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Researchers conduct screening trial to weigh benefits, risks of routine screening for dementia

Researchers from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research and the Regenstrief Institute are conducting the nation's first randomized controlled dementia screening trial to weigh the benefits and risks of routine screening for dementia.

5 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: Rove offers strategy to fight Democrats' 'Mediscare' tactics; GOP offers no 'pragmatic alternative' to health law

The midterm election is still 19 months away, but for some it's never too early for demagoguery. And so this week the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a new "Mediscare" ad.

5 Apr 2013

The stock market, Medicare Advantage rates and 'political intelligence'

Alerted by a private message about a potential coming change in government health-care policy, certain investors earlier this week sparked a frenzy of trading in some of the industry's largest companies.

5 Apr 2013

Dementia care costs top other diseases in US, study finds

The costs of caring for people with dementia in the U.S. are comparable to - if not greater than - those for heart disease and cancer, according to new estimates by researchers at the University of Michigan Health System and nonprofit RAND Corporation.

5 Apr 2013

Proposal to eliminate SGR payment formula is revised

The House panels' proposal to replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula is seen as a way to change how Medicare delivers care. Meanwhile, some House GOP lawmakers who have complained about the health law's costs said Wednesday that it should have allocated more money to a program to cover people with pre-existing health conditions.

5 Apr 2013

Medicare misperceptions create tougher task for lawmakers

The New York Times reports that public misunderstandings about the specifics of entitlement benefits make trimming Medicare spending more difficult. Meanwhile, Politico reports on an idea that might bridge the partisan divide that plagues these efforts.

5 Apr 2013

Dementia's price tag can exceed $50,000 a year, study finds

The study, published in the April 3 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, found this medical condition costs the nation as much as $215 billion a year.

5 Apr 2013

Walgreens' Take Care Clinics expand access to health care services

Access to health care services is an ongoing challenge to the U.S. health care system. With a physician shortage, aging population, a growing prevalence of chronic diseases and up to 30 million people projected to gain insurance coverage in 2014 through the Affordable Care Act, the issue will become even more critical - and may further impact both patients and the health care system at large.

4 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 4, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: "It's not just sore throats and flu shots anymore. Walgreens today became the first retail store chain to expand its health care services to include diagnosing and treating patients for chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and high cholesterol. The move is the retail industry's boldest push yet into an area long controlled by physicians, and comes amid continuing concerns about health care costs and a potential shortage of primary care doctors" (Appleby, 4/4).

4 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: Obama's brain initiative is 'modest but welcome start;' Disability insurance facing 'immediate crisis'

President Obama officially announced his new brain research initiative on Tuesday, with a pledge to put $100 million in his 2014 budget to support work at three federal agencies.

4 Apr 2013

Confirmation hearing for CMS nominee set for next week

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a session on whether to approve Marilyn Tavenner to head the agency that controls Medicare and Medicaid.

4 Apr 2013

Rate boost to Medicare Advantage plans powers insurers' stock surge

Health insurers led gains on Wall Street Tuesday after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reversed plans to make payment cuts to Medicare Advantage plans and instead offered a 3.3 percent increase.

4 Apr 2013

Death rates on the rise at some rural hospitals

A new study finds that these critical access hospitals, which are exempt from reporting certain quality and outcomes data to the federal government, are not matching the gains made by other facilities regarding mortality rates after treatment for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia.

4 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 3, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how the latest round of payment rates for private Medicare plans led to stock market gains for insurers.

3 Apr 2013

Study finds high mortality rates in rural hospitals

In an analysis that included data on more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries admitted to acute care hospitals with a heart attack, congestive heart failure, or pneumonia between 2002 and 2010, 30-day mortality rates for those admitted to critical access hospitals (designated hospitals that provide inpatient care to individuals living in rural communities) increased during this time period compared with patients admitted to other acute care hospitals, according to a study in the April 3 issue of JAMA.

3 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: Actuaries report validates critics' skepticism of law; Campaign to repeal medical devices tax is paying off

The non-partisan Society of Actuaries last week said that because of Obamacare, insurers could pay an average of 32% more for medical claims. Those costs will be passed onto those who buy insurance on the individual market in the form of dramatically higher premiums.

3 Apr 2013

Roundup: Feds cut N.Y. Medicaid payments $1.2B; 93,000 fewer kids enroll in CHIP in Pa.; W. Va. lawmakers promise miners benefits

Federal authorities have dramatically lowered the amount that New York state can claim from the federal government for certain medical services, costing the state an estimated $1.2 billion.

3 Apr 2013