Medicaid News and Research

RSS

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.

State news: Ariz. may cut fewer from Medicaid; Pa. adultbasic closes

In a meeting with the Obama administration Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer proposed some Medicaid changes that she hopes will allow Arizona to drop fewer people than previously proposed from the state's Medicaid rolls. Brewer's office already has received permission to cut coverage for 250,000 members, mostly childless adults, as the state tries to close an ongoing budget shortfall.

2 Mar 2011

Barbour, other Republicans attack Medicaid requirements, 'Romneycare'

Three governors testified before the Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee today, as the GOP released a report on Medicaid costs.

2 Mar 2011

Trial date set for Teva's generic COPAXONE patent infringement litigation against Momenta

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. today announced that the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has set a trial date of September 7, 2011 in the Company's ongoing patent infringement litigation against Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc./Sandoz Inc. and Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc./Mylan Inc./Natco Pharma Ltd. regarding their purported generic versions of COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection).

2 Mar 2011

Budget pressures, health law expansions trigger Medicaid skirmishes

Policy proposals — such as turning the program into state block grants unencumbered by federal requirements, as well as the continuing push by some governors to relax maintenance of eligibility standards — are at the crux of these flare-ups.

2 Mar 2011

Physician administered preventive dental program reduces tooth decay treatment among young children

A preventive dental program targeting preschoolers under age 4 administered by physicians instead of dentists effectively reduces the need for tooth decay-related treatment among young children, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study shows.

2 Mar 2011

Viewpoints: GOP Govs. on Medicaid 'flexibility'; 'attack' on planned parenthood; following doctors' orders not so easy

Medicaid is bureaucratic and costly, and the stimulus and new federal health care law have made a bad problem even worse, shackling states with unrealistic mandates.

2 Mar 2011

AMGA releases comments on preliminary proposals for Stage 2 Meaningful Use objectives

The American Medical Group Association, a trade association representing multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care, today released its comments on a request for information from the Health Information Technology Policy Committee on its preliminary proposals for Stage 2 Meaningful Use objectives.

1 Mar 2011

Axolotl's two EHR systems receive ONC-ATCB certification

Axolotl Corp. announced that two of its electronic health record systems - Axolotl EHR, version 7 and Elysium EMR Lite - have received Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT Authorized Testing and Certification Body 2011/2012 certifications in accordance with Eligible Provider certification criteria adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

1 Mar 2011

ACP praises Obama for 'Empowering States to Innovate Act' on health insurance coverage

The American College of Physicians today applauded President Obama for advocating that states have an earlier option to design their own approaches to provide coverage to their residents, as long as it is comparable to those offered through the health exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.

1 Mar 2011

LifeWatch fourth quarter revenues increase 11.9% to $21.9 million

LifeWatch AG, the leading provider of wireless telemedicine, today announces the results for the fourth quarter 2010 and full fiscal year 2010 and provides an outlook for 2011. LifeWatch marked the end of a challenging year with a return to growth and profitability in the fourth quarter of 2010.

1 Mar 2011

Obama says he backs state flexibility for health law's coverage goals

The New York Times: "In remarks to the National Governors Association, Mr. Obama said he backed legislation that would enable states to request federal permission to withdraw from the law's mandates in 2014 rather than in 2017 as long as they could prove that they could find other ways to cover as many people as the original law would and at the same cost.

1 Mar 2011

Health law ups the ante in state-federal Medicaid budget battle

As this health insurance program for low-income people continues to place a huge burden on state budgets, governors are pressing for more flexibility regarding Medicaid's eligibility standards. The health law's expansion of this program — scheduled to take effect in 2014 — adds a sense of imperative to the conversation, as do the spending cuts being considered by Congress.

28 Feb 2011

Regulators face challenge of defining 'essential care' benefits

As federal regulators — in their efforts to implement the health law — work to define what basic medical services health insurers must cover under the measure, another set of regs, those dealing with accountable care organizations, are stalled at the Office of Management and Budget.

28 Feb 2011

Deal to avert gov't shutdown appears within reach

A recent short-term spending plan that emerged from the House Appropriations Committee includes millions of dollars in cuts to federal health programs. Meanwhile, congressional efforts to reach agreement on a long-term spending plan may be getting more complicated.

28 Feb 2011

Viewpoints: Judge Kessler's decision; Utah is role model; Malpractice system flaws

The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working classes -- pitting unionized workers against nonunionized, public-sector workers against nonpublic, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don't believe these programs will be there for them and the poor against the working middle class.

28 Feb 2011

State News: N.Y. Medicaid's compromise; Va. ups health spending; Medi-Cal ruling

One of the most familiar criticisms of the new national health care law is that it doesn't do much to contain costs. ... Cost controls are supposed to come later. "Later" has arrived now for Massachusetts' statewide plan, enacted in 2006 and similar in many ways to the federal one. Some 98 percent of all adults and nearly 100 percent of all children are covered, but costs have spiraled out of control.

28 Feb 2011