Lawmakers consider hospital billing regulations
As Indiana lawmakers wrestle with various ideas to reduce health care costs, one proposal that business groups say would have an immediate impact has drawn opposition from hospitals.
Health Care & Insurance
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Some doctors worried by Indiana ‘surprise’ billing proposal
Some Indiana doctors are raising fears about possible loss of emergency services under a plan to limit “surprise” medical bills that can plague patients who have been unknowingly treated by providers from outside their insurance networks.
State aims to extend Healthy Indiana Plan
Indiana has submitted a request for a 10-year extension of its Medicaid alternative program, the Healthy Indiana Plan, and still included is the suspended work requirement that was imposed on some enrollees in the public assistance program but is currently under review by the courts.
Controlling costly care: Lawmakers weigh surprise billing, transparency legislation
The idea of increasing health care affordability and cost transparency has received bipartisan support, but the devil has been in the details. Even so, federal lawmakers feel confident Congress will enact legislation to end surprise billing this year, while Indiana lawmakers say they’re committed to creating state solutions to drive down Hoosier health care costs.
Medicaid changes could have big state consequences
Nearly one in five Hoosiers is on Medicaid, a program that pays for medical care, hospitalization, drugs, skilled nursing and other services for low-income and disabled people. But the future of the program is now up in the air after the Trump administration announced in January it would allow states to add eligibility requirements, benefit changes and drug-coverage limits.
Judge calls Notre Dame’s third try at avoiding contraceptive mandate ‘absurd’
At times describing the defendants’ argument as bordering “on the absurd” and noting the policies are already causing injury, the Northern District of Indiana has blocked another attempt by the University of Notre Dame and federal agencies to limit women students’ access to contraceptives.
What’s next in legal drama over the Affordable Care Act?
The federal appeals court ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that people have health insurance left hanging key questions about what happens to other provisions of the law, like coverage for preexisting conditions. President Barack Obama’s signature health care law remains in legal limbo.
Justices seem to favor insurers’ Obamacare claims for $12B
The US Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to rule that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama.
Indiana backs off Medicaid work requirement in face of federal lawsuit
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is temporarily suspending its requirement that certain Medicaid recipients work to receive their health care benefits pending the outcome of a federal lawsuit challenging the program.
Lake County hospital system notifying patients after data breach
A northwestern Indiana hospital system is warning more than 68,000 patients that their personal information, including Social Security numbers and health records, may have been exposed during a data breach.
New study: Opioid crisis cost US economy $631B over 4 years
The opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $631 billion from 2015 through last year — and it may keep getting more expensive, according to a study released Tuesday by the Society of Actuaries.
Medicaid lawsuits headed to D.C. appellate court
Two lawsuits similar to the one filed against Indiana’s plan to impose new restrictions and work requirements on Medicaid recipients are scheduled for oral arguments Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Transfer dissent: Justices should ‘clear up uncertainty’ about disclosure of private information
Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush has penned a dissent to the denial of transfer to a case involving public disclosure of private health information, calling the transfer decision a missed opportunity “to clear up uncertainty” regarding whether disclosure is actionable.
COA affirms wrongful death rulings against cystic fibrosis patient
Judgments in favor of a hospital, insurance company and ambulance provider were affirmed Thursday in a wrongful death suit brought by a cystic fibrosis patient’s late husband. The woman died from pneumonia after a prolonged ambulance ride toward a lung transplant that ended up at the wrong hospital.
Hill files complaint after body found in bug-infested retirement home
The discovery last year of the cockroach-covered body of an Indianapolis retirement home resident was the impetus for an administrative complaint against the health facility administrator by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.