Vermont has become the first state to pass a law to allow prescription drugs to be imported from Canada, but the plan still has to be approved by HHS—a tall order considering HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s comments that pharmaceutical imports are a “gimmick” and may be unsafe.

Nearly a year after the deal was first announced, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and health IT giant Cerner have finalized a $10 billion contract for Cerner to replace the VA’s in-house electronic health record (EHR) system.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) is lending its support to a bill to change the merger review process at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), eliminating the agency’s ability to challenge proposed combinations without going to court.

Primary care physicians and non-physician practitioners have seen their compensation rise more rapidly than specialists, which the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) said is evidence of the worsening shortage of primary care doctors.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma, MPH, spoke at a May 15 Washington Post event focused on health policy, offering some hints on where her agency’s Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations may be headed.

Health systems have made upgrades to revenue cycle solutions one of their top priorities in recent years, but C-suite leaders may not be happy with the results when it comes to reducing denials, according to a survey from Dimensional Insight and HIMSS Analytics.

CMS has approved an extension of Maryland’s model of offering a fixed payment for most hospital services, allowing physician practices and nursing homes to voluntarily participate in a program that has saved Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) has released the 2018 edition of its annual quality report, illustrating how deficiencies were most commonly found at the hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) it inspects.

Cerner owns 17.3 percent of the $29.7 billion global electronic health record (EHR) market, according to the annual Kalorama Information market share report, though No. 2 Epic leads the market for smaller hospitals and physician practices.

TransUnion Healthcare has announced the acquisition of reimbursement technology company Healthcare Payment Solutions (HPS). Adding HPS solutions to its portfolio will boost TransUnion’s position in the post-discharge revenue recovery technology market, the company said.