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Obama budget will propose changes to Medicare in exchange for tax increases

Previews of President Barack Obama's budget proposal, which is expected to be released next week, indicate that he will signal a willingness to compromise with Republicans by including trims to Medicare. The blueprint, though, reportedly will not make major dents in Medicaid.

7 Apr 2013

NAIC offers states options to 'mitigate' the premium increases that are expected when the health law takes effect

State regulators are looking for ways to protect consumers against increases in health insurance rates that they expect to occur next year as major provisions of the new health care law take effect.

6 Apr 2013

Viewpoints: A doctor finds father's hospital care frightening; Politicization of science has hurt research funding

Three years ago, on a Friday afternoon, I received a frantic phone call from my mother. My active and healthy father was in the hospital with a suspected stroke. I immediately started driving to New Jersey, where they lived. I knew I had to be there to ensure that my dad would be safe. He had been taken to one of the most dangerous places in the world: a hospital. The story of my dad's three day stay in a major American teaching hospital is remarkably unremarkable (Ashish Jha, 4/5).

6 Apr 2013

Research roundup: Looking at CHIP to gauge effect of health law on doctors; Insurers' spending on quality improvements

In this study published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, researchers analyzed the 1997 Children's Health Insurance Program to evaluate the potential changes in physicians' work hours in response to a large expansion in coverage.

6 Apr 2013

House GOP SGR replacement would ease Medicare's doctor pay into a pay-for-performance model

Under its new proposal to replace the Medicare physician payment formula, the House GOP plan would provide physicians with a stable, pre-set fee schedule to allow an eventual transition to alternate payment models.

6 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 5, 2013

Today's headlines include reports about how President Barack Obama's budget proposal -- to be released next week -- will handle Medicare and Medicaid.

5 Apr 2013

Penn Medicine study finds lower utilization of CTC for cancer screening

In 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services halted reimbursement for so-called "virtual colonoscopy" for routine colon-cancer screening in asymptomatic patients, in part due to concerns over how this procedure, computed tomography colonography, was being used in the elderly population.

5 Apr 2013

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

Medicare News and Research

Obama budget will propose changes to Medicare in exchange for tax increases

NAIC offers states options to 'mitigate' the premium increases that are expected when the health law takes effect

Viewpoints: A doctor finds father's hospital care frightening; Politicization of science has hurt research funding

Research roundup: Looking at CHIP to gauge effect of health law on doctors; Insurers' spending on quality improvements

House GOP SGR replacement would ease Medicare's doctor pay into a pay-for-performance model

First Edition: April 5, 2013

Penn Medicine study finds lower utilization of CTC for cancer screening

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

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

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

Dementia care costs top other diseases in US, study finds

Proposal to eliminate SGR payment formula is revised

Medicare misperceptions create tougher task for lawmakers

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

Walgreens' Take Care Clinics expand access to health care services

First Edition: April 4, 2013

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

Confirmation hearing for CMS nominee set for next week

Rate boost to Medicare Advantage plans powers insurers' stock surge

Death rates on the rise at some rural hospitals

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