Medicare News and Research

RSS

Universal American reports net loss of $101.8 million for fourth quarter 2013

Universal American Corp. today announced financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2013.

5 Mar 2014

Obama's budget eyes provider cuts to save money

The president's proposal would save $402 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years, mostly from lower reimbursements to health care providers and drugmakers.

5 Mar 2014

First Edition: March 5, 2014

Today's headlines include reports about President Barack Obama's 2015 budget as well as the latest state-level Medicaid expansion developments.

5 Mar 2014

Oregon's troubled health exchange, Oracle begin 'transition' agreement; Maryland's marketplace wrestled with what to do next

Updates on state-based exchanges in Minnesota and Washington as well as news from Wyoming regarding the Medicaid expansion.

5 Mar 2014

Cell-cycle arrest biomarkers validated for acute kidney injury

Saeed A. Jortani, Ph.D., associate clinical professor in the University of Louisville's Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, headed up one of three labs in the United States involved in determining two new markers for acute kidney injury (AKI). The research group's paper, "Validation of Cell-Cycle Arrest Biomarkers for Acute Kidney Injury Using Clinical Adjudication," was posted online Feb. 25 by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

5 Mar 2014

Drug firms trimming speaking fees to doctors

ProPublica examines a shift in the money that pharmaceutical companies gave physicans for promotional speeches.

5 Mar 2014

Viewpoints: Ryan's attack on Medicaid; time to fix Medicare's doc pay

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., obviously is a great adherent of the adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." On Monday his committee released another attack on Medicaid, one of the linchpins of the Affordable Care Act and one that for some reason is especially detested by conservatives, like the majority members of Ryan's committee (Michael Hiltzik, 3/3).

5 Mar 2014

President's budget expected to outline health law spending

President Barack Obama's proposed budget will lay out steps to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining Medicare and is expected to lay out how much has been spent to carry out the health law so far.

5 Mar 2014

Medicare drug program falls short in tracking fraud

Medicare's massive drug program continues to be in the news, from a report finding that it fails to adequately track fraud, to continued opposition to an administration proposal that would revamp the program.

5 Mar 2014

Is another health law delay on the horizon?

The Hill reports that the Obama administration is preparing to announce as early as this week a directive that would allow insurers to continue offering plans that do not meet the overhaul's minimum coverage requirements.

5 Mar 2014

Gentiva Health Services' total net revenues increase 14% to $486.1 million in Q4 2013

Gentiva Health Services, Inc., one of the largest providers of home health, hospice and community care services in the United States, today reported fourth quarter and full-year 2013 results.

4 Mar 2014

First Edition: March 4, 2014

Today's headlines include highlights and themes from President Barack Obama's 2015 budget to be released today.

4 Mar 2014

Highlights: Fla. restaurant's health law surcharge; Fla. faces ER Medicaid fines; early-elective deliveries drop

A selection of health policy stories from Florida, California, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

4 Mar 2014

Viewpoints: Frightening seniors; regulating e-cigarettes; waiting for black lung drugs

The Obama administration's proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage plans - the private insurance plans that cover almost 30 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries - are fair and reasonable. As it happens, they are also mandated by law. Yet Republicans, sensing a campaign issue, are telling older and disabled Americans that the administration is "raiding Medicare Advantage to pay for Obamacare." The health insurance industry, for its part, is warning that enrollees will suffer higher premiums, lower benefits and fewer choices among doctors if the cuts go into force (3/1).

4 Mar 2014

Study finds significant reduction in hospital admissions with Medicare Part D prescription coverage

A new study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago finds that Medicare Part D prescription coverage significantly reduced hospital admissions and program expenditures totaling $1.5 billion annually.

4 Mar 2014

Majority of Medicare home health beneficiaries are old, poor and more likely to be women

New analyses completed by Avalere Health and Dobson DaVanzo & Associates released today by the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare find that the majority of Medicare home health beneficiaries and caregivers, both skilled and informal, are women and that Medicare home health beneficiaries are among the most vulnerable of all Medicare beneficiaries.

4 Mar 2014

March marks the final month of the health law's open enrollment period -- and the rush is on!

News outlets report that the White House -- facing high political stakes -- is attempting to increase the enrollment numbers with a targeted push aimed at African Americans, Latinos, young people and residents of cities with the highest uninsured rates.

4 Mar 2014

Plan to revamp Medicare drug plans meets resistance

A bipartisan group of senators are criticizing the Obama administration's efforts to make significant changes to Part D drug plans.

4 Mar 2014

Administration offers fix for consumers tangled up in health exchange flaws

Late last week, the Obama administration announced that some people who, because of technical issues, sought health coverage through the private market -- not the health law's online insurance marketplaces -- would still be able to get tax subsidies.

4 Mar 2014

Prospects for bipartisan budget deal seen as dim

As President Barack Obama prepares to release his budget proposal Tuesday, he is expected to reverse course on efforts to curb spending on Social Security. House Republicans, meanwhile, plan to release a proposal that would make sweeping changes to antipoverty programs, including Medicaid.

4 Mar 2014

Medicare News and Research

Universal American reports net loss of $101.8 million for fourth quarter 2013

Obama's budget eyes provider cuts to save money

First Edition: March 5, 2014

Oregon's troubled health exchange, Oracle begin 'transition' agreement; Maryland's marketplace wrestled with what to do next

Cell-cycle arrest biomarkers validated for acute kidney injury

Drug firms trimming speaking fees to doctors

Viewpoints: Ryan's attack on Medicaid; time to fix Medicare's doc pay

President's budget expected to outline health law spending

Medicare drug program falls short in tracking fraud

Is another health law delay on the horizon?

Gentiva Health Services' total net revenues increase 14% to $486.1 million in Q4 2013

First Edition: March 4, 2014

Highlights: Fla. restaurant's health law surcharge; Fla. faces ER Medicaid fines; early-elective deliveries drop

Viewpoints: Frightening seniors; regulating e-cigarettes; waiting for black lung drugs

Study finds significant reduction in hospital admissions with Medicare Part D prescription coverage

Majority of Medicare home health beneficiaries are old, poor and more likely to be women

March marks the final month of the health law's open enrollment period -- and the rush is on!

Plan to revamp Medicare drug plans meets resistance

Administration offers fix for consumers tangled up in health exchange flaws

Prospects for bipartisan budget deal seen as dim

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

Latest News