Before hospitals and health systems can dive into a bundled payment demonstration or pilot program, CFOs and other executive leadership must understand the impact bundled payments can have on their organizations as well as patients.

Hospitals and health systems are officially less than two years away from the go-live date of ICD-10. By Oct. 1, 2014, all providers must have made the transition to ICD-10.

John Geppi, CFO of Covenant Health in Knoxville, Tenn., has helped the seven-hospital system become one of the most financially viable providers in east Tennessee, and for his efforts, he has earned extra recognition.

HHS and CMS officials have said they still need more information before they can approve or deny $20 million in cuts to Maine's Medicaid program, and Gov. Paul LePage (R) has called the response "at worst, political delay," according to…

While most states are instituting austerity policies and spending cuts on their Medicaid programs, Colorado is bucking that trend, as Gov. John Hickenlooper proposed an 8.6 percent increase in healthcare funding for 2013-14, according to a Denver Post report.

Net income at health insurer Humana dropped 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2012 compared with last year, totaling $426 million.

Hurricane Sandy forced the stock markets to close on Monday and Tuesday last week, but when the markets opened back up on Halloween, for-profit hospital operators saw their share values jump.

Here are 13 issues dealing with Medicare or Medicaid that occurred in the past week, starting with the most recent.

CMS has issued its final rule on the Medicare physician fee schedule (pdf) for 2013, saying Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians will be slashed by 26.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2013, unless Congress bypasses the sustainable growth rate.

In the 2013 calendar year, hospital outpatient departments will receive Medicare payment rate increases of 1.8 percent, while ambulatory surgery center Medicare rates will increase by 0.6 percent, according to CMS' final rule (pdf) on outpatient policy and payments.