Medicare News and Research

RSS

More than 1 million people signed up for health plans in January -- bringing the total tally to more than 3 million

According to Obama administration officials, the overall enrollment figure reflects people who enrolled in coverage through the federal or state exchanges from October through January.

14 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: Decoupling jobs and insurance; overblown fear: Medicaid willl take my house

Three blog posts and a column should probably suffice to cover the debate over Obamacare and work incentives, but I don't want to let the topic drop without first stepping back and talking about the actual health policy disagreement here.

14 Feb 2014

Senate sends president 'clean' debt limit bill

The Senate has approved and sent President Obama a "clean" debt limit bill, allowing the federal government to borrow money. The tactic by the GOP to pass the clean bill is criticized by non-Washington conservatives but allows most Republican lawmakers to vote against it.

14 Feb 2014

Healthways reports net loss of $5.3 million in Q4 2013

Ben R. Leedle, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Healthways, Inc., today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013. Total revenues for the quarter were $169.2 million compared with $175.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2012.

13 Feb 2014

GOP states struggling with Medicaid expansion issues

Meanwhile, McClatchy News reports that higher rates of mental illness and substance abuse among the newly enrolled will be a problem because there aren't enough therapists who accept Medicaid patients. Medicaid expansion developments in New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wyoming and Virginia are also covered.

13 Feb 2014

Optum Labs announces addition of seven new charter partners to improve quality of patient care

Optum Labs, the collaborative research and innovation center founded by Optum and Mayo Clinic, today announced the addition of seven new charter partners committed to improving the quality and value of patient care. The announcement follows the recent addition of AARP as Founding Consumer Advocate Organization of the collaborative.

13 Feb 2014

FDA grants full approval of SYNRIBO for injection

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval of SYNRIBO (omacetaxine mepesuccinate) for injection. This oncology portfolio product received an accelerated approval in October, 2012 with additional clinical trial data required to fulfill post marketing requirements set forth by the FDA.

13 Feb 2014

First Edition: February 13, 2014

Today's headlines include news coverage of yesterday's update from the Obama administration regarding the number of people who have enrolled in private health insurance through the health law's online marketplaces.

13 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: Obama's 'cavalier approach' to health law; CBO report's job forecast isn't bad news

The Obama administration on Monday announced that it was delaying, once again, enforcement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) "employer mandate." Yes, Republicans have done everything they can to impede implementation of this law.

13 Feb 2014

State highlights: More states gearing up to combine Medicare, Medicaid; vaccination exemptions still considered by many states; likely Texas democratic Gov. Candidate backs 20-week abortion ban

A selection of health policy stories from California, Texas, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Connecticut.

13 Feb 2014

Study disputes effectiveness of mortality as measure of quality of care provided to stroke patients

A new study disputes the effectiveness of mortality as a measure of the quality of care provided by hospitals to stroke patients. The paper - which was simultaneously presented today at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego and published in the journal Stroke - found that use of do-not-resuscitate orders differ widely between hospitals and that this variation can significantly skew a hospital's quality "ranking" based on mortality.

13 Feb 2014

Proposal to change Medicare's 'observation status' gains Congressional support

After years of trying, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., says he is optimistic that Congress will change the Medicare policy that has left thousands of patients without coverage for nursing home care after leaving the hospital.

13 Feb 2014

ChartMaxx achieves 2014 Edition Modular EHR ONC Health IT Certification

ChartMaxx, the enterprise content management (ECM) solution from Quest Diagnostics, has achieved 2014 Edition Modular EHR ONC Health IT Certification which supports both Stages 1 and 2 of the Meaningful Use (MU) program.

From Quest Diagnostics 12 Feb 2014

GOP wants to restore some military retiree pensions, tie it to debt-limit raise, extend Medicare cuts

Republicans are considering tying an increase in the debt ceiling to restoring pension cuts for military retirees and paying for it by extending automatic cuts to programs, including Medicare.

