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Bill that forces prompt payments from Medicaid advances in House; Grassley challenges CMS on hedge funds

Modern Healthcare reports that Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., have introduced legislation to require Medicaid to pay its bills promptly. Also in the news, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday that he believes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may have given special treatment to information requests from hedge funds and political intelligence brokers.

14 Dec 2011

House vote scheduled on payroll tax reduction package

The bill, which also would extend a number of other expiring measures and includes "must-pass" provisions such as the Medicare "doc fix," has drawn opposition. Hospitals groups have blasted it because it includes billions of dollars in cuts to hospital payments.

14 Dec 2011

Health policy issues draw headlines for Romney and Gingrich

News outlets fact check the policy question behind GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's $10,000 bet. Meanwhile, other stories focus on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's support for the Medicare Part D drug program.

14 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 14, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about progress -- or lack thereof -- as the House and Senate work to come to terms on the year's must-pass legislation.

14 Dec 2011

Capsules: Hospitals clash with House Republicans on Medicare cuts

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Mary Agnes Carey reports: "Hospitals have come out swinging against payment cuts to their industry included in the House Republican plan to stop a scheduled Medicare physician payment cut next January. And the House GOP is swinging right back."

14 Dec 2011

Roundup: FBI reportedly questioning Prime Healthcare billers in Calif.; Uninsured ranks grow in Wash.

The FBI is interviewing witnesses about billing practices at Prime Healthcare Services, the hospital chain that has charged Medicare for treating elderly patients with rare medical conditions at far higher rates than other California hospitals. The FBI would neither confirm nor deny an investigation, but at least two former Prime medical coders say they were approached by the agency to discuss the chain's billing practices. ... A spokesman for Prime said the chain is unaware of an FBI probe.

14 Dec 2011

Berwick places blame for health system's ills on delivery system

The now-former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is speaking out about what he might do next and what is wrong with the health care system.

14 Dec 2011

Iowa: GOP presidential debate turns up campaign heat

With the Iowa caucuses fast approaching, new political ads are hitting the airwaves, and Saturday night's debate draws lots of fact-checking by news organzations.

13 Dec 2011

Lawmakers move closer to completing legislative to-do list

Still remaining on the list, however, is action to prevent a scheduled reduction in Medicare payments for physicians. A proposal to avert this cut is included in a broader measure that would extend the payroll tax break.

13 Dec 2011

First Edition: December 13, 2011

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz talked with former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick, who defended these federal health programs, but said they are trapped in a U.S. health system that promotes wasteful spending and inefficient care.

13 Dec 2011

House 'doc fix' proposal provides temporary relief to physicians, draws hospital concern

The "payment patch" would largely be paid for by charging higher Medicare premiums to affluent seniors and by cutting hospital payments.

13 Dec 2011

Roundup: Iowans question Wellmark premium hikes; Fla. Medicare audit; Mich. nursing home scandals

The Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield vice president faced dozens of angry customers and tried to explain why the health insurer wants to increase their premiums by 9.4 percent. ... Barbed questions flew throughout the hearing before the state insurance commissioner, who will decide whether to grant Wellmark's proposed increase for 86,000 Iowans who buy their own insurance policies.

13 Dec 2011

Viewpoints: Blocking an abortion option for military women; Plan B pushback; Solving Wis. doc shortage

Republican Senate leaders have an odd way of showing gratitude for the dedication and sacrifices of the more than 200,000 women on active duty in the military. Late last month, they blocked consideration of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have lifted the statutory ban that denies female service members coverage for abortion care in cases of rape and incest.

13 Dec 2011

Romney assails Gingrich for remarks about GOP Medicare plan

At his campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, (GOP presidential candidate Mitt) Romney reminded voters (former Speaker Newt) Gingrich had attacked U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan last spring as "right-wing social engineering."

12 Dec 2011

Health care - and the '$10,000 bet' - a hot topic at GOP debate

It was a Saturday night brawl in Des Moines, with Republican rivals clubbing each other and front-runner Newt Gingrich, who batted back at criticisms that he once supported mandating purchase of health insurance and that he makes inflammatory remarks.

12 Dec 2011

House GOP's tax bill includes Medicare pay fix, cuts to health law funding

House Republicans on Friday released their legislation to extend the payroll tax cut, reform and extend unemployment insurance, and fix the Medicare reimbursement rate for doctors. The move sets up a vote on the year-end package as early as Tuesday. ... the legislation extends a pay freeze for federal workers, ... and gradually increases Medicare premiums for the wealthy. It also changes the co-payment structure for certain federal retirees.

11 Dec 2011

HHS released final rules on new health co-ops

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule Thursday to establish at least one health insurance cooperative in every state by providing loans from a $3.8 billion federal fund created by the health care law to provide start-up money and fund capital reserves.

9 Dec 2011

State roundup: Consumers dispute Iowa rate hike; Wis. senior program extension?; Fla. criticized on nursing homes

California Pacific Medical Center, including its St. Luke's campus, is San Francisco's most profitable hospital, yet it spends proportionately far less on care for poor residents than other private nonprofit hospitals in the city, according to a new report.

9 Dec 2011

Data inform decision-making among patients, doctors, insurers

A study uses a new measure to judge nation's health care, another asks doctors to rate the best and worst insurers.

9 Dec 2011

Republicans and Democrats hone in on health law to rally supporters

Rick Perry releases a new TV spot bashing frontrunner Newt Gingrich and rival Mitt Romney for supporting health care policies similar to those of President Obama, while Newark Mayor Cory Booker focuses on the health law's benefits for young people as he campaigns for the president in New Hampshire.

9 Dec 2011