Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act. The bill is a Republican led measure to avert deep cuts in defense spending that are scheduled to go into effect in January of 2013, as well as make additional spending cuts to reduce the deficit.

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced the first round of organizations to receive funding through the Health Care Innovation Awards.

Yesterday, April 24, 2012, CMS issued the much anticipated annual proposed payment changes for inpatient stays in acute care and long-term care hospitals (LTCH) for fiscal year (FY) 2013. The rule projects that total Medicare spending on inpatient hospital services will increase by approximately $175 million and LTCH’s will increase by $100 million in FY2013.

On April 10, 2012, Janssen Healthcare Innovation, a team within Janssen Research & Development, LLC., (Janssen), announced the three finalists of the crowdsourcing-inspired Janssen Connected Care Challenge. The three finalists are being awarded $50,000 each to further develop their technology-enabled, scalable solutions to improve care for patients as they are discharged from the hospital. The challenge finalists each receive the prize money and mentorship while retaining independence and ownership of their business concept.