VMG Health's 2018 Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study shows data from ASCs across the country, outlining the case mix as a percentage of collections.  By Laura Dyrda - 5/14/18

More than 50 percent of patients prefer electronic bills and over 75 percent would give providers pre-authorization for credit card charges, according to Waystar's Patient Payment Check-Up Survey.  By Angie Stewart - 5/11/18

Coders can steer clear of burnout by making lists, finding a mentor and tackling one to-do list item at a time, according to Kristi Pollard, a senior consultant at The Haugen Group.   By Angie Stewart - 5/10/18

UnitedHealthcare saved employers $18 million with knee, hip and spine bundled payments; now they're ready to expand.  By Laura Dyrda - 5/10/18

By the end of the year, Envision plans to move nearly all of its out-of-network revenue in-network, according to the first quarter conference call, as transcribed in Seeking Alpha.  By Laura Dyrda - 5/9/18

Tracking denials after a case is billed can help pinpoint coders' and surgeons' areas for improvement, according to Pinnacle III's Bethany Bueno, Specialty Billing Solutions billing operations director.  By Angie Stewart - 5/8/18

Medical Transcription Billing Corp. signed an agreement to buy assets of Orion and 13 of its affiliates for an estimated $10 to $12 million, according to an 8K filing.  By Angie Stewart - 5/7/18

The average charge per procedure for the 25 ASCs with the highest Medicare charges in 2016 ranged from $174 to $15,007, according to Definitive Healthcare.  By Angie Stewart - 5/7/18

Boulder (Colo.) Community Health sent a termination notification to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield after unsuccessful negotiations on terms for a multi-year contract renewal.  By Angie Stewart - 5/4/18

The 25 ASCs with the most Medicare procedures in 2016 performed a combined total of over 525,000 surgeries, generating more than $110 million in Medicare charges, according to Definitive Healthcare.  By Angie Stewart - 5/4/18

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, spoke at the World Health Care Congress and touched on many key themes in healthcare, including the upcoming tax law changes that will repeal the individual mandate penalty, according to MedPage Today.  By Laura Dyrda - 5/4/18

Compiling a list of all codes that might be used for a procedure helps ensure bills are sent out correctly, according to Medical Bill Consultants President and CEO Beth Morgan.  By Angie Stewart - 5/3/18

Oklahoma City-based Surgery Center of Oklahoma joined Health Beyond Insurance's provider network, offering surgical services to a network of self-paying patients.  By Eric Oliver - 5/3/18

Aetna served 250,000 additional Medicare Advantage customers in the first quarter of 2018.   By Angie Stewart - 5/2/18

The Indian government told the U.S. it would continue capping the prices for medical devices imported into the country, Reuters reports.  By Eric Oliver - 5/2/18

According to a Commonwealth Fund survey, approximately 4 million Americans have lost health insurance during the last two years as a result of actions from President Donald Trump's administration, The Hill reports.  By Eric Oliver - 5/2/18

Providers severely lack early documentation instruction, according to Erica Remer, MD, the director of an intensive medical documentation course at Cleveland-based Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.  By Angie Stewart - 5/2/18

Change and uncertainty in healthcare are hardly new phenomena, but the industry today appears to be experiencing a period of especially significant transition. Beyond the impact of ongoing policy debates and legislative and regulatory shifts, trends like changing demographics (including an aging patient population, and the emerging cohorts of millennials and Generation Z), increased spending, new models of care delivery, healthcare consumerism and social sharing and rapidly advancing technology are all having a profound effect on healthcare in the U.S.  By Dave Fasoli, Synchrony EVP and CareCredit CEO - 5/2/18

Aetna's first-quarter report revealed adjusted earnings of $3.19 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.97.  By Angie Stewart - 5/1/18

A lack of formal training contributes to providers' disenchantment with documentation, according to Erica Remer, MD, the director of an intensive medical documentation course at Cleveland-based Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.  By Angie Stewart - 5/1/18