Finding a practical path for pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to enter value-based payment arrangements is the goal of a new policy consortium formed at the Robert J. Margolis, MD, Center for Health Policy at Duke University.

In the ICD-9 era, there were universally accepted benchmarks to measure coding professionals’ productivity. Now, more than 18 months after the ICD-10 implementation date, the challenge is to do the same for the new coding system.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma said the blame for rising premiums and fewer insurers in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges fall on the prior administration, not the current one, while offering a mixed message on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), the ACA replacement that passed the House earlier in May.

A draft rule from HHS would allow all employers to seek an exemption from the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s mandate to cover contraceptives in their insurance plans, leading to many patients having to pay out-of-pocket for birth control, which is currently available at no cost. 

New Medicare cards without Social Security numbers will be sent out starting in April 2018, according to CMS, meeting a deadline set by Congress to replace all cards by April 2019.

The U.S. Senate will be on break until June 3, but Senate Republican staff are expected to spend the recess drafting its own version of a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Organizations representing hospitals and specialties reacted negatively to an estimate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) replacement passed by House Republicans would result in 23 million fewer people having insurance by 2026.

Reducing funding to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) from $60 million to $38 million, as the Trump administration has proposed, may hamper advancements in interoperability and the goals of 21st Century Cures Act, according to several leading health IT groups.