Health Care Delivery

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana is facing fresh criticism for refusing to expand Medicaid, after his administration scrambled to keep the doors open at an emergency room in the state capital. Yesterday, Democratic state legislators gathered across the street from Baton Rouge General Mid City hospital, which nearly closed its emergency room last week before the Jindal Administration came through with a state-federal cash infusion that totaled $18 million to cover uncompensated care.

Glitches in the website could prevent individuals from submitting immigration documents, resulting in fines or loss of coverage.

Obama administration has granted over $35 million to support facility improvements in 147 health centers nationwide to deliver better coordinated care.

It'll be the 28th state to join the program.

The research, being conducted at UC Berkley, is being funded by the Cures Acceleration Network, which is one of dozens of state and federal agencies established by the health law.

The lawsuit, which was a long time coming, names top executives within Oracle, and claims damages as much as 240 million and penalties as high as $480 million for each allegation of wrongdoing.

Millions helped by Obama health law may get hit with reduced tax refunds unless they act soon.

With the FDA accepting an application from Sandoz for it's biosimilar filgrastim, the biosimilar landscape in the US is expected to undergo a huge turnaround.

In the twilight of his term of office, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is savoring the political fruits from a leap of faith made 15 months ago, when he spurned his Legislature and opted to expand Medicaid, citing a unique provision in Kentucky regulations. A year after the CMS visit, Beshear and his team are the subject of glowing reports, which describe how a commonwealth with a history of getting things wrong in healthcare has done just about everything right in Obamacare.

The study, published in the journal Health Service Research, found that the timing of the financial incentives offered by the program was not associated with improved quality of care.

A new Kaiser Family Foundation report analyzes key trends that have shaped the Medicare Part D marketplace since the program launched nine years ago, providing a detailed assessment of changes in plan availability, enrollment, premiums and cost sharing in both private stand-alone drug plans, and Medicare Advantage drug plans.

People who bought state plans instead of seeking insurance through their employer, have to go through the process again due to a temporary fix that was afforded.

The concept of a single-payer health system remains somewhat controversial among some legislators, yet Vermont continues to embrace the transition despite the challenges.

Richard Umdenstock, president and chief executive officer, American Hospital Association, says that many Americans who are newly insured have not had a high level of interaction with the healthcare system. Some people in this patient population might not even know that there are opportunities to engage with members in their community.

Specialty drugs expected to account for 40% of total prescription spending by 2016, according to Catamaran Corporation.

Consumers who missed open enrollment on the state health insurance marketplaces this spring or who are waiting for employer coverage to start don't have to "go bare."

While a few free health clinics have shut their doors in Arkansas and Washington, most expansion-state non-profit free clinics are reassessing their business strategies.

The number of young adults who are at risk for mental health problems and substance abuse are now increasingly seeking care due to a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Justice Department asked a full federal appeals court Friday to take up a case that has endangered subsidies helping millions of low- and middle-income people to afford their healthcare premiums under Obamacare.

On July 30, 2 senators introduced a bill that would extend a Medicaid raise for primary-care physicians another 2 years through 2016 and make more clinicians eligible for the extra money.

HealthCare.gov, the federal health-exchange website plagued with glitches at its launch, has already cost $840 million to build, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of two task orders and one contract related to building the system.

The House passed a resolution Wednesday authorizing a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's constitutional authority to delay the employer mandate in the federal healthcare reform law. The measure was adopted on a 225-201 largely party-line vote.

Dennis Scanlon, PhD, professor of health policy and administration at Penn State University, says that it is important to consider what details patients need in order to make informed decisions. For payers, this might include informing consumers about enrollment decisions.

Given the vast technology problems many state-based exchanges experienced during the first open-enrollment period, state officials there and elsewhere remain wary of running their own websites.

Although the state and federal health insurance exchanges have most recently taken the national spotlight, attention may soon turn to private health exchanges.

This week, the nation turned its attention to the split rulings of 2 state federal court of appeals.

As healthcare reform advances, experts say, dermatologists face mounting pressure to prove their mettle to insurance exchanges and accountable care organizations (ACOs).

To better align the care of beneficiaries insured under both the Medicaid and Medicare programs, CMS invited states to participate in a 3-year demonstration project. However, it seems that many beneficiaries have opted out of these care coordination programs that are offered across the country.