Medical Billing Blog

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a proposed rule to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that would create more options for annual health plan eligibility redeterminations in the Exchanges, (both Federally-facilitated and state-based) as well as add more requirements for re-enrollment notices. If enacted, the rule would impact consumers who are re-enrolling in a Qualified Health Plan (QHP) during the 2015 open enrollment period (November 15, 2014 – February 15, 2015).

Six states and the District of Columbia. will use their own money in 2015 to sustain the federal Medicaid pay raise to primary care doctors. The pay raise stems from a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that expands Medicaid fees for primary care to the same amount paid under Medicare. The states are Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Alabama, and Mississippi. Interestingly, Mississippi and Alabama did not participate in the Medicaid expansion under the ACA.

On Thursday, July 3rd, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its proposed changes for the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). The 600+ page proposed rule addresses changes to the physician fee schedule, and other Medicare Part B payment policies.

More hospitals are planning to outsource coding efforts in the coming year, according to a new survey published by Black Book Rankings.

An expert panel recommended Tuesday completely overhauling the way government pays for the training of doctors, saying the current $15 billion system is failing to produce the medical workforce the nation needs.

Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which finances about half the health program for seniors and the disabled, won’t run out of money until 2030, the program’s trustees said Monday. That’s four years later than projected last year and 13 years later than projected the year before the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

About 10.3 million Americans have gained insurance coverage since the full implementation of Obamacare last year, according to an analysis published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, done by Harvard researchers and published by the NEJM, was based on Gallup polling and data from the Department of Health and Human Services. It also estimated that the uninsured rate declined by 5.2 percentage points in the second quarter of 2014, or from 21 percent in September 2013 to 16.3 percent in April 2014. In particular, it found jumps in the insurance rates for Hispanics, blacks and young adults.

A recent survey of more than 18,500 physicians finds that 22 percent of them are opting out of or disregarding altogether the meaningful use electronic health records program.

New enrollments in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and other healthcare programs for the poor have reached 6.7 million people since the launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms last year, the administration said on Friday. CMS says about 26.4 million children were enrolled in CHIP or Medicaid overall, and 56 percent of all enrollees in the programs are children.