Medicare News and Research

RSS

Viewpoints: GOP leaders, Obama share link to mandate; expensive benefits for seniors

I don't want to focus on the differences between Romney and Gingrich. I want to focus on the commonalities. Because these two men have a lot in common with not only each other but also with President Obama. Both Gingrich and Romney, for instance, supported a universal health care plan backed by an individual mandate requiring all Americans of means to purchase health-care insurance - just as Obama does.

30 Nov 2011

FDA approves Watson's ANDA for generic Yaz oral contraceptive

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for its Abbreviated New Drug Application for Vestura (3 mg drospirenone and 0.02 mg ethinyl estradiol), a generic version of Bayer's Yaz oral contraceptive product.

29 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 29, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, and working in collaboration with The Washington Post, Sandra G. Boodman writes: "Propelled by the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which took effect in 2009, 2 million veterans, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are eligible for generous benefits that can amount to a full scholarship.

29 Nov 2011

Most heart attack patients not transported quickly enough for angioplasty

Most heart attack patients transferred between hospitals for the emergency artery-opening procedure called angioplasty are not transported as quickly as they should be, Yale School of medicine researchers report in the first national study of "door-in door-out" time for transfer patients.

29 Nov 2011

HealthWarehouse.com launches pre-order program for generic Lipitor

HealthWarehouse.com, Inc., a leading VIPPS-accredited, retail mail-order pharmacy, announced today the launch of its pre-order program to enable consumers immediate access to Atorvastatin (Generic Lipitor®) on Dec. 5. HealthWarehouse will offer the medication at up to 50 percent less than the branded versions from retail pharmacies.

29 Nov 2011

CMS chief announces resignation, Obama administration taps his deputy as successor

Marilyn Tavenner was named last week by the White House to succeed Donald Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but it is unclear how her nomination will be received by Congress.

29 Nov 2011

Next on Capitol Hill's budget agenda: Skirmishes over tax breaks, spending bills and the 'doc fix'

The Associated Press terms it a "symbol" of the "federal government's budget dysfunction" because physicians again are facing a steep cut in Medicare payments unless Congress intervenes. This time, though, such action will be considered in the context of other difficult budget questions.

29 Nov 2011

Federal funding, Medicare plan specifics draw campaign-trail reports

News outlets examine the federal funds received by Texas while Rick Perry has been the state's governor as well as some of the positions taken by Mitt Romney.

28 Nov 2011

Viewpoints: What now for deficit cutters; Berwick's replacement

There's already a bipartisan group of senators, the maverick "Gang of Six," that is volunteering to produce a new compromise package. ... The Gang of Six plan won't make anybody happy.

28 Nov 2011

Office Ally selected as approved EHR vendor for Arizona REC

Office Ally announced today that it has been selected as an approved electronic health record (EHR) vendor for the Arizona Regional Extension Center (REC).

28 Nov 2011

State roundup: Calif. hospital allegedly overbilling Medicare; Wash. hospitals ER 'boom'; Rehab scams in Florida?

Health policy news from California, Florida, Washington state, Oregon, Vermont and Texas.

28 Nov 2011

Medicare's doughnut hole shrinks

Medicare's prescription coverage gap is getting noticeably smaller and easier to manage this year for millions of older and disabled people with high drug costs.

28 Nov 2011

A dramatic shift in US healthcare policy

Dr. Wayne Iverson, San Diego physician and candidate for the US House of Representatives in the California 52nd Congressional District, today commented on the surprise announcement from Washington, D.C. "The abrupt resignation of Don Berwick as the head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) signals a dramatic shift in this nation's healthcare policy."

28 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 28, 2011

In today's headlines, reports about President Barack Obama's pick to succeed Donald Berwick as chief of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as well as news about the Supreme Court's consideration of the health law and more on the nation's budget.

28 Nov 2011

AP: Health law cuts seniors' doughnut hole expenses 40%

Medicare's prescription coverage gap is getting noticeably smaller and easier to manage this year for millions of older and disabled people with high drug costs.

28 Nov 2011

Congress facing deadline on Medicare payments to doctors

Preventing the cut in Medicare payments to doctors is estimated to cost more than $20 billion next year. It is considered a near certainty that Congress will address it because of the clout that Medicare and doctors have with lawmakers. Within minutes of Monday's announcement that the supercommittee had failed, the American Medical Association was warning that the 27 percent cut would "force many physicians to limit the number of Medicare and TRICARE patients they can care for in their practices."

24 Nov 2011

UnitedHealth buying Medicare advantage plan with chronically ill specialty

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the largest U.S. health insurer by sales, said it will buy XLHealth Corp., a provider of managed care for chronically ill Medicare members, to strengthen a growth area likely to gain increasing support from the U.S. government as it trims costs. The purchase price was about $2 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal who asked not to be identified because the price wasn't disclosed. … The purchase of XLHealth, with 111,000 members, is the seventh since Jan. 1 involving companies that manage Medicare coverage.

24 Nov 2011

Health industry raising alarms about cuts to Medicare after super committee failure

Automatic Medicare cuts triggered by the congressional super committee's failure would hit hospitals harder than any other health industry, according to an analysis from Avalere Health. The report puts hard numbers to across-the-board cuts that stakeholders have mostly viewed in broad, general terms. But Avalere chief executive Dan Mendelson cautioned that the figures also assume the automatic cuts will actually happen - an assumption he's not ready to make.

24 Nov 2011

Viewpoints: Blame for super committee mess, Supreme Court recusal is the judges' call

What's clear is that committee Democrats moved awfully far in the name of compromise. They offered more in Medicare cuts than Simpson-Bowles did - or than Obama did with Boehner, for that matter - and accepted less in the way of tax increases than those two proposals. For their part, Republicans moved off their position of complete intransigence on taxes. Then they refused to budge.

24 Nov 2011

State roundup: Another Medi-Cal lawsuit; medical homes in Tenn.; Pa. moving forward on exchanges

Some California hospitals would take a significant and long-lasting hit from Medi-Cal reimbursement cuts recently approved by CMS, according to the California Hospital Association, which this week filed a petition in federal court to put a temporary halt to those reductions. CHA's lawsuit and injunction request are separate from the court action taken earlier this week by the California Medical Association and other provider organizations.

24 Nov 2011

Medicare News and Research

Viewpoints: GOP leaders, Obama share link to mandate; expensive benefits for seniors

FDA approves Watson's ANDA for generic Yaz oral contraceptive

First Edition: November 29, 2011

Most heart attack patients not transported quickly enough for angioplasty

HealthWarehouse.com launches pre-order program for generic Lipitor

CMS chief announces resignation, Obama administration taps his deputy as successor

Next on Capitol Hill's budget agenda: Skirmishes over tax breaks, spending bills and the 'doc fix'

Federal funding, Medicare plan specifics draw campaign-trail reports

Viewpoints: What now for deficit cutters; Berwick's replacement

Office Ally selected as approved EHR vendor for Arizona REC

State roundup: Calif. hospital allegedly overbilling Medicare; Wash. hospitals ER 'boom'; Rehab scams in Florida?

Medicare's doughnut hole shrinks

A dramatic shift in US healthcare policy

First Edition: November 28, 2011

AP: Health law cuts seniors' doughnut hole expenses 40%

Congress facing deadline on Medicare payments to doctors

UnitedHealth buying Medicare advantage plan with chronically ill specialty

Health industry raising alarms about cuts to Medicare after super committee failure

Viewpoints: Blame for super committee mess, Supreme Court recusal is the judges' call

State roundup: Another Medi-Cal lawsuit; medical homes in Tenn.; Pa. moving forward on exchanges

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

Latest News