With the introduction of Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) Roadmap for Americas Future, Congress has now been presented with distinct alternatives for tackling Medicare reform. But as the debate heats up along increasingly partisan lines, an April 20 New England Journal of Medicine perspective article argued that savings and costs are uncertain under both plans.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to update Medicare payment policies and rates for hospitals in fiscal year 2012, with the goal of improving care quality and patient outcomes.

In 2010, physicians' turnover rate was 6.1 percent, up slightly compared to the rate of 5.9 percent in 2009, according to the sixth annual Physician Retention Survey conducted by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Cejka Search.

Ten healthcare organizations have finished testing the National Committee for Quality Assurance accreditation program for accountable care organizations. 

Measurable medical errors that harmed patients cost an estimated $17.1 billion in 2008, according to research published in the April edition of Health Affairs. This figure amounted to 0.72 percent of the $2.39 trillion spent on healthcare that year in the U.S.

April 18 marked the first day physicians could attest to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)  to receive Medicare incentive payments for meaningful use of EHRs. Douglas Foreman, DO, a family physician in Warwick, R.I., will be among the first physicians in the U.S. to attest to meeting Stage 1 requirements for Medicare meaningful use of health IT, according to Ingenix.

Despite progress during the past decade, the nation still faces challenges in making healthcare safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, timely and free of disparities, according to a health policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Healthcare providers at River Park Hospital, a 125-bed full service hospital in McMinnville, Tenn., are using Shareable Inks conversion technology to document anesthesia cases.