Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law. That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding.

One of the reasons cited includes: "...ER patients ready to be admitted...must compete for beds with patients scheduled for elective surgeries, which bring in more money. "If you've got 10 ER patients and 10 elective surgeries...which are you going to give the beds to?"

The health reform law effectively will ban new physician-owned hospitals from starting up and existing ones from expanding.  The hospitals already are fighting back announcing that they had filed suit jointly in U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Texas, challenging the constitutionality of the reform law's physician-owned hospital section.

Starting June 15, CMS will begin processing physician Medicare claims for services provided on June 1 and later at the new, much lower rate, unless the Senate passes a bill before then. The Senate is out until the middle of Monday afternoon, it now looks as if the vote won't come until next Tuesday, the 15th, at the earliest.

As for whether CMS will extend the amount of time that claims are being held, an agency spokeswoman said she had no updated information on the subject.

Read more in this article.

The Obama administration says it has the right to regulate health care and that the mandate requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance coverage or face a tax penalty...falls well within Congress' powers to regulate areas impacting interstate commerce -- in this case, health care.

Read more in this article.

The newly passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has several provision of vital imporatnce to Medicare providers.  Not all information has yet been finalized, but this article highlights the importance for you to be closely watching Medicare rules and regulations--the times, they are a changing!

The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the state of Virginia arguing that the new healthcare reform law is unconstitutional.  The response filed Monday marks the first time the administration has officially responded to one of the more than dozen lawsuits filed by state attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of the new law.

For the first time it mandates that as a condition of enrollment in Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP, providers and suppliers establish and maintain a compliance program centered around yet-to-be-defined “core elements.”  Learn more about compliance in this article.

One of the most controversial provisions of the new health care reform is the establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board.  This report highlights some of the provisions of this portion of Health care reform.

The health reform law is expected to reduce the uninsured population in the U.S. by more than half within the decade. But members of certain groups that have historically gone without coverage -- undocumented immigrants and young people, for example -- are expected to continue making up a sizeable portion of the uninsured that remain….