On August 17, 2023, a cyber security breach at TMG Health put at risk 47,485 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona patients' personal information, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
On June 21, 2023, Arizona’s largest commercial insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) was informed by TMG Health, of...
As COVID-19 restrictions relax and business practices return to normal guidelines, a large number of negligence and wrongful death suits have been filed due to a repeal of liability protections and statutory deadlines. Johnson & Johnson was unable to overturn a ruling in a deceptive marketing case regarding transvaginal mesh...
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, which focuses on investments in public health, behavioral health, health disparities, child care and advancing research. Coupled with the HHS announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also released the 2021-2030 National...Arizona News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provided $398 million in funding through the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP) to 1,540 small rural hospitals for COVID-19 testing and mitigation; funding allocated by the American Rescue Plan.
State...National News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the availability of $1 billion for Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program to support major construction and renovation projects across the country. The funding builds on President Biden's commitment to ensuring equity in access to COVID-19...Arizona News
The medical industry is a massive target for ransomware scams and hacking. Huge amounts of patient health information create an administrative ecosystem extremely vulnerable to attack. Hospitals and health systems using woefully inadequate and out-of-date software are susceptible to breaches as are healthcare providers who rely on...National News
Aetna has agreed to pay $1 million to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will also adopt a corrective action plan to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules.
June 2017: Aetna submitted a breach...White Papers, E books, Reports and more
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the study and concluded most Medicare patients from 2012 through 2018 with sepsis arrived at the hospital with the condition, rather than developing it in the hospital, a possible indicator of success for CMS efforts to reduce hospital-based cases of...News
A federal judge sentenced a Miami mogul to 20 years in prison and $207 million in restitutions for committing what prosecutors are calling the largest healthcare fraud scheme in America’s history.The culprit in this case is 50-year-old Philip Esmores, the mastermind behind a network of nursing homes and healthcare facilities that...National News
A proposal to lift a prohibition on allowing companies to take advantage of health reimbursement arrangements (HRA) dating back to the Obama administration is slated to reshape employee-based healthcare.
Announced Tuesday, the expansion of HRAs would enable employers to use them to pay for health insurance premiums, allowing...Arizona News
Medicare Advantage has been dominating healthcare headlines, especially with the start of the annual enrollment period; it is no secret the Medicare alternative pulls monstrous profits, but their means are in question. A study conducted by the Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that MA...National News
A group of laboratories lost their challenge against the definition of "applicable laboratories" under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 because did not account for a majority of hospital labs when calculating Medicare reimbursements.
At stake were billions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements that federal judge Amy...National News
Four major U.S. cities are suing President Trump and his administration for deliberately attempting to ensure the Affordable Care Act (ACA) fails, thus violating the president's constitutional duty to execute laws faithfully under the Take Care Clause.
Representing 4.5 million Americans, the plaintiffs, Baltimore, Chicago,...Arizona News
Banner Health has agreed to pay the United States over $18 million to settle allegations that 12 of its hospitals in Arizona and Colorado knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare by admitting patients who could have been treated on a less costly outpatient basis.
The settlement resolves allegations that 12 Banner Health hospitals...
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted 14-2 to in favor of killing the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and replacing it with an alternative model of reimbursement.
MedPAC Chairman Francis "Jay" Crosson of Palo Alto, California, said he wished the commission had made its recommendation sooner, but it had...