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Pharmacy-made pain creams flagged on fears of Medicare fraud and risk

Medicare pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year for prescription creams, gels and lotions made-to-order by pharmacies — mainly as pain treatments. But a new report finds that officials are concerned about possible fraud and patient safety risks from products made at nearly a quarter of the pharmacies that fill the bulk of those prescriptions.

9 Aug 2018

Once its greatest foes, doctors are embracing single-payer

When the American Medical Association — one of the nation's most powerful health care groups — met in Chicago this June, its medical student caucus seized an opportunity for change.

7 Aug 2018

Peer comparison letters lead to persistent decrease in antipsychotic prescribing

A study led by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health has found that letters targeting high prescribers of Seroquel, an antipsychotic with potentially harmful side effects in the elderly, significantly reduced the number of prescriptions for patients in Medicare.

2 Aug 2018

The University Of Chicago Medicine receives CoC accreditation for high quality cancer care

The University of Chicago Medicine has received another three-year accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, a voluntary program administered by the American College of Surgeons. CoC accreditation demonstrates a cancer program's commitment to providing high-quality, multidisciplinary, patient-centered cancer care.

1 Aug 2018

FSMB partners with NAM to form Action Collaborative on countering opioid epidemic

In recognition of the need for a national coordinated and collective response to the epidemic of opioid addiction in the U.S., the Federation of State Medical Boards is partnering with the National Academy of Medicine and 35 organizations to form the Action Collaborative on Countering the U.S. Opioid Epidemic.

1 Aug 2018

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Let’s talk politics

It seems increasingly likely that health care politics will play an important role in the midterm elections come November. But unlike every election since 2010, this year finds the Democrats playing offense and the Republicans back on their heels.

1 Aug 2018

Some doctors, patients balk at Medicare’s ‘flat fee’ payment proposal

The Trump administration announced a plan Friday that would affect about 40 percent of the payments physicians receive from Medicare. Not everybody’s pleased.

31 Jul 2018

Missed visits, uncontrolled pain and fraud: report says hospice lacks oversight

Elderly patients spent over two weeks in uncontrolled pain or respiratory distress. Acute care was rare on weekends. And recruiters went door to door pitching fraudulent schemes, luring healthy patients to sign up for hospice in exchange for free housecleaning and medicine.

31 Jul 2018

Mining a new data set to pinpoint critical staffing issues in skilled nursing facilities

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is not known for linguistic playfulness. Nonetheless, at least one person there must have been chuckling when it named its rich new data source for nursing home staffing levels the Payroll-Based Journal, or PBJ.

30 Jul 2018

Medicare reconsiders paying for seniors’ spine operations at surgery centers

Medicare is reviewing whether seniors should undergo spine surgeries at same-day surgery centers, the government-run health program announced Wednesday, five months after a USA Today Network-Kaiser Health News investigation revealed a spate of patient deaths following the procedures.

30 Jul 2018

1,400 nursing homes get lower Medicare ratings because of staffing concerns

Medicare has lowered its star ratings for staffing levels in 1 in 11 of the nation's nursing homes — almost 1,400 of them — because they either had inadequate numbers of registered nurses or failed to provide payroll data that proved they had the required nursing coverage, federal records released last week show.

30 Jul 2018

Penn Medicine receives federal government approval to develop imaging guidelines

The United States Congressional Budget Office estimates that 5 percent of the country's gross domestic product is spent on medical tests and procedures that do not improve patient outcomes.

27 Jul 2018

Surgeons call for shared decision making when patient's risks of surgery outweigh benefits

In an essay published July 26 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ira Leeds, M.D., research fellow, and David Efron, M.D., professor of surgery, both of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with their collaborator, Lisa Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, call for shared decision making when a patient's risks for surgical complications may outweigh the potential benefits of an operation.

27 Jul 2018

Community frets as buyer for cherished rural hospital slips from view

Confusion is growing in the remote Surprise Valley region of northeastern California as locals wonder whether a Denver entrepreneur will make good on his pledge to save their bankrupt rural hospital.

27 Jul 2018

No gaps in understanding: Here’s your primer on Medigap coverage

Every year, older adults can opt out of a Medicare Advantage plan and opt in to original Medicare during open enrollment season, which begins on Oct. 15.

26 Jul 2018

Déjà voodoo: Pharma’s promises to curb drug prices have been heard before

Prescription drug prices were soaring. Angry policymakers swore they'd take action. Pharma giant Merck responded by promising to address the problem voluntarily, vowing to keep price increases under the overall rate of inflation.

25 Jul 2018

Alzheimer’s disease greater in females, researchers speculate

This week, at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Chicago, a group of researchers presented reserch findings on the gender differences in Alzheimer’s causation. They speculated that women might be getting Alzheimer’s and dementia more commonly than men and the reason behind this has not been clearly understood. Estrogen or the female hormone could be the key, the researchers state.

23 Jul 2018

Children with disabilities endure long waits for life-changing medical equipment

Bev Baker-Ajene waited so long to get an adult-sized wheelchair for her teenage daughter, Savitri, that she eventually forgot she'd ordered it.

19 Jul 2018

Bundled-payment system did not lower costs for serious medical conditions, shows study

A payment system that provides financial incentives for hospitals that reduce health-care costs for Medicare patients did not lower costs as intended, according to a new study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

19 Jul 2018

Prolonged preoperative opioid use linked to adverse outcomes after total knee and hip arthroplasty

Patients who take prescription opioids for more than 60 days before total knee or hip replacement surgery are at significantly higher risk of being readmitted to the hospital and of undergoing repeat joint-replacement surgery, compared to patients with no preoperative opioid use, reports a study in the July 18 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.

19 Jul 2018

Medicare News and Research

Pharmacy-made pain creams flagged on fears of Medicare fraud and risk

Once its greatest foes, doctors are embracing single-payer

Peer comparison letters lead to persistent decrease in antipsychotic prescribing

The University Of Chicago Medicine receives CoC accreditation for high quality cancer care

FSMB partners with NAM to form Action Collaborative on countering opioid epidemic

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ Let’s talk politics

Some doctors, patients balk at Medicare’s ‘flat fee’ payment proposal

Missed visits, uncontrolled pain and fraud: report says hospice lacks oversight

Mining a new data set to pinpoint critical staffing issues in skilled nursing facilities

Medicare reconsiders paying for seniors’ spine operations at surgery centers

1,400 nursing homes get lower Medicare ratings because of staffing concerns

Penn Medicine receives federal government approval to develop imaging guidelines

Surgeons call for shared decision making when patient's risks of surgery outweigh benefits

Community frets as buyer for cherished rural hospital slips from view

No gaps in understanding: Here’s your primer on Medigap coverage

Déjà voodoo: Pharma’s promises to curb drug prices have been heard before

Alzheimer’s disease greater in females, researchers speculate

Children with disabilities endure long waits for life-changing medical equipment

Bundled-payment system did not lower costs for serious medical conditions, shows study

Prolonged preoperative opioid use linked to adverse outcomes after total knee and hip arthroplasty

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