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First Edition: October 4, 2011

Today's news highlights include reports that the Supreme Court kicked off its new term by hearing a key Medicaid case that tests whether providers and patients can go to court to challenge decisions by cash-strapped states to reduce Medicaid payments.

4 Oct 2011

Senate Republicans doubt prospects for 'grand bargain'

A month into the super committee's term, Senate Republicans are telling K Street that they don't believe the powerful deficit-cutting panel can reach a "grand bargain" agreement, sources familiar with the negotiations say. But the only way that a grand bargain could pass muster with the GOP, the Senate Republican aides say, is if it were tied to an overhaul of Social Security or the controversial proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to turn Medicare into a voucher-based system for future recipients.

4 Oct 2011

Medicare home-health firms under scrutiny

An inquiry by the Senate Finance Committee has found that the nation's three largest home-health companies tailored the care they provided to Medicare patients to maximize their reimbursements from the federal program.

4 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Mixing Obama and Ryan's plans, cancer rationing and stalling federal aid

What has been revealed is that the systems set up during an industrial era to provide health care, retirement income and support during economic downturns are inadequate for and ill-suited to our post-industrial, globalized economy. ...one can imagine a system in which all workers and nonworkers are required to buy insurance from the government-regulated exchanges being set up in each region or state under the Obama health-care reform plan.

4 Oct 2011

Hospitalization for an acute event can lead to long-term institutionalization

Confirming many elderly patients' worst fears, a national study has shown that being hospitalized for an acute event, such as a stroke or hip fracture, can lead to long-term institutionalization in a nursing home. Equally alarming, researchers found that direct discharge to a skilled nursing facility -- a common practice designed to reduce hospital stays -- put patients at "extremely high risk" of needing long-term nursing home care.

4 Oct 2011

Roundup: Blue Shield of Calif. drops coverage of controversial drug in breast cancer treatment; Perry presses stem cell therapy

Blue Shield of California will no longer pay for the use of the drug Avastin to treat breast cancer, a sign that support for the widely debated and expensive treatment may be eroding among health plans.

4 Oct 2011

NAHC statement on Senate Finance Committee report

Val J. Halamandaris, president of The National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), issued the following statement regarding the Senate Finance Committee Report on Home Health Services.

3 Oct 2011

Florida AHCA renews Medicaid Management Information System service agreement with HP

HP Enterprise Services today announced the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has signed a renewal service agreement to manage the state's Medicaid Management Information System.

3 Oct 2011

First Edition: October 3, 2011

Today's headlines include stories previewing how health policy issues will fit into the Supreme Court's new term.

3 Oct 2011

HealthPort is the first HIH to transmit records via CMS' esMD gateway

HealthPort, the industry authority on the HIPAA-compliant exchange of protected health information through release of information services and audit management technology, today announced that the Company is the first Health Information Handler (HIH) to successfully transmit records via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) electronic submission of medical documentation (esMD) gateway for information exchange from healthcare providers, once again leading the way in release of information innovation.

3 Oct 2011

MercyCare Health Plans provides new Medicare Advantage product

MercyCare Health Plans, headquartered in Janesville, is happy to announce it now offers Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans for health care coverage starting January 1, 2012.

3 Oct 2011

Palmetto establishes formal coverage policy for all Medicare patients

Genomic Health, Inc. today announced that Palmetto GBA, the designated national contractor for its Oncotype DX colon cancer test, has established a formal coverage policy for all Medicare patients.

1 Oct 2011

HealthSpring announces its 2012 Medicare offerings

HealthSpring, a leading Medicare Advantage plan, today announced its 2012 Medicare offerings, which include a range of health and prescription drug plans, as well as special needs plans.

1 Oct 2011

Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care President expresses concern over job instability

Pointing to new job losses at a Nebraska nursing home attributed to a new federal Medicare regulation reducing funding by 11.1 percent, the President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care today expressed concern that the Nebraska job loss example represents the leading edge of additional job losses and layoffs at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) throughout the nation, as facilities, care staff and patients struggle with an accumulation of Medicare and Medicaid funding reductions.

1 Oct 2011

State highlights: Many states moving workers' children to CHIP plans

After a nine-year court battle, a landmark class-action settlement was preliminarily approved this week that would require the state to provide more effective mental health services for the children in or about to enter foster care. Its reach is expected to be significant. California has 61,000 children in the foster care system, and it runs the nation's largest child welfare system at a cost of about $4.7 billion per year.

1 Oct 2011

Tips for seniors to avoid serious complications from prescription meds

For seniors, October is a month in which medications - particularly prescription meds - will likely be on their minds. Not only is October national "Talk About Prescriptions Month," but Oct. 15 marks the start of Medicare's Annual Election Period during which beneficiaries can disenroll from, switch or enroll into a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.

1 Oct 2011

New MFA report: Total medical expenses increase 1.7% in 2010

Total medical expenses, that is the amount of money health plans dispensed to pay for medical and hospital benefits, grew 1.7% in 2010, from $395 billion in 2009 to $401 billion in 2010, according to a new report by Mark Farrah Associates.

1 Oct 2011

Prostate cancer patients treated with CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System enrolled in RPCR

The CyberKnife Coalition announced today that more than 500 men treated with the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System have now been enrolled in the first national patient registry designed specifically to track prostate cancer patients treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy.

1 Oct 2011

Hospital, physician groups work to advance, protect interests in deficit reduction debate

Hospital executives will lobby Congress next week to raise the eligibility age for Medicare instead of reducing payments to hospitals. Doctors are ginning up their grass-roots efforts to pressure the 'super committee' to repeal Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula.

1 Oct 2011

Walgreens, Walmart partner with Coventry to offer First Health Value Plus in the U.S.

Coventry Health Care, Inc. announced today that it has joined in partnership for 2012 with the nation's largest and best known names in retail and pharmacy—Walgreens, Walmart, and Target—to offer a novel Medicare prescription drug plan known as First Health Value Plus.

1 Oct 2011

Medicare News and Research

First Edition: October 4, 2011

Senate Republicans doubt prospects for 'grand bargain'

Medicare home-health firms under scrutiny

Viewpoints: Mixing Obama and Ryan's plans, cancer rationing and stalling federal aid

Hospitalization for an acute event can lead to long-term institutionalization

Roundup: Blue Shield of Calif. drops coverage of controversial drug in breast cancer treatment; Perry presses stem cell therapy

NAHC statement on Senate Finance Committee report

Florida AHCA renews Medicaid Management Information System service agreement with HP

First Edition: October 3, 2011

HealthPort is the first HIH to transmit records via CMS' esMD gateway

MercyCare Health Plans provides new Medicare Advantage product

Palmetto establishes formal coverage policy for all Medicare patients

HealthSpring announces its 2012 Medicare offerings

Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care President expresses concern over job instability

State highlights: Many states moving workers' children to CHIP plans

Tips for seniors to avoid serious complications from prescription meds

New MFA report: Total medical expenses increase 1.7% in 2010

Prostate cancer patients treated with CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System enrolled in RPCR

Hospital, physician groups work to advance, protect interests in deficit reduction debate

Walgreens, Walmart partner with Coventry to offer First Health Value Plus in the U.S.

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