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Patient Access Solutions announces 67% reduction in company's total liability

Patient Access Solutions, Inc., A provider of healthcare/financial processing technologies for the healthcare and home care industry today announced that the company has reduced its outstanding liabilities by $1,768,189.00.

16 Jun 2011

Increase in admissions and hospital visits due to falls

According to the latest figures, women over the age of 80 are at the highest risk of falling and need home care. Figures released from the NHS Information Centre ahead of Falls Awareness Week revealed that women over the age of 80 accounted for 30.9 per cent of all fall-related admissions.

16 Jun 2011

Roundup: States controlled by GOP pass sweeping changes; state budgets still very lean from recession; La. Gov. wrestling with legislature over spending

Republicans controlled all the levers of government in a staggering number of states this year — and it showed. Holding a lock on the governorship and both houses of the legislature in 20 states, GOP conservatives advanced an agenda that may change the face of state government for decades. They honored pledges not to raise taxes by enacting huge spending cuts to balance budgets in Florida and Texas.

14 Jun 2011

HHS offers Medicaid guidance for same-sex couples

Late last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clarified that same-sex couples are entitled to the same protections that exist for heterosexual couples when one member enters a nursing home.

13 Jun 2011

New bariatric bed

Twenty-percent of the adult U.S. population is obese, including approximately five percent that are considered morbidly obese. The direct health issues, related complications and safety challenges affecting this population are far reaching and well documented. VitalGo, Inc., a provider of advanced technology-based solutions for medical staff safety, patient safety and home care, has announced the immediate availability of the new bariatric version of its Total Lift Bed™ (TLB) which addresses a wide variety of care, treatment and safety issues for patients weighing up to 1,000 lbs.

9 Jun 2011

State roundup: N.J. plan would cut Medicaid by $500 million

States and territories are eligible for up to $40 million to strengthen and coordinate efforts to prevent chronic disease, the Health and Human Services Department announced Tuesday. The initiative is funded by the healthcare reform law and targets the nation's five leading chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and arthritis.

9 Jun 2011

The Ensign Group to acquire nine skilled nursing, assisted living facilities from Careage

The Ensign Group, Inc. announced today that Ensign operating subsidiaries have agreed to acquire nine skilled nursing and assisted living facilities from Sioux City, Iowa-based Careage Management, LLC. The acquisition is expected to become effective in July, 2011.

6 Jun 2011

State roundup: Budget battles continue in statehouses

Massachusetts labor leaders have given up their full-throated battle to protect certain collective bargaining rights amid an increasing likelihood that the Legislature will empower local governments to raise the health insurance costs of teachers, firefighters, and other municipal employees.

27 May 2011

Miami Herald explores pilot program for medical homes

House calls, once thought to be too time-consuming and not very cost-effective, are making a comeback as health care providers recognize that they're actually the answer to good care for patients who can't make it to a doctor's office. Medicare-paid house calls have been steadily increasing, according to government figures, and doctors report the same for non-Medicare patients, according to the American Academy for Home Care Physicians.

26 May 2011

GOP leaders ask governors for ideas on Medicaid savings, improvements

A top House and Senate Republican wrote to the nation's governors Monday to ask for suggestions on how to find savings in and improve Medicaid. The letter from House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan and Senate Finance ranking member Orrin G. Hatch of Utah said the quality of medical care provided by Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, is not as good as that provided to Medicare or privately insured patients.

25 May 2011

MAXIMUS wins Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance contract in Wisconsin

MAXIMUS, a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced today that its Human Services North America Division has won a renewal of its Title IV-E Foster Care and Adoption Assistance contract with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

19 May 2011

Fits and starts continue for health law implementation

News outlets report on a variety of aspects of the health law ranging from the IPAB and ACOs to the two states to most recently gain waivers from the Department of Health and Human Services.

17 May 2011

First Edition: May 16, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Florida wants to be the first state in the nation to charge most of its Medicaid recipients a monthly premium as well as $100 for using the ER for routine care. But even supporters acknowledge that the new fees, passed recently by the state legislature as part of a sweeping Medicaid measure, face long odds getting federal approval".

16 May 2011

New poll: Ontarians support more public investment in home and community support services

A new poll shows Ontarians support more public investment in home and community support services with six in ten (59%) agreeing new funding is better designated to these preventative care services rather than facilities and full-time nursing care.

11 May 2011

Roundup: Calif.'s Central Valley facing health problems; Baltimore launches campaign to attack causes of preventable deaths

A health care crisis is sweeping the Central Valley, devastating middle-class and poor families and threatening to overwhelm the region's fragile safety net. The deep recession has pushed the ranks of the uninsured here to unprecedented levels. At the same time, a dire state budget deficit has forced lawmakers to drastically scale back or eliminate key health care programs for the state's poorest residents.

11 May 2011

CMS outlines two different ways to revise Medicare payment system for skilled nursing care

In conjunction with a hearing today before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in which Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified about the "Policies and Priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care underscored the importance of provider - Department collaboration in recalibrating the recently implemented Medicare payment system for skilled nursing facility care.

9 May 2011

THCA expresses deep concern about CMS' proposed Medicare regulations

In the context of the unfolding Texas budget debate, the Texas Health Care Association today expressed deep concern about a proposed regulation just issued by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that could result in Medicare-funded nursing home care reductions of approximately $4 billion in 2012.

30 Apr 2011

Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care acknowledges importance of fine-tuning Medicare payment system

Expressing alarm about a proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that could result in funding reductions as high as $4 billion to seniors' Medicare-funded skilled nursing care, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care today acknowledged the importance of fine-tuning the complex and evolving Medicare payment system in a manner that "gets it right" while also protecting seniors' care quality, preserving caregivers' jobs, and ensuring accountability to U.S. taxpayers.

30 Apr 2011

AARP warns against Medicaid block grants

In a five-page policy paper issued Wednesday, the seniors lobby detailed how the proposal to transform the state-federal health care program for the poor into a block grant would, among other things, have an especially negative impact on low-income elderly people and people who depend on long-term care services.

28 Apr 2011

Five Loyola employees donate kidneys to complete strangers

Loyola University Medical Center is believed to be the first organization in the country, and perhaps the world, in which five employees have each donated kidneys to complete strangers with no strings attached.

28 Apr 2011