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Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.

Public health emergency declaration for North Dakota in response to floods affecting the state

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has declared a public health emergency for North Dakota in response to floods affecting the state. The action ensures beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program receive benefits during this emergency time period.

20 Mar 2010

Arizona eliminates CHIP; Schwarzenegger seeks to reform California prison health care system

The New York Times: "Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its Children's Health Insurance Program when Gov. Jan Brewer signed an austere budget that will leave nearly 47,000 low-income children without coverage." The state's budget woes are a stark depiction of "how the fiscal crisis afflicting state governments is cutting deeply into health care.

20 Mar 2010

Defrauding Medicare: Hamilton, N.J. hospital to pay $6.35M for settling allegations

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, a New Jersey-based hospital, has agreed to pay $6.35 million to settle allegations that the hospital defrauded Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. Two lawsuits filed against the Hamilton, N.J., facility alleged that the hospital fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain larger reimbursements from the federal health care program.

20 Mar 2010

U.S to face potential outbreak of hyperinflation by 2015

The National Inflation Association - http://inflation.us - today issued a warning to all Americans of a potential outbreak of hyperinflation in the U.S. by year 2015 caused primarily by the healthcare bill and rising interest payments on our national debt.

20 Mar 2010

Hospital News: Insurer negotiations, exemptions at risk, and Florida money trouble

Hospitals are pushing for higher reimbursement rates - in some cases, raises of more than 20 percent - and insurers are increasingly fighting back, The Wall Street Journal reports. "Hospitals argue that low Medicare rates and cuts to Medicaid mean that hospitals have to get money from elsewhere, and increasingly that is private insurers.

20 Mar 2010

NMA supports health system reform

"The National Medical Association believes the passage of health care legislation this weekend will be one of the most important steps Congress can take in securing America's future," remarked Dr. Willarda V. Edwards, president of the National Medical Association. "The NMA is hopeful that Sunday's vote will bring relief to millions of Americans who wonder what will happen to them if they get sick," she continued.

20 Mar 2010

Details of Democratic tweaks to health bill

News reports scour the latest health overhaul bill for specific provisions and adjustments.

20 Mar 2010

CCAGW calls upon Congress to vote against healthcare bill

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste today called upon Congress to reject any attempts to alter the nation’s healthcare system using parliamentary gimmicks and urged members to vote against the bill.

20 Mar 2010

CBO numbers buoy Democrats eyeing Sunday health reform vote

Democrats unveiled a health overhaul reconciliation bill the Congressional Budget Office says will cost $940 billion but also cut the deficit by $138 billion over the next 10 years.

20 Mar 2010

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Private-Payer Profits Can Induce Negative Medicare Margins - "Hospitals' profit margins on privately insured patients have risen dramatically in recent years, while profit margins on Medicare patients have fallen," write the authors, who all work for MedPAC.

20 Mar 2010

Comprehensive community-based solution to help achieve 'meaningful use'

Navigating the Challenges of Meaningful Use to Identify Benefits, March 31, 2010, 2 p.m. CT, a Webinar hosted by Informatics Corporation of America, will explore how to practically implement a community-wide solution that assists its healthcare participants to achieve the proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s criteria for meaningful use and bridge gaps in the adoption of electronic health records by its provider community.

19 Mar 2010

Predominantly white, insured and sick patients frequently use ER

Frequent users of the emergency department are predominantly white, insured and at greater risk for hospitalization due to serious illness, despite public perceptions of them as abusers of the healthcare system with minor complaints and no health insurance. This is the consensus of a systematic review of two dozen published studies of so-called "frequent flyers" ("Frequent Users of Emergency Departments: The Myths, the Data, and the Policy Implications").

19 Mar 2010

Enrollment in internal medicine residency program remains stagnant

The number of U.S. medical students choosing internal medicine residencies inched higher from 2009 but not enough to significantly impact the shortage of primary care physicians.

19 Mar 2010

Congress should cast final votes to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law, ACP

The American College of Physicians, representing 129,000 internal medicine physician and medical student members, said today that Congress should cast the final votes needed to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law. Without reform, ACP said, tens of millions of Americans stand to lose access to affordable health care and out-of-control spending will trigger an unprecedented fiscal and budgetary crisis.

19 Mar 2010

CHC: Passage of President Obama's health care reform proposal would improve quality of life for Latinos

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus today called for passage of President Obama's health care reform proposal, saying that it would greatly improve the quality of life for millions of Latinos. The measure is expected to expand coverage to 8.8 million Latinos, or 60% of the currently uninsured Hispanic community.

19 Mar 2010

Pediatricians warn payment system may force them to stop accepting Medicaid patients

Doctors are increasingly turning away from accepting Medicaid patients as the payment system — and an increasing number of Medicaid patients — means they're losing money treating patients. In the Atlanta area, this is evidenced by the closing of two pediatric clinics.

19 Mar 2010

Report cites rise in uninsured middle-class Americans

A report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Barely Hanging On: Middle-Class and Uninsured, looks at the rise in the level of uninsured middle-class people in the last eight years.

19 Mar 2010

A right to health care? wrong!

Years of debating liberal friends and colleagues has brought me to an understanding: This question is at the core of the debate. The absurd notion of a “right” to health care underlies the movement towards socialized medicine. If this right does exist, it becomes a moral imperative to guarantee it for all, i.e. “universal coverage.”

18 Mar 2010

Health care fraud, prescription theft lead to significant losses

ABC News: "A four month 'Nightline' investigation into Medicare fraud makes one thing perfectly clear: this is a crime that pays and pays and pays. The federal government admits that a staggering $60 billion is stolen from tax payers through Medicare scams every year. Some experts believe the number is more than twice that.

18 Mar 2010

States weigh taxes to help fund Medicaid—and raise federal contributions

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Andy Miller looks at four states -- Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa and Tennessee -- that are weighing new taxes on hospitals to help finance their beleaguered Medicaid programs.

18 Mar 2010

Medicaid News and Research

Public health emergency declaration for North Dakota in response to floods affecting the state

Arizona eliminates CHIP; Schwarzenegger seeks to reform California prison health care system

Defrauding Medicare: Hamilton, N.J. hospital to pay $6.35M for settling allegations

U.S to face potential outbreak of hyperinflation by 2015

Hospital News: Insurer negotiations, exemptions at risk, and Florida money trouble

NMA supports health system reform

Details of Democratic tweaks to health bill

CCAGW calls upon Congress to vote against healthcare bill

CBO numbers buoy Democrats eyeing Sunday health reform vote

Research roundup: Insurance crisis tough on middle class; Hospitals' profit margins on private patients up

Comprehensive community-based solution to help achieve 'meaningful use'

Predominantly white, insured and sick patients frequently use ER

Enrollment in internal medicine residency program remains stagnant

Congress should cast final votes to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law, ACP

CHC: Passage of President Obama's health care reform proposal would improve quality of life for Latinos

Pediatricians warn payment system may force them to stop accepting Medicaid patients

Report cites rise in uninsured middle-class Americans

A right to health care? wrong!

Health care fraud, prescription theft lead to significant losses

States weigh taxes to help fund Medicaid—and raise federal contributions

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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