designed to help insurers manage the financial risk of taking all comers while keeping premiums affordable are under fire on Capitol Hill, with Republicans labeling them as giveaways to the health insurance industry.

Barack Obama used the State of the Union address as an opportunity to advise uninsured Americans about enrolling for exchange coverage before the March deadline-avoiding the more sensitive topics of problems with the Healthcare.gov website and cancelled insurance plans.

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology is getting out of the business of testing and certifying electronic health-record systems after nearly a decade as the first and still most-commonly used provider of those services in the U.S.

Office visits are likely to decrease as both physician and patient rely more on digital tools, study concludes.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday night touted the results of his 2010 healthcare overhaul and urged every American who knows someone without health insurance to help them get covered by the end of March.

A survey of Medicare ACOs after their first year in operations suggests that all parties, government and private sector health organizations, have improvements to make in the coming years, especially when it comes to sharing data.

The Basic Health Plan (BHP) may have counterproductive results.

It sounds like an oxymoron -- semi-permanent repeal -- but some former Medicare administrators are suggesting it as a solution to permanently repealing Medicare's much-hated sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula.

Republicans have offered a wide array of proposals to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act since it became law in 2010. But few have come with the pedigree of the plan just unveiled by a trio of senior Senate Republicans.

Significant disparities are developing in states' success at signing up individuals for coverage through the state and federal exchanges, according to a new analysis, and the gaps don't consistently reflect which states have embraced or opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Physicians' effective use of electronic health records will play a critical role in the development of payment and delivery reforms, the country's new health information technology (IT) czar said in her first public comments.

Experts in treating older cancer patients say it's important to think of each patient individually, not to assume that because someone has reached a certain age that he or she isn't going to be able to withstand surgeries, radiation or chemotherapy.

There is a radical and bipartisan bill making its way to Congress that could change the future of Medicare.

Thirty-five percent of Hendry County's 33,000 residents under age 65 lack health insurance, according to the latest census figures, much higher than Florida's 25 percent average, which is the nation's second highest state rate.

In certain cases, a state can recoup its medical costs by putting a claim on a deceased person's assets.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) expressed its opposition to a controversial regulation from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that would purportedly reduce inappropriate hospital admissions.

Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's administration says the state would save money instead of spending it by implementing the new federal health care law.

It's been nearly 1 month since the federal and state health exchanges opened, and enrollment numbers are beginning to roll in.

With the average cost of an emergency room visit hovering at $1,200, funneling patients through the ER is not an effective way to manage chronic health conditions. Those who lack medical insurance aren't the only subgroup using the ER as a doctor's office.

COA and ASCO are issuing a joint statement on payment reform in cancer care. The goal is to improve the lives of individuals with cancer, in part by developing and supporting payment systems based on evidence-based medicine and measures of quality and value in cancer care.

While some health systems, hospitals, and physician practices will choose to avoid forming an accountable care organization or adopting any other ACO-like model, they are still likely to face challenges around care coordination and collaboration as a result of consolidation in the healthcare industry.

One of the regulations of the Affordable Care Act is to provide access to free preventive care, but many Americans are discovering that there are coverage exceptions and additional fees that come with certain services.

The state's largest health network and largest health insurer have shown marked reductions or slower growth in the use of services as part of their three-year-old accountable-care organization, an encouraging sign as providers and payers try to reduce the cost of care.

As U.S. consumers are asked to shoulder more prescription drug costs, drugmakers say prices for brand-name medicines will keep rising, mainly because use of their products reduces other healthcare costs.

Not every new drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has undergone the rigorous clinical testing that physicians and their patients might expect, according to new research.

Cost transparency could change how providers, payers, and patients think about healthcare.

We continue to see progress in improving the nation's healthcare system, and a key tool to helping achieve that goal is the increased use of electronic health records by the nation's doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.