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Medicaid is the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the states and federal government, and is managed by the states.

IQL conference explores development of ACO model

The American Medical Group Association is convening nearly 600 participants, representing the leaders of the nation's preeminent healthcare provider organizations, at IQL 2011: Creating High-Performing Care Organizations, September 19 - 21 at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.

20 Sep 2011

Children with false-positive screening results do not have more health care visits

There has been longstanding concern among physicians and policymakers that false-positive results may cause parents to believe that their children are vulnerable to illness, leading them to overuse health care services as their children grow older.

20 Sep 2011

Obama's debt-reduction plan: $3 trillion in savings; changes to Medicare, Medicaid less aggressive than previously considered

The proposal, which is scheduled for release today, will include $320 billion in health care savings, but it will not raise Medicare's eligibility age. Half of its savings result from new tax revenue. President Barack Obama is also sending a warning to congressional Republicans: If they send him a bill that cuts programs for poor and elderly Americans but doesn't impose sacrifice on corporations or ask others to sacrifice, he will veto it.

20 Sep 2011

Roundup: Calif. woman's death at nursing home probed; Minn. orders counseling before patients get long-term care

Johnnie Esco died after a 13-day stay at the El Dorado Care Center in Placerville. Her death on March 7, 2008, led to a contentious civil lawsuit, investigations by California's Department of Justice and Department of Public Health – and the exhumation of her body from Arlington National Cemetery. Last week, amid inquiries from The Bee, the state Department of Justice reopened its criminal investigation into Johnnie Esco's treatment at the facility.

20 Sep 2011

FDA approves Amphastar's ANDA for Enoxaparin Sodium Injection

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for Enoxaparin Sodium Injection in the 100mg/mL and 150mg/mL strengths.

20 Sep 2011

Viewpoints: Controlling entitlement spending; irrationality of bashing health overhaul; need for changes to state workers' benefits; Va. abortion rules

Entitlement spending - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the rest - is the long-term problem. … But Social Security is the easy case. Medicare and Medicaid have much bigger problems. The rise in their spending is fueled by the aging population and ever-more-expensive advances in medical care. Their problems cannot be solved with taxes unless American workers want government to take an ever-increasing share of their pay.

20 Sep 2011

Feds OK Mich. request to reduce premium costs for state's pre-existing condition insurance plan

Other news reports related to health law implementation include the latest on a push by the Department of Health and Human Services for state insurance exchange partnerships, speculation about the measure's essential benefits rule and efforts on Capitol Hill to block the law's funding.

19 Sep 2011

Mayo Clinic recruits patients in Texas; Ga. hospitals' building boom

In state hospital news, Dallas Morning News reports on an advertising campaign by Minn.'s Mayo Clinic and two Georgia news organizations report on developments in the industry there.

19 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 19, 2011

Today's headlines offer information about how Medicare and Medicaid will fare in President Barack Obama's deficit-reduction plan.

19 Sep 2011

Obama deficit plan to have cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and a tax hike for millionaires

President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials. With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama's effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats' support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid.

19 Sep 2011

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Comparison Friction: Experimental Evidence From Medicare Drug Plans – Defining comparison friction as "the wedge between the availability of comparative information and consumers' use of it," the authors determined that providing prescription drug pricing information, even though it was free and accessible in other ways, increased the amount of "plan-switching" in the group to 28 percent compared to 17 percent in another that did not get the individual information.

17 Sep 2011

Medicaid officials push Florida to improve patient care, reach agreement 'in principle' with Texas

Texas and Florida have requested waivers from the federal government to restructure their Medicaid programs.

17 Sep 2011

Medicare Advantage premiums to fall 4% in 2012

As premium costs fell, enrollment rose – despite dire predictions from opponents of the 2010 health law that the overhaul would cause enrollment to drop while forcing the cost of premiums to increase.

17 Sep 2011

LifePoint Hospitals' board authorizes new $250M stock repurchase program

LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. today announced that its Board of Directors, at a regularly scheduled meeting, has authorized a new stock repurchase program that will allow for repurchases of up to $250 million of its common stock over the next 18 months. Amounts available under the Company's previously announced share repurchase program were exhausted during the current fiscal quarter.

17 Sep 2011

MedPAC 'doc fix' could undermine seniors' care, jeopardize local jobs, and destabilize key health sector

Commenting on an initial outline from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to address the sustainable growth rate formula used to fund physicians, the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care said news reports of proposed Medicare cuts of $49 billion over ten years for post-acute care providers -- on top of the many cuts already in effect -- would severely undermine seniors' care, jeopardize local jobs, and further destabilize a key U.S. health sector already reeling from a series of budgetary and regulatory actions.

17 Sep 2011

House Republicans launch new attacks on health law regulations

The medical-loss ratio requirement is one of the prime GOP targets. Democrats responded that Republicans were trying to roll-back key consumer protections. In other health law implementation news, HHS announced new funding for community health centers, and groups interested in setting up health insurance co-ops are seeking certain HHS "tweaks" in the regulations.

17 Sep 2011

Deficit panel moves deliberations behind closed doors

The 12-member 'super committee' held a private meeting Thursday and emerged with few details, though a co-chair acknowledged that their work won't be easy. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, are signaling the different courses they want to see the panel follow. Also, congressional Democrats are getting increasingly worried about what might become of Medicare and Medicaid.

17 Sep 2011

DestinationRx is now DRX

DestinationRx, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare comparison tools, technology and data, today announced a strategic decision to rename the company DRX. The change in branding is a response to the company's significant growth in the healthcare industry—from its origins in prescription drug pricing and purchasing technology to its expansion into broader drug and health plan comparison technology and data services.

17 Sep 2011

Advocates ramp up efforts to protect Medicaid from 'super committee' trims

State Medicaid directors as well as patient and consumer advocates are detailing the harms that would result from various Medicaid changes under discussion.

16 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 16, 2011

In today's headlines, reports that, despite dire predictions by health law opponents about the Medicare Advantage program, its premiums are falling and its enrollment is rising.

16 Sep 2011

Medicaid News and Research

IQL conference explores development of ACO model

Children with false-positive screening results do not have more health care visits

Obama's debt-reduction plan: $3 trillion in savings; changes to Medicare, Medicaid less aggressive than previously considered

Roundup: Calif. woman's death at nursing home probed; Minn. orders counseling before patients get long-term care

FDA approves Amphastar's ANDA for Enoxaparin Sodium Injection

Viewpoints: Controlling entitlement spending; irrationality of bashing health overhaul; need for changes to state workers' benefits; Va. abortion rules

Feds OK Mich. request to reduce premium costs for state's pre-existing condition insurance plan

Mayo Clinic recruits patients in Texas; Ga. hospitals' building boom

First Edition: September 19, 2011

Obama deficit plan to have cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and a tax hike for millionaires

Research roundup: Personalized info helps consumer decision-making; Racial disparities in knee replacement

Medicaid officials push Florida to improve patient care, reach agreement 'in principle' with Texas

Medicare Advantage premiums to fall 4% in 2012

LifePoint Hospitals' board authorizes new $250M stock repurchase program

MedPAC 'doc fix' could undermine seniors' care, jeopardize local jobs, and destabilize key health sector

House Republicans launch new attacks on health law regulations

Deficit panel moves deliberations behind closed doors

DestinationRx is now DRX

Advocates ramp up efforts to protect Medicaid from 'super committee' trims

First Edition: September 16, 2011

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

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