The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently ruled that providers not successfully/satisfactorily participating in PQRS by the 2013 reporting period (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2013), will have their Medicare reimbursement decreased by 1.5 percent beginning in 2015, and 2 percent in 2016.

Therefore, the 2012 reporting period is the last opportunity providers have to voluntarily participate in PQRS and learn how to report successfully/satisfactorily while incentives are still offered and their Medicare reimbursement is not subject to penalties.

The federal government on Friday refused to let Texas ease a requirement that health insurers devote at least 80 percent of premium revenue to medical care.

Officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Texas insurance regulators did not convincingly back up their claim that immediate enforcement of the medical-spending minimums would disrupt the state's "individual market."

Health reform will increase the number of uninsured adults with diabetes who will be covered by Medicaid, researchers found. That will expand access and increase the use of healthcare in a population that has many unmet healthcare needs.

In 2010, Medicaid covered about 60 million Americans, and in 2014 that figure will expand by about 16 million as more uninsured patients become eligible for the program as a result of the Affordable Care Act; about a million of these patients will have diabetes.

States for and against Health Care Reforms file briefs with Supreme Court.

The Obama administration has filed its initial brief in the Supreme Court case that will determine the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor in a 2-1 decision that the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is constitutional.

The individual mandate "certainly is an encroachment on individual liberty," said the majority, "but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race ... or that a farmer cannot grow enough wheat to support his own family."

The Supreme Court has announced it will consider the Affordable Care Act (ACA) during its current session. Oral arguments are expected to be heard this spring.

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On October 20th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their final rule regarding the CMS Shared Savings/Accountable Care Organization Program .... In CMS' final rule, CMS indicated that nothing would 'preclude Medicare enrolled chiropractors from participating in ACOs, or from sharing in the savings that an ACO may realize in part because of the quality and cost-effective services they may be able to provide.'"

The federal government released its long-awaited final rule on Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and the U.S. scored pretty dismally on a report card that looked at healthcare quality, access, and efficiency.

The U.S. scored a 64 out of 100 overall for key measures of healthcare performance that pitted the nation as a whole against high-performing regions in the U.S., as well as against other countries.

The report also found that the nation spends up to twice as much as other high-income countries, but doesn't have better care to show for it.