AMA News – Feb. 4, 2009. Experts warn of antitrust scrutiny but say the settlements signal the FTC’s support of arrangements that can benefit patient care. Read Full Article

AMA News – Feb. 4, 2009. Even if a full-fledged system is financially out of reach for your practice, there are ways to automate. Read Full Article

AMA – Feb. 4, 2009. Physicians will have an additional two years to learn the next generation of diagnostic codes, thanks to a final Medicare regulation released Jan. 15, one of several key rules that the Bush administration sent out the door in its last days. Read Full Article

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. Private health insurers that operate plans under the Medicare prescription drug benefit have overcharged beneficiaries and the program by several billion dollars since the program began in 2006, but CMS remains unaware of the total impact of the practice because of a failure to perform required audits, according to a […]

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. The almost $900 billion economic stimulus package the Senate will begin to debate this week “faces a treacherous path,” as both Republicans and Democrats seek to change some provisions related to health care and other areas, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/2). According to the New […]

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday said Aetna will pay $5.1 million to settle charges that it underpaid thousands of members and physicians for out-of-network medical costs, the New York Daily News reports (Blain, New York Daily News, 2/3). The allegations involve reimbursements for 73,000 claims […]

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday reversed a 2007 decision by a lower court that would have required HHS to release Medicare claims data under the federal Freedom of Information Act, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/2).  Click […]

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. “Blog Watch” offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts. Click title to read more… The American Prospect‘s Ezra Klein discusses a new coalition of single-payer advocates and observes, “My sense of the single-payer movement, having watched and interacted with them for some time, is that they think, not […]

kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on Tuesday withdrew his nomination as HHS secretary, citing the disclosure of his recent payments of back taxes and interest, the Washington Post‘s “44” reports (Kornblut/Kane, “44,” Washington Post, 2/3). In a statement, Daschle said he did not want to be “a distraction. […]