Embedded with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is Section 1203 (pdf), which covers what will happen to disproportionate share hospital payments under healthcare reform.

The stock market, in general, took a pounding last week, and for-profit hospital companies almost universally saw drops in share prices.

Clinical documentation improvement programs at hospitals usually conjure up notions of coding and health information management, but CDI goes much further. A main tenet of a successful CDI program is that it should lead to an increase in the hospital's…

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

Donna Kopinski has served as CFO of Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester, Mich., for a little more than a year now, and her presence has already helped the hospital improve its financial footing.

After more than a year and a half of severed ties, UNC Healthcare in Chapel Hill, N.C., and health insurer Aetna agreed to a new three-year contract, according to a News & Observer report.

National health expenditures in August rose 3.8 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 4.6 percent rate in August 2011, and it was a slight decrease from the 4.2 percent growth rate this past July, according to a…

The American Hospital Association recently sent a letter (pdf) to CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, urging several clarifications on a worksheet hospitals use to report uncompensated care.

Locum tenens physicians play a vital role in the U.S. healthcare system. Locum tenens, according to its Latin origin, describes someone who temporarily fills in for someone else, and hospitals use locum tenens all the time in different scenarios.

U.S. hospitals and health systems are on the brink of a fiscal crisis. The impact of healthcare reform, coupled with demographic shifts, may devastate these organizations unless they begin reducing costs immediately. Reimbursement reductions and shifts in demand are likely…