The American Medical Association (AMA) voiced concerns over burdensome federal regulations in a letter sent last week to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) must be built on a foundation of primary care, must have robust reporting capabilities and must ensure prompt rewards for high-quality, efficient care, according to an April 14 Commonwealth Fund report, High Performance Accountable Care: Building on Success and Learning from Experience.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has introduced four initiatives designed to offer states more flexibility to coordinate care for Medicaid and Medicare recipients while helping to reduce costs.

Cooper University Hospital of Camden, N.J., has awarded MedQuist Holdings a contract to provide computer-assisted coding technology and outsourced coding services.

The Richmond VA Medical Center is partnering with MedVirginia on a Department of Veterans Affairs pilot project to improve delivery of veterans' health information. 

The Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), a national non-profit organization that seeks to safeguard patients through mediation, reported a 30 percent increase in requests for assistance from Medicare beneficiaries in 2010 compared with 2009.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will invest as much as $1 billion in a national collaboration that aims to save 60,000 lives during the next three years by eliminating preventable injuries and complications in patient care, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced at a press conference today.

The National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) is partnering with e-prescribing software provider DrFirst to offer e-prescribing, meaningful use and patient medication adherence programs to NHMA members.