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Genetic testing expansion results in urgent need for national policy

The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) has announced new findings from nationwide research on the country’s genetic testing. The RCPA was contracted in 2012 by the Department of Health and Ageing to conduct its second survey on genetic testing. The findings were analysed by spokesperson on genetic testing for the RCPA, Professor Graeme Suthers, and Dr Kym Mina, Genetic Pathologist and Project Officer for the survey.

22 Feb 2013

Medicaid expansion divides GOP governors

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is the latest Republican executive to reverse his opposition to the health law's Medicaid expansion. Some other fervent opponents, however -- among them, Rick Perry of Texas and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana -- continue to hold the line.

22 Feb 2013

Looming cuts fuel debate over Medicare and Medicaid spending

As the March 1 deadline for the sequester approaches, news outlets analyze the impact budget cuts might have on the U.S. economy in general and on Medicare specifically.

22 Feb 2013

Roundup: HHS OKs key part of Fla.'s Medicaid managed care plan; Calif. lawmakers set to take up rules on its health insurance marketplace

The state of Florida won a second victory from HHS that will help the state introduce a statewide Medicaid managed-care program. The agency notified the state that it would grant its request for a medical assistance waiver -- a decision that comes just weeks after the department granted Florida's first request for a waiver for its long-term-care program.

22 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: Holtz-Eakin and Roy offer prescription to fix health law; Iowa lawmakers opposed to Medicaid expansion should give up their coverage

Over nearly a century, progressives have pressed for a national, single-payer healthcare system. When it comes to health reform, what have conservatives stood for? For far too long, conservatives have failed to coalesce around a long-term vision of what a free-market healthcare system should look like. ... Obamacare is the logical byproduct of this conservative policy neglect.

22 Feb 2013

Proposals, partisan rhetoric fly in countdown to March 1 spending cuts

News outlets report how spending reductions will impact health care programs. Meanwhile, in hopes of creating momentum toward a compromise, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles on Tuesday unveiled a $2.4 trillion proposal that includes $600 billion in spending reductions to health-care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

21 Feb 2013

Possible Medicare Advantage pay reductions cause insurer stocks to slip

The proposed cuts in federal payments, which are open to comment until March 1, could lead to reduced coverage or fewer options for people who choose to buy these plans.

21 Feb 2013

Policymakers, insurers should consider generic-only coverage to improve health and reduce costs

A new study published online today in the American Journal of Managed Care found that in Medicare Part D, generic drug coverage was cost-saving compared to no coverage in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, while also improving health outcomes.

21 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: ACOs are doomed to fail; The need to expand Medicaid in Texas; The case against malpractice changes in Iowa

Spurred by the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of pilot programs called Accountable Care Organizations have been launched over the past year, affecting tens of millions on Medicare and many who have commercial health insurance.

21 Feb 2013

Study measures awareness, adoption and use of informatics tools by infection preventionists

Advances in electronic medical record systems and health information exchange are shifting efforts in public health toward greater use of information systems to automate disease surveillance, but a study from the Regenstrief Institute has found that these technologies' capabilities are underutilized by those on the front lines of preventing and reporting infections.

21 Feb 2013

Opinions on the sequester: Too much Medicare spending on the affluent; Boehner says Obama got more taxes in the health law

The president has repeatedly called for even more tax revenue, but the American people don't support trading spending cuts for higher taxes. They understand that the tax debate is now closed.

20 Feb 2013

CMS issues MLR rules for Medicare plans

Elderly and disabled patients enrolled in Medicare will for the first time receive an annual reduction in out-of-pocket costs for drugs, the government announced. The standard deductible for plans in Medicare's drug program, called Part D, will be $310 in 2014, about 4.6 percent less than this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement today. Copayments also will be reduced for the program that began in 2006.

20 Feb 2013

Medicare trims, scaled-back tax breaks debated as part of budget fix

The Washington Post reports that President Barack Obama favors replacing the automatic cuts slated to take effect on March 1 with a combination of budget moves, including spending cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

20 Feb 2013

State roundup: Calif. opens prison psychiatric ward, hopes to shed fed oversight

Virginia is among the last states to begin dismantling its large institutions for the developmentally disabled, a decision that was made as part of a year-old settlement agreement with the Justice Department, which argued in a lawsuit that Virginia was discriminating against training center residents by keeping them institutionalized.

20 Feb 2013

Viewpoints: Obama needs to offer plan on entitlements and spending; Assessing the paycheck crimp from health costs

President Barack Obama owes it to himself and to the country to make one more good shot at a Grand Bargain on spending, investment and tax reform before he opts for a strategy of trying to pummel the Republican Party. ... He has to lead with his chin and put a concrete, comprehensive package on the table, encompassing three areas. First, new investments that would combine immediate jobs in infrastructure with some long-term growth-enablers like a massive build-out in the nation's high-speed broadband capabilities.

19 Feb 2013

iCAD fourth quarter total revenue increases 18% to $7.8 million

iCAD, Inc., an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis, workflow solutions and radiation therapy for the early identification and treatment of cancer, today reported financial results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2012.

19 Feb 2013

First Edition: February 19, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jay Hancock, working in collaboration with The Philadelphia Inquirer, reports: "Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than the Obama administration wants you to believe, says Drexel University's Dr. Scot Silverstein."

19 Feb 2013

Concerns raised about insurance markets under new law

Companies can avoid many standards in the new law by insuring their own employees, rather than signing up with commercial insurers, because Congress did not want to disrupt self-insurance arrangements that were seen as working well for many large employers.

19 Feb 2013

NeuroMetrix fourth quarter total revenues decrease to $1.5 million

NeuroMetrix, Inc., a medical device company focused on the diagnosis and treatment of the neurological complications of diabetes, today reported business and financial highlights for the quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2012.

19 Feb 2013

Income inequality equals more hospital readmissions

Patients living in areas of uneven wealth-distribution are at an increased risk for hospital readmission, according to US research findings published in the BMJ.

19 Feb 2013

Medicare News and Research

Genetic testing expansion results in urgent need for national policy

Medicaid expansion divides GOP governors

Looming cuts fuel debate over Medicare and Medicaid spending

Roundup: HHS OKs key part of Fla.'s Medicaid managed care plan; Calif. lawmakers set to take up rules on its health insurance marketplace

Viewpoints: Holtz-Eakin and Roy offer prescription to fix health law; Iowa lawmakers opposed to Medicaid expansion should give up their coverage

Proposals, partisan rhetoric fly in countdown to March 1 spending cuts

Possible Medicare Advantage pay reductions cause insurer stocks to slip

Policymakers, insurers should consider generic-only coverage to improve health and reduce costs

Viewpoints: ACOs are doomed to fail; The need to expand Medicaid in Texas; The case against malpractice changes in Iowa

Study measures awareness, adoption and use of informatics tools by infection preventionists

Opinions on the sequester: Too much Medicare spending on the affluent; Boehner says Obama got more taxes in the health law

CMS issues MLR rules for Medicare plans

Medicare trims, scaled-back tax breaks debated as part of budget fix

State roundup: Calif. opens prison psychiatric ward, hopes to shed fed oversight

Viewpoints: Obama needs to offer plan on entitlements and spending; Assessing the paycheck crimp from health costs

iCAD fourth quarter total revenue increases 18% to $7.8 million

First Edition: February 19, 2013

Concerns raised about insurance markets under new law

NeuroMetrix fourth quarter total revenues decrease to $1.5 million

Income inequality equals more hospital readmissions

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