Increasing use of high-deductible health plans by insurers is creating financial fallout for hospitals, which are reporting record levels of debt attributed to insured patients who can’t afford to pay bills after a hospital visit or surgery.

A legislative aide, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said there have been a series of phone calls finalizing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) replacement plan involving Speaker Paul Ryan, HHS Secretary Tom Price, White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s domestic policy adviser Andrew Bremberg and others.

HHS Secretary Tom Price said the Trump administration and Republicans “believe in the guarantee of Medicare for our seniors,” but he wouldn’t promise there would be no cuts to the program in an interview on CBS's “Face the Nation.”

While a large chunk of healthcare spending may be concentrated among a small population of high-cost patients, focusing on those patients in order to cut down on wasteful spending may not work.

McKesson Technology Solutions has merged with Change Healthcare, retaining the latter’s name for a new IT company aimed at helping payers, providers and customers “as they strive to achieve the best healthcare outcomes as efficiently as possible in this new environment.” 

The creation of a new data and analytics company, combining McKesson’s technology solutions unit with Nashville, Tenn.-based Change Healthcare, has been completed. The merger unites “the majority” of McKesson Technology Solutions with substantially all of Change, with the new company retaining the Change Healthcare name and Neil de Crescenzo as CEO.

Many panels at HIMSS 2017 in Orlando included references to the ongoing policy debate over the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and how that’s affecting all corners of the industry. For HIMSS itself, however, it feels health IT is better off staying out of much of the discussion.

Physicians wouldn’t be measured on meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) in the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under a proposal floated by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).