Aetna Faces Uphill Battle

If you haven’t heard the name Dr. Jay Ken Iinuma before, you’re about to get acquainted. Iinuma is the former Medical Director of health insurance giant Aetna, and he might just be the reason yet another Aetna deal flatlines. During a recent deposition in a lawsuit...

Is HHS About to Lose Funding?

Yesterday, President Donald Trump presented his $4.4 trillion FY19 budget proposal – and it looks like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is going to have to tighten its fiscal belt. Trump’s proposed budget demonstrates a 21% decrease from HHS’...

Coding for Tobacco Cessation Counseling

Late last month, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced her resignation in response to a Politico report exposing an unethical conflict of interest between Fitzgerald and the tobacco industry. The report reveals...

The High Cost of Healthcare

The United States spends $3.2 trillion on healthcare each year, more than any other country in the world. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, was recently featured in a CNN Health video that explains why healthcare in the United States is so costly....

5 Things You Need to Know About Becoming a CPC

Strategy is Key Becoming a Certified Professional Coder is no easy feat, and the exam administered by the American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC) is a long, grueling assessment. Of course, the exam will present CPCs-to-be questions on CPT codes, Evaluation and...

The Road to Compliance

The road to compliance is long and bumpy, but a trip we must all take in 2018. In January 2017, compliance professionals from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) held an assembly in which they discussed how to measure...

Is This The End of CHIP?

The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is a program that has managed to gain (mostly) bipartisan support, as it provides low-cost healthcare to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid; but its days may be numbered.  The funding...