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Reform

No, Obamacare Did Not Lower U.S. Health Costs

Refuting Ezekiel Emanuel's claims

A screen shot of a banner from the Coalition Against Socialized Medicine website featuring Vladimir Lenin and a quote.

The AMA's Bogus Lenin Scare Tactic Quote

The smear that refuses to die

ASCO over a photo of McCormick Place in Chicago.

Obamacare Cut Racial Disparities in Cancer Care

Time to cancer treatment evens in blacks and whites with Medicaid expansion

Azar Praises Free Markets for Healthcare Reform

HHS chief takes Heritage Foundation stage to bash ACA, plug administration's programs

Trump OMB Appointee Blasts Obama-Era Value Programs

Says CMMI programs aren't working; have 'failed to deliver'

'Pimple on a Duck's Butt': What We Heard This Week

Quotable quotes from MedPage Today's sources

AMA Leadership Presses Members to Defend ACA

Encourages docs to 'put a human face' on healthcare

10 Questions: Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Ga.)

What's the biggest barrier to practicing medicine today? Medical decisions being made by nonmedical people, says Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon who has served in Congress since 2005.

Time to Divorce USPSTF Statements from Coverage Decisions?

First-dollar payment mandate has rob-Peter, pay-Paul consequence

MedPAC Looks at Ways to Adjust Misvalued Services

Commission debates grouping CPT codes into families

Q&A: SAMHSA's Acting Administrator

Kana Enomoto on turning around the troubled agency

Election 2016 Snapshot: Medicare

Trump and Clinton offer different visions for Medicare

RNC: Docs Protest as Trump Takes Stage

Fatima Fadlalla is an internist and activist

RNC: Let's Keep Government Out of Healthcare, Price Says

Trump is the right person to do that, according to Georgia lawmaker

Patient Registries See Promise and Challenges Ahead

Physician-driven registries adapt to a changing health system

Top 5 Reasons Why Internists Are Sued

Not properly diagnosing a condition and nonmedical errors such as equipment failure accounted for more than half of the malpractice lawsuits against internists, a study found.

ICD-10 Follies: Watch Where You're Walking

Yes, there's a code for that. To mark the forthcoming move to the ICD-10 coding system, MedPage Today is spotlighting some of those thousands of new codes that might just be getting a bit too granular.

5 Ways Doctors Can Use Data Analytics

Data analytics takes claims data, a providers' electronic health record, and any of piece of information available to help physicians become more aware of the patients they're treating. Here are five ways the technology can help meet payers' demands for higher-quality, higher-value care.

5 Problems With Mobile Health App Security

No federal agency has the power to properly regulate the fast-growing world of mobile health applications and telehealth systems, researchers noted while outlining several security risks and privacy threats.

Pay and Practice: Are Neurologists Primary Care Docs?

WASHINGTON -- Neurology isn't often mentioned in the same breath as primary care, but the American Academy of Neurology is again lobbying to gain that sobriquet -- this time to take advantage of a recent policy change that benefits primary care providers.

10 Questions: Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.)

If you could change one thing about the healthcare system, what would it be? Eliminate Obamacare, says Rep. Phil Gingrey, MD (R-Ga.). That's his answer to just one of the 10 Questions the MedPage Today staff is asking leading clinicians, researchers, and leaders in their community to get their personal views on their chosen profession. In this series we share their uncensored responses.

'Out of Network': More Money but Some Problems

Whether they plan to or not, a growing number of physicians no longer have contracts with some of the nation's largest health insurance carriers, but being "out of network" has both benefits and drawbacks.

AMA President Discusses SGR Repeal Efforts

Shortly after the American Medical Association's interim meeting adjourned, Ardis Hoven, MD, president of the American Medical Association, sat down for a one-on-one interview with MedPage Today to discuss the AMA's SGR repeal strategy.

Docs Need Info on 'Grace Period,' AMA Says

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- The American Medical Association wants health plans to notify doctors when patients haven't paid their premiums, a situation that could leave physicians on the hook for unpaid services.

ACA: When Is a Screening Not a Screening?

A provision in the Affordable Care Act that waives patients' payments for colonoscopies is an example of how good intentions in the law can lead to a tangle of unforeseen consequences.

Concierge Medicine Gains Ground

SAN DIEGO -- Concierge doctors are spreading the word that it's possible to operate a direct primary care practice, make a living, and avoid one of the biggest headaches for family medicine physicians -- dealing with health insurance companies.

ACP Hedges in Debate on Scope of Practice

The American College of Physicians took a nuanced position on the role advanced nurse practitioners play in clinical care teams in a position paper published Monday.

CHIP Faces Uncertain Future

WASHINGTON -- The final implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could be bad news for re-authorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a congressional staffer said.

More Docs Joining Forces in ACOs

SAN FRANCISCO -- The number of physician-led accountable care organizations (ACOs) has recently surpassed the number led by hospitals, becoming the largest backers of the payment and delivery model, an analysis showed.

Docs May See Pay Delay Under ACA Exchanges

SAN FRANCISCO -- A provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) states that insurance companies will not process claims on patients who haven't paid their premiums in 3 months, leaving doctors on the hook to recoup payment directly from the patients.

More Insurance Claims Filed Electronically

Healthcare providers continue to file more insurance claims electronically and submit claims more quickly, a report from the leading health insurance industry group showed.

AMA Adopts Policies on Circumcision, Gun Safety

The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates has adopted a number of new policies at its interim meeting, including policies on male circumcision, physician discussion of gun safety, and a new medical coding system that will go into effect in 2013.

Healthcare Key Is Access Not Cost

Long wait-times for appointments and inability to take time off work are more common barriers to healthcare access than financial hardship, a new study found.

AMA: House of Delegates Backs Individual Mandate

CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association's House of Delegates has reaffirmed its support of individual responsibility -- including a requirement that most U.S. residents buy health insurance -- as the foundation of universal coverage.

AMA: Delegates Sharply Divided on Individual Mandate

CHICAGO -- As the constitutionality of the individual mandate is debated in the nation's courts, the issue has emerged as a lightning rod in the American Medical Association's annual House of Delegates meeting here.

Primary Care Still Hard to Get in Massachusetts

WASHINGTON -- More than half of primary care practices in Massachusetts are not accepting new patients, and wait times for many new patients continue to lengthen five years after the state passed its landmark healthcare reform law.

AAPM: 'Focused Factories' on Healthcare Horizon

WASHINGTON -- The next big thing in healthcare won't be large, all-purpose healthcare organizations -- it will be 'focused factories' for treating specific problems, a Harvard economist says.