In its end-of-year financials, Community Health Systems noted that the trend toward lower hospital admission numbers hurt profits. However, there was more in the report and earnings call that competitors should take note of.

Concerned that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans for front-end testing of the ICD-10 system during the week of March 3 is too brief and too limited in scope, U.S. Senators and physicians Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-Okla.), John Barrasso, M.D. (R-Wyo.), John Boozman, O.D. (R-Ark.), and Rand Paul, M.D. (R-Ky.) have requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) answer their questions about the testing by February 26.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service has responded to calls for more thorough ICD-10 testing, announcing that it will conduct end-to-end testing to a small sample group of providers this summer.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) announced that it will conduct end-to-end ICD-10 testing to a small sample group of providers this summer.

Healthcare has not caught up to other industries when it comes to business intelligence, as more than half of healthcare organizations have not implemented such systems, according to a survey conducted by TEKsystems.

The migration from volume- to value-based reimbursement in physician-compensation plans will have an impact on all health-care providers in the near future. All practice models, including small and large physician practices, as well as hospitals that employ physicians, will be compelled to reconsider physician compensation plans to account for costs, quality, and patient satisfaction.

Another group has called federal ICD-10 testing plans into question. This time, a group of Republican senators have sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Administrator Marilyn Tavenner warning that inadequate testing of ICD-10 code sets could result in "system-wide errors and delay[s]" similar to those that hampered the launch of HealthCare.gov.

A Mayo Clinic academic clinical team and technology entrepreneurs announced the launch of Ambient Clinical Analytics, a new company focusing on providing bedside critical decision support tools for ICU, operating room and emergency departments.