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Analyses: Tracking the development path for Healthcare.gov; analyzing the evolution of the insurance system

The Wall Street Journal reports that a "lack of direction" may have been in play as the federal health exchange was being developed while CBS News offers a long look at how the health insurance system became what it is today.

29 Oct 2013

State highlights: Vt. readies universal health care launch; Fla. adds four contractors to Medicaid managed care

As states open insurance marketplaces amid uncertainty about whether they're a solution for health care, Vermont is eyeing a bigger goal, one that more fully embraces a government-funded model. The state has a planned 2017 launch of the nation's first universal health care system, a sort of modified Medicare-for-all that has long been a dream for many liberals (Gram, 10/26).

29 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Sen. Sanders says don't cut entitlements before making corporations pay taxes; Rep. Smith argues that if entitlements are tamed, other priorities will suffer

Instead of talking about cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, we must end the absurdity of corporations not paying a nickel in federal income taxes. A 2008 report from the Government Accountability Office found that was the case with 1 in 4 large U.S. corporations. At a time when multinational corporations and the wealthy are avoiding an estimated $100 billion a year in taxes by stashing money in tax havens like the Cayman Islands, we need to make them pay taxes just as middle-class Americans do (Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., 10/28).

29 Oct 2013

UnitedHealthcare cuts doctors from Medicare Advantage plans

UnitedHealthcare is dropping 10 to 15 percent of its doctors from Medicare Advantage plans around the nation, a move that will force some seniors to find new doctors or change plans.

29 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 28, 2013

Today's headlines include coverage of the health law's federal online insurance marketplace -- healthcare.gov -- and its continuing challenges, troubles and the plans to get it fixed.

28 Oct 2013

New York's Liberty Health Advantage wins 2014 Senior Choice Gold Award

New York's Liberty Health Advantage is the sole New York City metro area recipient of the 2014 Senior Choice Gold Award for its Preferred Choice Medicare Advantage plan.

28 Oct 2013

GOP officials press for health law delay, Sebelius to resign; Democrats urge patience

The troubles with the health website took center stage on the Sunday news shows and in the Saturday weekly addresses from the president and the Republicans.

28 Oct 2013

Biodesix presents additional VeriStrat Phase III trial data at World Conference on Lung Cancer

Biodesix, Inc., a fully integrated molecular diagnostic company dedicated to personalizing medicine, today announced additional data from the Phase III clinical trial for its serum protein test, VeriStrat. Results were presented at the 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer in Sydney, Australia.

28 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 25, 2013

Today's headlines include reports and analyses of yesterday's Capitol Hill hearing, which featured website contractors talking about the troubled rollout of healthcare.gov.

25 Oct 2013

Men treated by self-referring urologists more likely to undergo unnecessary IMRT

A comprehensive review of Medicare claims for more than 45,000 patients from 2005 through 2010 found that nearly all of the 146 percent increase in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer among urologists with an ownership interest in the treatment was due to self-referral, according to new research, "Urologists' Use of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer," released today in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) for its October 24, 2013 issue.

25 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: Republicans new-found interest in the workings of the health website; fixing the problem crucial to Obama's presidency

Republicans are apoplectic about Healthcare.gov, the official Web site for the Affordable Care Act. They are trying desperately to change the subject from their disastrous government shutdown by ranting about the failures of a government Web site that cost a tiny fraction of what was lost as a result of the shutdown. Republicans are pretending that they care about the problems encountered in signing up for a system that many of them are bent on destroying (Charles M. Blow, 10/23).

25 Oct 2013

Use of IMRT for prostate cancer doubles when self-referral's financial incentives involved

A comprehensive review of Medicare claims for more than 45,000 patients from 2005 through 2010 found that nearly all of the 146 percent increase in intensity-modulated radiation therapy for prostate cancer among urologists with an ownership interest in the treatment was due to self-referral, according to new research, "Urologists' Use of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer," released today in The New England Journal of Medicine for its October 24, 2013 issue.

