Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services

A Department of Health and Human Services proposal and an increase in funding could reduce the backlog in appeals of denied Medicare claims by 2021, six years sooner than without the changes.

The agency plans to reduce the incentive for doctors to use the most expensive drugs and link prices to patient outcomes, perhaps paying less when patients have to be admitted to a hospital.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley says the federal government has to "get it right" and pursue full refunds for overpayments to companies that offer Medicare Advantage health insurance.

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a memo to insurers saying government audit policies could be relaxed, investors privy to the news pounced, sending shares upward.

The administration wants to tie more of Medicare's spending on health care to quality and to encourage doctors and hospitals to be more frugal in their spending.