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Federal officials for more than a decade have let hospitals charge Medicare varying rates for certain emergency department overhead and staffing costs called facility fees-a controversial policy some critics believe invites overcharges.

Coping with advanced cancer, Bev Veals was in the hospital for chemo this summer when she got a call that her health plan was shutting down. Then, the substitute insurance she was offered wanted her to pay up to $3,125, on top of premiums.

The health law is expected to change the face of Medicaid literally.

Hospitals and healthcare systems nationwide are increasingly buying more physician practices as health reform requires care delivery to move toward a more quality-based care model instead of a fee-for-service one. The reactions are mixed.

The decision of some states not to expand Medicaid means that the nation's poorest - those the Affordable Care Act would have helped the most - may not receive any help at all.

Officials overseeing Delaware's implementation of the federal health care reform law still don't know what residents will pay for health care coverage under a new state health insurance exchange.

The phones are already busy at the Washington State Exchange call center where customer service representatives are fielding hundreds of questions about the state's new health insurance exchange, slated to open for enrollment Oct. 1.

While health law reform and expansion of insurance coverage comes with good intentions, there are many other decisions that are seemingly shifting care in the opposite direction.

The Republican-led Michigan House gave final approval on Tuesday to a bill that would expand the Medicaid health program for the poor under Democratic President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law.

Mark Fendrick, MD, co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Managed Care, concludes the PCDC event with his closing remarks.

Deneen Vojta, MD, says cheaper, better, more accessible healthcare is something we all want. Big data, value-based insurance design, and value-based contacting are all factors that might help the industry get there.

Jan Berger, MD, MJ, The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits editor-in-chief, follows Rebecca Killon's remarks with her own insight on the importance of diabetes medication adherence.

Bargaining leverage, not the cost of providing complex care, is the main reason why some hospitals can demand prices twice as high as their competitors' and still get contracts to treat privately insured patients, according to a new study.

Rebecca W. Killon, MA, says addressing adherence of diabetes medication from the patient perspective can be very different from that of a physician.

Josh Benner, PharmD, ScD, says nonadherence in diabetes medication is a large contributor to high costs in healthcare and should be a priority for care givers.

Coupons and vouchers for name-brand prescription drugs claim to cut costly out-of-pocket expenses, but they actually may be doing very little to control prices.

Medicine is unique in being the one profession that never teaches even its recruits how they, or the services they deliver, are paid and importantly, by whom.

A study estimates that total annual costs for five major health care-associated infections (HAIs) were $9.8 billion, with surgical site infections contributing the most to overall costs, according to a report.

A new joint program between the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC), demonstrates a way to mend the system with a new patient-centered program that is getting raves from patients, as well as the residents and nurses who provide their care.

Premium rates for health plan policies in the health insurance exchange (HIE) are expected to vary nationally, but they aren't likely to skyrocket - at least according to one research group.

Fearing Obamacare will drastically increase the cost of health insurance policies next year, some employers are turning to new strategies to blunt or at least delay the "rate shock."

A new poll conducted by the American College of Physician Executives has found that doctors are almost evenly divided on whether or not Medicare payment data should be made public.

As insurers prepare to implement a law designed to make health coverage affordable, insurance rates are dramatically increasing.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and other coordinated care models present opportunities for improving quality as well as offering incentives that will drive lower-cost decision making among providers

Hospitals, nurses, doctors and other medical providers urged New Hampshire on Tuesday to expand Medicaid to an estimated 49,000 poor adults under the federal health care overhaul law.

Darius Lakdawalla, PhD, addresses the value of diabetes patients' adherence in this clip.

The U.S. health care bureaucracy is expanding; both dramatically (e.g. the implementation of the Affordable Care Act) and gradually. A recent decision proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) exemplifies the dangers to medical innovation and patients represented by the gradual expansion of the health care bureaucracy.

Predictions of sharp increases in health-insurance premiums for people getting coverage under the U.S. Affordable Care Act have been overstated and many states will see little to no change, researchers at Rand Corp. found.

The Obama administration has delayed a step crucial to the launch of the new healthcare law, the signing of final agreements with insurance plans to be sold on federal health insurance exchanges starting October 1.

Debated and despised, the Medicare physician payment formula may finally be on the way out at least that's what AMA President Ardis Hoven believes.