25 Oct 2013

OPTIMISTIC study aims to reduce avoidable hospitalizations, increase access to palliative care

The OPTIMISTIC study, an innovative initiative developed by research-clinicians from Indiana University and the Regenstrief Institute to improve health care, reduce avoidable hospitalizations and increase access to palliative care, is now underway in 19 nursing facilities throughout Central Indiana.

25 Oct 2013

CVS Caremark receives PBM and DTM accreditation from URAC

CVS Caremark announced today that it has been awarded Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) and Drug Therapy Management accreditation from URAC, a Washington, DC-based health care accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the health care industry.

24 Oct 2013

Sen. Rubio readies bill to delay insurance mandate penalty

Sen. Marco Rubio is proposing a bill that would delay imposing penalties on people who don't have health insurance until six months after the Government Accountability Office has certified the federal website is functional. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, is calling on President Obama to extended open enrollment beyond March 31, 2014 and to waive penalties for those who are unable to sign up because of technical problems.

24 Oct 2013

Defending health exchange's rollout puts Sebelius in the hot seat

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is being called to Capitol Hill by Republican lawmakers who want her to explain what went wrong with the Oct. 1 unveiling of healthcare.gov. She is also facing calls for her resignation. Still, according to Politico, her job is safe.

24 Oct 2013

First Edition: October 23, 2013

Today's headlines include continuing coverage about the problems with the healthcare.gov website, how Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is in the hot seat and how the White House has called in reinforcements -- a glitch czar.

23 Oct 2013

Complete Care program improves outcomes for Kaiser Permanente patients

Complete Care, a collaborative approach to meeting patient needs, is improving outcomes for Kaiser Permanente patients.

23 Oct 2013

Viewpoints: 'Unforced error' on marketplace website raises questions about administration's handling of health issues; Obama's 'desperate sales pitch;' GOP's faux concerns for exchanges

Anyone who supports the plan to cover Americans who couldn't get health insurance has to hope the administration quickly gets it right. But you can't help but wonder: Where was all this frantic effort in the three-and-a-half years from the time Obama signed the health law to the day the exchanges opened on Oct. 1?

From Quest Diagnostics 23 Oct 2013

Fact checking demint on Medicare/Obamacare comparison and president on premium cost

In making the case that the cost of the health-care law was sure to grow, [Jim DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation] cited some figures about Medicare that struck us as a bit fishy. ... There's no question that any new social program often has unintended costs. ... DeMint's figures are ridiculously overstated. He preferred to use trumped-up stats rather than refer to the concrete examples (Kessler, 10/22).

23 Oct 2013

Medicare News and Research

Analyses: Tracking the development path for Healthcare.gov; analyzing the evolution of the insurance system

State highlights: Vt. readies universal health care launch; Fla. adds four contractors to Medicaid managed care

Viewpoints: Sen. Sanders says don't cut entitlements before making corporations pay taxes; Rep. Smith argues that if entitlements are tamed, other priorities will suffer

UnitedHealthcare cuts doctors from Medicare Advantage plans

First Edition: October 28, 2013

New York's Liberty Health Advantage wins 2014 Senior Choice Gold Award

GOP officials press for health law delay, Sebelius to resign; Democrats urge patience

Biodesix presents additional VeriStrat Phase III trial data at World Conference on Lung Cancer

First Edition: October 25, 2013

Men treated by self-referring urologists more likely to undergo unnecessary IMRT

Viewpoints: Republicans new-found interest in the workings of the health website; fixing the problem crucial to Obama's presidency

Use of IMRT for prostate cancer doubles when self-referral's financial incentives involved

OPTIMISTIC study aims to reduce avoidable hospitalizations, increase access to palliative care

CVS Caremark receives PBM and DTM accreditation from URAC

Sen. Rubio readies bill to delay insurance mandate penalty

Defending health exchange's rollout puts Sebelius in the hot seat

First Edition: October 23, 2013

Complete Care program improves outcomes for Kaiser Permanente patients

Viewpoints: 'Unforced error' on marketplace website raises questions about administration's handling of health issues; Obama's 'desperate sales pitch;' GOP's faux concerns for exchanges

Fact checking demint on Medicare/Obamacare comparison and president on premium cost

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