Medicare News and Research

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Patient, technology groups push to expand digital care

Various groups see telemedicine as a potential boon for people with complex chronic diseases who have difficulty getting to the doctor. But there are hurdles from Medicare payment rules to state licensing restrictions.

14 May 2014

Insurers' state filings offer signals about the 2015 marketplace

The Wall Street Journal, using Molina Healthcare Inc. as an example because the company is proposing to lower customers' rates, notes that insurers that were conservative in their 2014 pricing may feel pressure in the year ahead.

14 May 2014

Mayo Clinic researchers find innovative approaches to reduce early hospital readmissions

A Mayo Clinic review of 47 studies found that 30-day readmissions can be reduced by almost 20 percent when specific efforts are taken to prevent them. Key among these are interventions to help patients deal with the work passed on to them at discharge.

14 May 2014

Medicare roundup: Alabama pain clinic spending 'hotspot'; quality improvement program scrutinized

Also, the controversy about paying for a hepatitis-C cure and reinstating physicians who lost their licenses.

13 May 2014

Treating older men with early-stage prostate cancer does not help live longer

Treating older men with early-stage prostate cancer who also have other serious underlying health problems with aggressive therapies such as surgery or radiation therapy does not help them live longer and, in fact, can be detrimental, according to a study by UCLA researchers.

13 May 2014

Health law adds to financial squeeze for rural hospitals

The Wall Street Journal reports on how a number of policies and market forces are combining to put added pressure on rural hospitals. Meanwhile, other news outlets report on the challenge of making the health system affordable and the health law's new options for pregnant women.

13 May 2014

Hospital patients now see improved quality of nutrition health care by CMS’ new rule

Hospital patients may now see improved quality and timeliness of nutrition health care and hospitals will save hundreds of millions of dollars annually because of a new rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

12 May 2014

First Edition: May 12, 2014

Today's headlines include news about the inner-workings of some state-based health exchanges. Reporting for Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with NPR, Richard Knox writes: "Previous drug treatments didn't clear the virus from Bianco's system. But it's almost certain that potent new drugs for hep-C could cure him.

12 May 2014

Research roundup: Unearthing factors in hospital readmissions; dissecting the enrollment surge

Using inpatient data from an urban teaching hospital, we examined how elements of individual characteristics and neighborhood socioeconomic status influenced the likelihood of readmission ... Patients living in high-poverty neighborhoods were 24 percent more likely than others to be readmitted, after demographic characteristics and clinical conditions were adjusted for. Married patients were at significantly reduced risk of readmission, which suggests that they had more social support than unmarried patients. These and previous findings that document socioeconomic disparities in readmission raise the question of whether CMS's readmission measures and associated financial penalties should be adjusted for the effects of factors beyond hospital influence at the individual or neighborhood level, such as poverty and lack of social support (Hu, Gonsahn and Nerenz, May 2014).

12 May 2014

Virtual doctors visits await regulation, grow in popularity

And recommendations on digital privacy protections for electronic health records could come as early as June.

12 May 2014

First Edition: May 9, 2014

Today's headlines include highlights from the first Senate confirmation hearing for Sylvia Mathews Burwell, President Barack Obama's pick for Health and Human Services Secretary.

9 May 2014

HMS Holdings revenue decreases 10.2% in Q1 2014

HMS Holdings Corp. today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

9 May 2014

N.C. Senate GOP nominee calls for Obamacare repeal

In Massachusetts, former CMS chief Dr. Don Berwick's campaign for governor calls for single-payer care, and Democratic candidates in Maryland's race for governor clash over the insurance exchange.

9 May 2014

Veracyte's revenue increases 71% to $7.5 million in Q1 2014

Veracyte, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, and provided an update on recent business progress. For the first quarter of 2014, revenue was $7.5 million, an increase of 71%, compared to $4.4 million for the first quarter of 2013.

9 May 2014

Medicare advantage enrollment grows despite health law cuts

Don't look now, but the private sector is quietly strengthening its grip on the Medicare program, at least if enrollment in the Medicare Advantage plans is a good proxy.

9 May 2014

Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine names COPAXONE therapy as 2014 "Brand of The Year"

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., today announced that COPAXONE (glatiramer acetate injection), the #1 global therapy for relapsing multiple sclerosis, has been named the 2014 "Brand of The Year" by Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine, a leading print and online publication for the biopharmaceutical industry.

9 May 2014