12 Feb 2014

Walgreens collaborates with NMAC to improve treatment outcomes for African Americans with HIV

In collaboration with the National Minority AIDS Council, Walgreens is furthering its commitment to improve HIV treatment outcomes for African Americans living with HIV by deepening pharmacists' training and expanding access to the pneumococcal vaccination specifically indicated for persons living with HIV as incidents of flu and pneumonia rise.

11 Feb 2014

MedAptus releases Risk Severity Toolkit to help provider groups manage disease burden of patients

MedAptus today announced that it has released a Risk Severity Toolkit to help provider groups measure and manage the disease burden of patients covered under risk-based contracts. The initial version focuses on the Medicare Advantage (MA) patient population where premiums paid to MA health plans are based on enrollees' severity history using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hierarchical Condition Categories (HCC) model.

11 Feb 2014

First Edition: February 11, 2014

Today's headlines include detailed coverage of the Obama administration's announcement that it will delay a health law requirement that mid-sized employers provide health insurance to workers while also allowing larger employers more flexibility.

11 Feb 2014

Triple-S announces consolidated revenues of $587.7 and net loss of $1.7 million for Q4 2013

Triple-S Management Corporation (NYSE: GTS), the leading managed care company in Puerto Rico, today announced consolidated revenues of $587.7 million and a consolidated net loss of $1.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2013.

11 Feb 2014

Viewpoints: The debate at AOL about a baby's medical costs; Gov. Jindal says economy's verdict on health law is not good

Late last week, Tim Armstrong, the chief executive officer of AOL, landed himself in a media firestorm when he held a town hall with employees to explain why he was paring their retirement benefits. After initially blaming Obamacare for driving up the company's health care costs, he pointed the finger at an unlikely target: babies. Specifically, my baby. ... ... She weighed 1 pound, 9 ounces. ... I take issue with how he reduced my daughter to a "distressed baby" who cost the company too much money. How he blamed the saving of her life for his decision to scale back employee benefits. How he exposed the most searing experience of our lives, one that my husband and I still struggle to discuss with anyone but each other, for no other purpose than an absurd justification for corporate cost-cutting (Deanna Fei, 2/9)

11 Feb 2014

Federal appeals court rules against Unitedhealthcare on Conn. Medicare advantage case

In the meantime, some consumers must re-enroll in traditional Medicare to keep seeing doctors UnitedHealthcare dropped in New Haven, Conn.

11 Feb 2014

Medicare News and Research

More than 1 million people signed up for health plans in January -- bringing the total tally to more than 3 million

Viewpoints: Decoupling jobs and insurance; overblown fear: Medicaid willl take my house

Senate sends president 'clean' debt limit bill

Healthways reports net loss of $5.3 million in Q4 2013

GOP states struggling with Medicaid expansion issues

Optum Labs announces addition of seven new charter partners to improve quality of patient care

FDA grants full approval of SYNRIBO for injection

First Edition: February 13, 2014

Viewpoints: Obama's 'cavalier approach' to health law; CBO report's job forecast isn't bad news

State highlights: More states gearing up to combine Medicare, Medicaid; vaccination exemptions still considered by many states; likely Texas democratic Gov. Candidate backs 20-week abortion ban

Study disputes effectiveness of mortality as measure of quality of care provided to stroke patients

Proposal to change Medicare's 'observation status' gains Congressional support

ChartMaxx achieves 2014 Edition Modular EHR ONC Health IT Certification

GOP wants to restore some military retiree pensions, tie it to debt-limit raise, extend Medicare cuts

Walgreens collaborates with NMAC to improve treatment outcomes for African Americans with HIV

MedAptus releases Risk Severity Toolkit to help provider groups manage disease burden of patients

First Edition: February 11, 2014

Triple-S announces consolidated revenues of $587.7 and net loss of $1.7 million for Q4 2013

Viewpoints: The debate at AOL about a baby's medical costs; Gov. Jindal says economy's verdict on health law is not good

Federal appeals court rules against Unitedhealthcare on Conn. Medicare advantage case

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

Latest News