This is the definitive work on Medicare’s prospective payment system (PPS), which had its origins in the 1972 Social Security Amendments, was first applied to hospitals in 1983, and came to fruition with the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Here, Rick Mayes and Robert A. Berenson, M.D., explain how Medicare’s innovative payment system triggered shifts in power away from the providers (hospitals and doctors) to the payers (government insurers and employers) and how providers have responded to e...

Collecting James Robinson's and Joe Jusko's sense shattering tale Blood Lust as Vampirella journeys to hell with Adam Van Helsing to uncover the truth of her existence. This tale re-wrote the book on Vampirella and her homeland of Drakulon. Also includes the Blood Lust epilogue originally not released with the original two issue series and an article which covers how Joe Jusko worked from the script and thumbnailed, drafted and then painted some sample pages. Also includes James Robinson's...

The name of Sherlock Holmes conjures images of gas-lit streets and dark mysteries from a bygone age. Solving crimes alongside his trusted friend Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes is without a doubt the most famous sleuth the world has ever known. For more than 100 years, he has been the subject of countless literary works, stage plays, films, television shows, and radio programs.Now, with full authorization from the Conan Doyle estate, we bring you 23 newly written adventures as presented on the ...

From the acclaimed Rick Moody, a darkly comic portrait of a man who comes to life in the most unexpected of ways: through his online reviews.Reginald Edward Morse is one of the top reviewers on RateYourLodging.com, where his many reviews reveal more than just details of hotels around the globe -- they tell his life story. The puzzle of Reginald's life comes together through reviews that comment upon his motivational speaking career, the dissolution of his marriage,...

This book provides a fresh look at the way the United States is choosing to deal with some of the serious or persistent youth offenders: by transferring juvenile offenders to adult courts.For more than 20 years now, the attitude in some jurisdictions has been "if you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time." After two decades of applying this increasingly punitive mindset to juvenile offenders, it is possible to see the actual consequences o...

A US destroyer is torpedoed by an Iranian submarine and Captain Murray Wilson of the USS Michigan is flown to the Pentagon to meet with the Secretary of the Navy (SecNav). There Wilson learns that the Iranian submarine is just a cover story. One of the United States' own fully automated unmanned underwater vehicles has gone rogue, its programing corrupted in some way. Murray is charged with hunting it down and taking it out before the virus that's infected its operating system can...

The "heir to Clancy's throne" (The Real Book Spy) returns with his most compelling, explosive technothriller.Despite decades of treaties, military missions, and covert actions devoted to preventing it, Iran has finally assembled its first nuclear bomb and the U.S., with UN backing, has decided it's time to take direct action. The first move is to blockade the Persian Gulf with a carrier strike group, but Iran strikes back quickly. With Russia's backing, Ir...

Get off the beaten path and explore the hidden-gem destinations within a few hours of the Mother Road! Includes numerous photos and illustrations.Known as the Main Street of America and the Mother Road, US Route 66 is the nation's best-known highway. This lavishly illustrated book steers you from Chicago to Los Angeles, traveling through the lowlands of the American Plains and the high plateaus of New Mexico and Arizona, from the Great Lakes to the mighty Pacific Oc...

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author weaves an ingenious, darkly humorous, and brilliantly observant story that follows the exploits and intrigue of a constellation of characters affiliated with an off-off-off-off Broadway children’s musical.Mister Monkey—a screwball children’s musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee—is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp’s lawyer, knows the production is ...

Amy Gallup is an aging novelist and writing instructor living in Escondido, California, with her dog, Alphonse. Since recent unsettling events, she has made some progress. While she still has writer’s block, she doesn’t suffer from it. She’s still a hermit, but she has allowed some of her class members into her life. She is no longer numb, angry, and sardonic: she is merely numb and bemused, which is as close to happy as she plans to get. Amy is calm.So, when on New Year’s morning ...

The legendary writer’s first collection in more than ten years, a literary event of the highest orderJoy Williams has been celebrated as a master of the short story for four decades, her renown passing from one generation to the next even in the shifting landscape of contemporary writing. And at long last the incredible scope of her singular achievement is put on display: thirty-three stories drawn from three much-lauded collections, and another thirteen appearing here for the firs...

From the author of the Oprah Book Club Pick Some Bright Nowhere, a “tour de force family drama” (Elle) that explores the secrets and desires, the remnant wounds and saving graces of one family, over the course of five decades.Bill Blair finds the land by accident, three wooded acres in a rustic community south of San Francisco. The year is 1954, long before anyone will call this area Silicon Valley. Struck by a vision of his future family, Bill bu...