They may be in the Big Easy, where the good times roll, but
the people in charge of managing health data at hospitals across the country
are focused on the hard work of realizing the most benefit they can from
ICD-10.

On Thursday, U.S. hospitals, doctors and other care providers have to start using internationally developed standards called ICD-10 codes to bill government programs and private insurers in the nation's $2.9 trillion-a-year health care system. The codes cover everything from parrot bites to getting sucked into a jet engine.

The CMS will begin paying the same as private insurance rates for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests starting January 1, 2017, according to a proposed rule announced last week. The move could result in a large cuts in payments to laboratories.

Medicare only covers the use of telemedicine in rural or medically underserved areas, and only when video conferencing is used. But telemedicine has broadened as the technology has developed. Now that doctors and nurses could use a smartphone app to, say, monitor their patient's falls in the home, insurance companies and Medicare need to rethink their payment criteria, proponents say. 

Not many people actually like Obamacare's dreaded "Cadillac Tax," including, reportedly,
Hillary Clinton. But that doesn't mean it will necessarily get repealed before it starts in 2018.

From erroneous medical bills to denied health services, Americans may need patience grappling with insurance claims beginning today, the much-anticipated launch of tens of thousands of new government-mandated ICD-10 codes used to describe diseases and hospital procedures in the billing process.

While it's not a cure for diabetes, it could prove to be the next best thing.

Toenail fungus is technically known as onychomycosis. But if it's on the skin, instead, it goes by the more common name of athlete's foot. It can start in a locker room or the shower at home.

A scientific statement released by the Endocrine Society says that new evidence points to a link between endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure and both diabetes and obesity — two of the biggest health threats in modern society.

People with Type 2 diabetes may benefit from a higher-protein diet, but it likely depends on whether or not they have a particular gene related to vitamin D metabolism, new research suggests.

CMS has response plans
depending on five scenarios in the transition to the ICD-10 medical coding
system. 

Dozens of pills, injections, and other treatments have earned the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some of these may end up as game changers.

The Affordable Care Act has a ton of requirements. Between now and the end of the year, the law will have requirements for filings and the like for almost every business.

New classification criteria have been developed with high specificity and sensitivity for gout, according to an article published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatology.