Two proposed mergers among four of the five largest health insurance companies in the U.S. would decrease competition and increase costs for hospitals, physicians and patients, according to an American Medical Association (AMA) analysis.

When the Affordable Care Act first went into effect, one of the perceived benefits for physicians was the three new billing codes that cover various “wellness visits” for Medicare Part B patients. But so far, the perk is failing to live up to expectations. 

More than half of healthcare organizations are not yet ready for the Oct. 1 ICD-10 transition, according to a new survey.

William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has been named ICD-10 ombudsman.

With just over a month to go until the Oct. 1 ICD-10 deadline, the American Hospital Association has released a checklist of key steps that hospitals should take to ensure a successful transition.

Medicare has long required a three-day hospital stay before it will pick up the tab for a senior to move into a skilled nursing facility. A new data crunch shows that waiving this prerequisite shortens costly and risky hospital stays—without driving up admissions to skilled nursing facilities or lengthening stays therein.

The American Hospital Association is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take a hard look at Anthem’s planned $48.4 billion purchase of Cigna.

Researchers are as subject to human nature as anyone else and so may be inclined to only publish, or at least to slant study design and conclusions toward, positive results of clinical trials.