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Labor union to launch ad seeking to link Romney to Medicare fraud

Voters in South Carolina go to the polls today, but meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times reports that AFSCME has purchased airtime for an ad that raises questions about the Republican presidential contender's work as a member of the board of directors of a medical testing company that paid a fine to Medicare.

23 Jan 2012

President to push Congress to revisit ambitious effort to cut the deficit

And, House and Senate negotiators will hold a rare public meeting Tuesday about the payroll tax cut and the Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians.

21 Jan 2012

Health law, abortion among hot topics in S.C. Republican primary debate

The GOP presidential hopefuls clashed on a range of issues related to the health law, its individual mandate and efforts to repeal it. Candidates' positions on abortion were also flashpoints.

21 Jan 2012

Adding oxaliplatin to adjuvant 5FU improves survival of patients with stage III colon cancer

Stage III colon cancer patients in the general population who receive adjuvant treatment for the disease have an improved rate of survival when oxaliplatin is added to 5-fluorouracil (5FU), according to a study published Jan. 20 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

21 Jan 2012

Health law policy topics: ACO deadline, hospital pay fix

Modern Healthcare reports that today's the last day to sign up for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' ACO program, which starts in April. Politico Pro, meanwhile, reports that a coalition of state hospitals is pushing the White House to address what they see as a "gaming of Medicare payments" that allows Massachusetts hospitals to collect higher Medicare reimbursements than other states.

21 Jan 2012

Roundup: N.Y. insurers to update directories; Cook county, Ill. health fees fall short; Md. woman says hospital denied same-sex visitation

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says his office has reached settlements with eight health insurance companies that require them to ensure the accuracy of provider directories on their websites. The attorney general's office says the companies will remove names of doctors and other providers who no longer participate and correct listing errors for others.

20 Jan 2012

Medicare cost-cutting demo programs fall short in cutting spending

These findings from the Congressional Budget Office, based on 20 years of efforts to shift the program, are a blow to ongoing Medicare projects as well as a key component of the health law.

20 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 20, 2012

Today's headlines include dispatches detailing how health care played in last night's S.C. GOP presidential primary debate.

20 Jan 2012

House panel gives nod to CLASS Act repeal legislation

The House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that would eliminate the health law's Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act. Though the Obama administration stopped the program's implementation last year, many Republicans still want to remove it from the books.

20 Jan 2012

Study finds older women can wait up to 15 years to repeat bone scans

Bone loss and osteoporosis develop so slowly in most women whose bones test normal at age 65 that many can safely wait as long as 15 years before having a second bone density test, researchers report in a new study. … Medicare pays for a bone density test every two years and many doctors have assumed that is the ideal interval, although national guidelines recommend them only at "regular intervals."

20 Jan 2012

Longer looks: Explaining Medicare's 'premium support'

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration convened a committee of medical experts to weigh new evidence concerning the potential dangers of drospirenone, a synthetic hormone contained in popular birth control pills including Bayer AG's Yaz and Yasmin. ... the committee concluded by a four-vote margin that the benefits of drugs with drospirenone outweigh the risks.

20 Jan 2012

Viewpoints: Health care and the federal deficit; Doctors reassessing health law

We don't have a generalized overspending problem. We have a humongous health-care problem. … Try to ignore the current shallowness in American politics, if you can, and assume that the federal budget deficit will be among the major issues of the 2012 campaign. It certainly should be, for while everyone wants a lower deficit, the two parties have starkly different visions of how to get there.

20 Jan 2012

Roundup: State lawmakers urge deficit reduction

On Wednesday, the National Conference of State Legislatures, which represents lawmakers from across the country, sent President Barack Obama, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a letter urging them to "examine all possible avenues for deficit reduction, including discretionary spending, entitlement reform and revenue-related options."

20 Jan 2012

New book focuses on improving care for chronic diseases

Why does health care need to be redesigned? First - the current system is broken. It costs too much, and too often yields little value for patients and society. Second - it's fixable. The editors and authors of Great Health Care - Making It Happen are convinced of it.

20 Jan 2012

Testing for osteoporosis – how often?

A new study shows that many women who get screened for osteoporosis may not need it. It suggests that the current guidelines result in too many unnecessary tests, increasing costs and sometimes spurring unnecessary treatment.

19 Jan 2012

New AACN Practice Alert on catheter-associated urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections account for nearly 40 percent of hospital-acquired infections in acute care hospitals, triggering increased hospital costs and higher patient morbidity and mortality rates. Compounding the toll of these infections, Medicaid, Medicare and many other payers no longer reimburse costs related to treatment because of their presumed preventability.

19 Jan 2012

First Edition: January 19, 2012

Today's headlines include news about a health exchange progress report from the White House and the latest activity on the GOP presidential primary campaign trail.

19 Jan 2012

Extending payroll tax cut tops Congressional to-do list

A quick deal on this legislative challenge could result in a short-term Medicare "doc fix" and raises red flags for hospitals, which fear reimbursements could be cut.

19 Jan 2012

Hawaii surgeons successfully implant FDA-approved eye telescope for AMD

A team of surgeons from Hawaii, Dr. Michael Bennett of Retina Institute of Hawaii and Dr. Michael McMann of McMann Institute, has successfully implanted the FDA-approved eye telescope, a first in Hawaii, at one of the leading medical centers in Honolulu.

19 Jan 2012

Economic burden of job-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S.

In the first comprehensive review of its kind since 1992, a UC Davis researcher has estimated the national annual price tag of occupational injuries and illnesses at $250 billion, much higher than generally assumed.

19 Jan 2012