The U.S. Office of Management and Budget has approved changes to the Medicare Provider-Supplier Enrollment Applications and the CMS-8550 application form for ordering and referring items or services to Medicare beneficiaries, according to an AAPC release.
ASC Coding, Billing & Collections
On Aug. 19, an appeals court ruled against four New Jersey surgery centers in their lawsuit against Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, according to an ASC Association release.
The author of a bill that would have given California regulators the power to reject health insurance rate increase said Wednesday that he is pulling the bill from consideration this year, according to a San Jose Mercury News report.
South Carolina's Gov. Nikki Haley said the state will not accept millions of dollars in federal funding intended to help South Carolina set up a health insurance exchange, according to a Miami Herald report.
Subsidies provided to laid-off workers to help them continue health insurance coverage close today, raising concerns about how the unemployed will cover insurance costs, according to a Tennessean report.
Advertisement
Kansas signed a $135 million contract this week for a new state computer system designed to centralize applications for Medicaid, according to a Kansas Reporter report.
Wellmark, Iowa's primary health insurer, is unsure whether it will participate in the state's planned health insurance exchange, a move that could jeopardize the initiative, according to a Des Moines Register report.
On Thursday, the Obama administration will begin investigating proposed increases of health insurance premiums that exceed 9 percent, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
One hundred physicians from the roughly 120-member Missouri Medical Affiliates opted to sign individual contracts with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield before the temporary, three-month contract between the two parties expired, according to a Columbia Tribune report.
The Obama administration said last week that states that have not adopted health insurance exchanges may get a second chance to implement them before the government steps in, according to a NewsOK report.