DAILY UPDATE: Sidelines Awash with Cash in Up Markets

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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There’s almost $6 trillion of cash sitting on the sidelines in money-market funds, with the potential for some portion of it to be reallocated into “carefully selected risk assets.”

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

This is according to Ali Dibadj, chief executive of London-based Janus Henderson Investors, which had $308.3 billion in assets under management as of September. About $187.9 billion, or 61%, of that was in equity strategies.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index was up 26.83 points (0.6%) at 4,594.63, up 0.8% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) was up 294.61 points (0.8%) at 36,245.50, up 2.4% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite was up 78.81 points (0.6%) at 14,305.03, up 0.4% for the week.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield was down about 14 basis points at 4.213%.
  • The CBOE® Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.27 at 12.65.

Friday’s gains followed the market’s strongest month of the year, as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ surged 8.9% and 10.7% in November, respectively, their best monthly performances since July 2022. Among sectors, the KBW Regional Bank Index (KRX) jumped 5.3% Friday, and retail shares were also among the top gainers.

Shares of smaller companies extended a recent rally as the small-cap-focused Russell 2000® Index (RUT) gained 3.1% for the week and ended at a 2-1/2-month high.

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MPFS Final Rule Cuts Physician Payments

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

By Health Capital Consultants

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DEFINITION: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) uses the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to reimburse physician services. The MPFS is funded by Part B and is composed of resource costs associated with physician work, practice expense and professional liability insurance.

Under the MPFS, each of these three elements is assigned a Relative Value Unit (RVU) for each Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) code. These RVUs are then adjusted based on the Geographical Practice Cost Index associated with various geographic areas for different medical costs and wage differentials. The conversion factor is the national dollar amount that is multiplied by the total geographically adjusted RVU to determine the Medicare-allowed payment amount for a particular physician service.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

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MPFS Final Rule Cuts Physician Payments

On November 2nd, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its finalized Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for calendar year (CY) 2024. While the finalized fee schedule cuts payments to physicians, there are a number of other (more positive) provisions in the final rule.

This Health Capital Topics article explores the various changes and updates included in the MPFS final rule. (Read more…)

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