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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

Obama touts health law before donors; Romney says health law costs nearly the same as defense cuts

The president may not always highlight the health overhaul before the public, but it's a strong talking point at his fundraising events. Meanwhile in the debate Tuesday, former Gov. Mitt Romney, while lamenting scheduled Pentagon cuts, said they are about the same as what the health law will cost.

24 Nov 2011

First Edition: November 23, 2011

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations include an examination of changes in Medicare that the Democrats have endorses and a Kansas abortion case.

23 Nov 2011

Health spending still in jeopardy despite end of super committee

Although Medicare and Medicaid were largely protected when the panel broke up, budget cutters will continue to eye them, and other health programs will likely have funding reduced.

23 Nov 2011

Super committee failure: Let the blame game begin

President Obama summed up our debt crisis best when he told Republican members of the House in January 2010 that "The major driver of our long-term liabilities ... is Medicare and Medicaid and our health care spending." A few months later, however, Mr. Obama and his party's leaders in Congress added trillions of dollars in new health-care spending to the government's balance sheet.

23 Nov 2011

Medicare to cover infusion costs for prostate cancer vaccine, company says

In Medicare news, the drug maker Dendreon says federal officials have said they will pay doctors to administer the drug. Also, policymakers are studying Medigap to see if curbs on those policies could help cut Medicare costs.

23 Nov 2011

Super committee ends work without a deal; Automatic cuts take effect in 2013

A special congressional committee created to try to curb the national debt abandoned its work and conceded failure Monday. ... Although Republicans offered to raise taxes by $300 billion over the next decade, they insisted on conditions that all but guaranteed that the wealthy would not be hit hard. And Democrats refused to agree to deep cuts in spending on health care for the poor and the elderly unless the rich were forced to make greater sacrifices.

23 Nov 2011

In Colo. and Mass., worries about health care impact of super committee's failure

"Uncertainty" was a word used repeatedly Monday by Colorado economists and industries in lamenting the failure of the congressional super committee ... Health care is another area with super committee consequences, resulting "in millions of dollars in reduced Medicare payments to Colorado providers for many years to come" by restricting access, Steven Summer, president of the Colorado Hospital Association, said in a statement.

23 Nov 2011

California providers sue over Medicaid rates; Texas weighs steep cuts for Medicaid rehab

The federal law extends Medicaid coverage to millions of Americans in 2014, including childless adults. But with permission – and dollars – from the federal government, California started the expansion early. ... Surprisingly though, the roll-out of what conservatives derisively call "Obamacare" has largely gone unnoticed in Bakersfield.

23 Nov 2011

Post-surgery death risk high among thinner people: Study

A new study has found that thinner people are at a higher risk of dying within 30 days of an operation than heavier people. The cause behind this trend is not clear.

22 Nov 2011

UnitedHealthcare announces agreement to acquire XLHealth

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company, has agreed to acquire XLHealth Corp., a sponsor of Medicare Advantage health plans with a primary focus on Medicare recipients with special needs, such as those with chronic illness, and those also eligible for Medicaid.

22 Nov 2011

Essence Healthcare, CompCare sign new multi-service agreement

Comprehensive Care Corporation announced today it has signed a new multi-service agreement with Essence Healthcare to provide managed behavioral health and pharmacy management services to the Medicare Advantage population serviced by Essence Healthcare in Missouri, Washington and Illinois.

22 Nov 2011

Researchers report on inadequacy of nursing home quality scorecards

The scoring system government agencies use to rate nursing home quality does not provide an adequate evaluation because they do not take into account the degree of cognitive impairment of their patient populations and whether facilities include a specialized dementia unit according to a new study.

22 Nov 2011

Medicare will still cover Avastin for breast cancer, despite revocation of FDA approval

The FDA announced that Avastin, while still approved for other cancers, is more harmful than helpful to breast cancer patients.

22 Nov 2011

Medicare News and Research

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

Obama touts health law before donors; Romney says health law costs nearly the same as defense cuts

First Edition: November 23, 2011

Health spending still in jeopardy despite end of super committee

Super committee failure: Let the blame game begin

Medicare to cover infusion costs for prostate cancer vaccine, company says

Super committee ends work without a deal; Automatic cuts take effect in 2013

In Colo. and Mass., worries about health care impact of super committee's failure

California providers sue over Medicaid rates; Texas weighs steep cuts for Medicaid rehab

Post-surgery death risk high among thinner people: Study

UnitedHealthcare announces agreement to acquire XLHealth

Essence Healthcare, CompCare sign new multi-service agreement

Researchers report on inadequacy of nursing home quality scorecards

Medicare will still cover Avastin for breast cancer, despite revocation of FDA approval

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