VAB RCM

07/29/2026

Surprise billing isn’t going away — the trend is that the patient is being protected, while insurers and providers are now locked in a growing legal battle over who gets paid and how much.

Air ambulance teams train to respond to car accidents on remote highways, cardiac arrests, and children who stop breathing. When the call comes, they go because air medical transport exists to reach

07/16/2026

Medicare is proposing a major change in the way doctors are paid. The idea is to reward primary care, prevention and long-term results instead of simply paying more for every visit, test and procedure. On paper, that sounds reasonable: the American healthcare system spends heavily on expensive treatment after people become seriously ill, while family doctors and preventive care remain badly underfunded.

But the proposal also cuts payments and increases pressure on doctors to control costs. That means “better outcomes” could easily become a bureaucratic excuse for spending less, limiting treatment and forcing small independent practices out of business. So this may look like a public-health reform, but unless substantial new resources actually go into primary care, it risks becoming another austerity measure dressed up in the language of prevention and efficiency.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Tuesday proposed changes to Medicare's decades-old physician payment system, saying the updates would ​support the Trump administration's push to emphasize primary and preventive ‌care rather than treatment after patients become ill.

07/08/2026

The Medical Tourism Association, a non-profit that helps promote and facilitate medical tourism, estimated the global industry to be worth more than $100 billion as of 2024 and growing at an annual rate of 15 to 25%.

The financial incentive in becoming a medical tourism destination is evident in South Korea, which welcomed more than 2 million foreign patients last year, its third consecutive record-breaking year. Those tourists and their companions spent more than $8 billion and generated more than $15 billion in domestic production, according to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.

Visitors from the United States, the largest cohort after those from China, Japan and Taiwan, increased by 70.4% to 173,363 patients year on year, the nation’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

As medical technology in the region improves, and western healthcare costs climb, other nations including China, Vietnam and the Philippines are competing to rebrand themselves as medical tourism hubs too. Executives at medical facilities in Asia said their success will likely hinge on marketing and government efforts to appeal to patients overseas.

Nations like China, Vietnam and the Philippines are trying to attract more medical tourists to boost local economies as wait times and costs elsewhere climb.

07/02/2026

Greetings from VAB RCM! May our republic prosper!

07/01/2026

First of major coverage losses expected as a result of the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill signed into law one year ago

Nearly 500,000 moderate-income New Yorkers will be dumped from their health insurance plans on 1 July – the first of major coverage losses expected as a result of HR 1, the Republican-led law signed almost exactly one year ago.

The law, sometimes called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” slashed government health spending by $911bn nationally in favor of permanent tax breaks for higher-income families and border security.

“It’s an all hands on deck situation,” said Maia Dillane, senior director of strategy and implementation at the Arab-American Family Support Center (AAFSC), based in New York City, where the bulk of this summer’s coverage losses are expected.

The AAFSC is one of 20 community-based organizations working with the Community Service Society of New York to find people new health coverage.

First of major coverage losses expected as a result of the ‘One Big Beautiful’ bill signed into law one year ago

06/24/2026

The two-week operation uncovered more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers, according to the Department of Justice. State authorities made nearly two dozen arrests.
More than two dozen people from Florida were among 455 individuals charged in a $6.5 billion health care fraud and insurance scheme during a two-week federal enforcement operation, authorities announced.

Florida cases included a cardiologist accused of billing insurers for medically unnecessary screening tests for college athletes; three Tampa-area healthcare workers in a $118 million Medicare fraud involving unnecessary wound care and skin grafts; and a Miami man who directed a $3.76 billion scheme that billed Medicare, Medicaid and other insurers for phantom medical supplies.

Healthcare fraud has been a long-running priority for the Department of Justice, and news conferences announcing roundups and crackdowns have been common across the years. The Trump administration has made a point of emphasizing enforcement, including through the appointment of a new assistant attorney general, Colin McDonald, to help oversee prosecutions built from multiple specialized task forces.

“Today’s cases allege more than the theft of taxpayer dollars. Many allege the theft of human dignity,” McDonald said at a news conference Tuesday announcing this year's crackdown, which covers cases charged or unsealed since June 8. “Our sick, needy and elderly placing their faith in the gift of medicine were neglected, ignored and used for personal profit.”

The two-week operation uncovered more than $6.5 billion in false claims submitted to insurers, according to the Department of Justice. State authorities made nearly two dozen arrests.

06/14/2026

AI in medical billing / revenue cycle management

The most important June story so far is that AI-enabled documentation and coding may be raising medical bills rather than lowering costs. PwC’s June 2026 medical-cost outlook, reported by Axios and Healthcare Dive, says medical costs are projected to rise 9% in the employer market and 8.5% in the individual market next year, with AI documentation and coding tools among the inflators.

The mechanism is simple: AI scribes and coding systems capture more diagnoses, comorbidities, and complexity, allowing providers to bill at higher levels even when the underlying care may not have changed.

For all of the ways AI could meaningfully improve patients' lives, making care more affordable isn't one of them.

05/17/2026

The clock is ticking on Q-Day, the looming yet unknown date when quantum computing will have the capacity to quickly and easily break the encryption keys that keep most internet communication safe.

Experts have known about the hypothetical risk of Q-Day since the 1990s. But Google recently warned that quantum computers may be able to hack some encrypted systems by 2029 — a timeline that drastically narrows the window to safeguard data that many cybersecurity specialists had previously predicted. The new estimate means that governments, companies and other entities may have far less time to prepare.

The day when a quantum computer can crack commonly used forms of encryption is drawing closer. The world isn’t prepared, experts say.

05/15/2026

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is the largest health insurer in America, covering more than 29 million people, according to the American Medical Association (1). Unfortunately, as CNBC reported last year, it has also become the "face of America's health insurance frustrations" (2).

The fatal shooting of the company's CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024 brought to the forefront the intense frustrations people have with UHC. In fact, his death prompted calls for reforms and criticisms of the insurance industry's focus on profits over people.

UnitedHealthcare is taking a big step to make healthcare access easier.

05/13/2026

Billing frustration is concentrated among younger patients.

63% of patients aged 25–34 hit at least one billing problem, vs. just 14% of those 65 and older. 30% of patients aged 25–34 found billing confusing or worse — nearly four times the rate of those 65 and older.

Healthcare