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Viewpoints: Fascination with Wyden, Ryan plan; Need for school nurses; Pa. abortion bill controversy

The new Wyden-Ryan Medicare framework is the most fascinating policy and political maneuver of the year. Let me try to explain why.

16 Dec 2011

Wyden and Ryan join forces on new Medicare overhaul plan

The plan, which is being advanced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., involves a framework that would offer traditional, government-run Medicare as an option for future retirees along with a variety of private plans. They are billing their approach as a means to prevent Medicare spending from swamping the federal budget. Meanwhile, early analyses indicate it could potentially create higher out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

16 Dec 2011

Historical context: The intersection of politics and Medicare policy

The 1920s-era charge that national health insurance was socialist eventually begat Ronald Reagan's 1961 anti-Medicare record album. A 1972 carve-out won special Medicare treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease.

16 Dec 2011

Readmission rates and hospitalization use linked

A new study finds that efforts to keep patients from being readmitted to the hospital might involve efforts to keep them out in the first place.

16 Dec 2011

As shutdown looms, differences persist on payroll tax cut, spending bills

Among the items held up in the end-of-year negotiations is the Medicare physician reimbursement fix, which would prevent a 27 percent cut in doctors' payments from taking effect. A House Republican plan to pay for the "doc fix" with dollars from the health law's prevention fund is opposed by some Democratic senators.

16 Dec 2011

State roundup: Florida awaits Medicaid waiver news

Now, nurses regularly do everything from give insulin shots to empty urinary catheter bags. At the same time, state budget cuts mean the number of school nurses in California is shrinking. As a result, nurses say, they are responsible for more students every year and are largely consumed with keeping "medically fragile" children in class.

16 Dec 2011

Report: Feds bring record number of health care fraud cases in 2011

Federal prosecutors brought a record number of cases of health care fraud in fiscal 2011, a new report said, with Florida and its huge Medicare-dependent population remaining the epicenter of fraudulent claims.

16 Dec 2011

TJC approves UCSD's DSC Certification for Ventricular Assist Device

The Joint Commission (TJC) has approved UC San Diego Health System's Disease-Specific Care (DSC) Certification for Ventricular Assist Device.

16 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Wyden and Ryan on their Medicare plan; Frist on the need for international health aid

Few issues draw more heated partisan rhetoric than the future of Medicare. Seniors are a reliable and powerful voting bloc, and both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of exploiting Medicare to frighten and entice voters. But turning discussions of Medicare's future into the third rail of American politics does nothing to guarantee that Medicare will continue to be a lifeline for America's seniors.

16 Dec 2011

Critical Diagnostics receives FDA clearance for Presage ST2 Assay

Critical Diagnostics, a U.S.-based biomarker company focused on cardiovascular diseases, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's Presage ST2 Assay for use as an aid in assessing the prognosis of patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure.

16 Dec 2011

Ryan, Wyden to announce new Medicare proposal

Republican congressman Paul Ryan plans to unveil a new Medicare proposal Thursday that would give future seniors the choice of purchasing private insurance coverage or staying in the traditional federal plan. The concept, which is backed by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, steps back from the House Budget Chairman's previous plan to end the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program for future retirees and replace it with subsidies that seniors would use to purchase private health plans.

15 Dec 2011

Medicaid spending claims increasingly larger share of state budgets

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, Medicaid spending by the states has steadily gone up during the last three years, and this trend is likely to continue. Media outlets also report on Medicaid developments in Texas, Florida, New York and California.

15 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Berwick's advice; Romney's wager; Fighting AIDS

Dr. Donald Berwick, who was blocked by Republicans from serving a full term as the administrator of the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid, has been speaking out. He makes a compelling case about the harm caused by partisan demagoguery and about the need for health care professionals to take the lead in implementing reforms.

15 Dec 2011

Much in play for health interests as congress works on payroll tax cut measure

A two-year fix to the formula that sets Medicare payments for physicians was included in yesterday's House-passed version of this bill. Still, the fix's future is not certain. Meanwhile, other health interests are trying to protect their own funding, which has so far been targeted as a way to pay for the payroll tax holiday extension.

15 Dec 2011

Administration report finds 2.5 million young adults gain health insurance coverage

A report to be released today by the Obama administration finds that the number of people between the ages of 19 and 25 who have gained coverage exceeds earlier estimates.

15 Dec 2011

House approves payroll tax cut extension, but 'strings attached' could stall end-of-session progress

The House measure was approved on a largely party-line vote and was met with immediate promises of opposition from Senate Democrats and the White House. Caught in the crossfire is the Medicare "doc fix" and, possibly, a separate omnibus spending bill to provide government funding through next September.

15 Dec 2011

ASN joins ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world's leading kidney organization, joins the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, eight other leading national medical specialty societies and Consumer Reports in the Choosing Wisely campaign. This campaign will help physicians, patients and other health care professionals address overuse of health care resources in the United States.

15 Dec 2011

Ron Paul takes strong stand on government's role in health care; Obama asks supporters to 'stick with him'

While GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul told his supporters that Medicare and Medicaid have no basis in the Constitution, President Barack Obama asked his backers to stay with him in the upcoming election.

15 Dec 2011

Roundup: Nonprofits get big money in disabled payments; Calif. budget problems bring additional Medicaid cutbacks

Spending on this little-known home care program, called Community Habilitation, has soared in recent years, creating multimillion-dollar surpluses at some nonprofit agencies and eye-popping salaries and benefits for those who run them. And it helps explain how New York's costs of caring for developmentally disabled people have ballooned in recent years, creating the nation's most generous system of Medicaid-financed programs, with little scrutiny of its efficiency or result.

15 Dec 2011

IASIS Healthcare fourth quarter net revenue increases 13.8% to $716.8 million

IASIS Healthcare LLC today announced financial and operating results for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2011.

14 Dec 2011

Medicare News and Research

Viewpoints: Fascination with Wyden, Ryan plan; Need for school nurses; Pa. abortion bill controversy

Wyden and Ryan join forces on new Medicare overhaul plan

Historical context: The intersection of politics and Medicare policy

Readmission rates and hospitalization use linked

As shutdown looms, differences persist on payroll tax cut, spending bills

State roundup: Florida awaits Medicaid waiver news

Report: Feds bring record number of health care fraud cases in 2011

TJC approves UCSD's DSC Certification for Ventricular Assist Device

Viewpoints: Wyden and Ryan on their Medicare plan; Frist on the need for international health aid

Critical Diagnostics receives FDA clearance for Presage ST2 Assay

Ryan, Wyden to announce new Medicare proposal

Medicaid spending claims increasingly larger share of state budgets

Viewpoints: Berwick's advice; Romney's wager; Fighting AIDS

Much in play for health interests as congress works on payroll tax cut measure

Administration report finds 2.5 million young adults gain health insurance coverage

House approves payroll tax cut extension, but 'strings attached' could stall end-of-session progress

ASN joins ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign

Ron Paul takes strong stand on government's role in health care; Obama asks supporters to 'stick with him'

Roundup: Nonprofits get big money in disabled payments; Calif. budget problems bring additional Medicaid cutbacks

IASIS Healthcare fourth quarter net revenue increases 13.8% to $716.8 million

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