NLRB nominees facing mixed reception in Senate: The fate of the nominees—three Democrats and two Republicans—is tied in part to a January decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled in Noel Canning v. NLRB that the recess appointments of two board members were unconstitutional. That decision is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If it is upheld, it is likely that all board decisions since the appointments were made (in January 2012) would be vacated for lack of a quorum. Also on May 16, 2013, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit fell in line with the D.C. Circuit, ruling that an NLRB recess appointment was invalid because it was made when the Senate was not in recess. The committee will vote on the nominees on May 29^th.  Source: Law.com 5/20/13

On May 8, 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (www.cms.gov) published the prices charged by over 3,000 hospitals for the 100 most common procedures.  The data provided include charges of specific hospitals that receive Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) payments paid under Medicare. Hospitals determine what they will charge for items and services provided to patients and these charges are the amount the hospital bills for an item or service.