National enrollment in new health plans created by President Obama's healthcare reform law has been underwhelming, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will host a National Provider Call on "ICD-10 Implementation Strategies for Physicians" on Aug. 3, 2011, according to an Advance Web report.

Two-hundred and nineteen members of the U.S. House of representatives and 45 senators have signed two separate letters to CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, urging him to reconsider the coding offset that will be applied to the 2012 inpatient prospective…

HHS says up to 40 percent of the $4 billion in loans the federal government plans to distribute for the development of non-profit health insurance co-ops could default, according to an IFA Web News report.

Iowa has saved more than $23 million in cost avoidance or recoveries in the first year using a new Medicaid program integrity initiative, according to a news release.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware earned $8 million in the first quarter of 2011, bringing its total surplus to $181 million, an increase of 48 percent since the end of 2008, according to a News Journal report.

Hospitals that own physician practices are held accountable for coding and billing mistakes by the practice, including audits by recovery audit contractors. To prevent these errors, hospital leaders should be aware of common billing and coding mistakes in physician practices.…

TRICARE has released a proposed rule to change inpatient hospital services reimbursements for sole community hospitals, according to an AHA News Now report.

More than thirty-three percent of hospital executives are extremely concerned about the increased federal scrutiny of Medicare payments through more intensive auditing, according to a report by the U.S. News & World Report.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services has proposed standards to encourage the creation of Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, which are private non-profit, consumer-governed health insurance plans that will help increase competition and give consumers and small businesses additional…