Practice Management News

A commentary recently published in The BMJ expressed the editors’ concerns with President Donald J. Trump’s policies, stating that the new administration’s pronouncements seem to lack “careful consideration” of the consequences for biomedical research and health care.

The CMS is working with 11 local, experienced, community based organizations to provide immediate hands-on training and educational resources about the Quality Payment Program to thousands of eligible individual or small group practices across the nation — particularly those in rural areas, health professional shortage areas and medically underserved areas — at no cost, according to a press release.

A perspective recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine provides some insight on what President Donald J. Trump can and cannot do, in light of his executive order on health care and a promise to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.

Today, we as physicians confront the political nature of medicine on a daily basis and, for me, the number one issue with the politics-medicine intersection is essentially insecurity.

President Donald J. Trump’s proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act with a health care law that achieves more coverage, better benefits and lower costs could be attained through single-payer reform, according to a commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Due to insurance expansions of the Affordable Care Act, Americans were more likely to undertake preventive care, according to data published in Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. However, a recently released survey from NORC at the University of Chicago revealed that although essential components of the health care law are effective and popular, many Americans strongly support changes, but not an immediate repeal.

Under the current law, not assuming potential legislative changes during the projection period, CMS estimated an average annual increase in national health expenditures from 2016 to 2025 of 5.6%, driven by faster economic and price growth, according to data published in Health Affairs.

CMS issued a proposed rule for 2018 to mandate new reforms that will stabilize the individual and small group health insurance markets to protect patients, according to a recent press release.

The number of uninsured dipped slightly from the previous year, according to a recently released report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Evaluations of three accountable care organization payment models, including the Medicare Shared Savings Program, Colorado’s Accountable Care Collaborative and Oregon’s Coordinated Care Organizations, revealed successes in overall performance and spending, but further assessment is required to address their effect on patients’ health and quality of life, according to two studies and an editorial published in JAMA Internal Medicine.