Medicare News and Research

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Two-week budget measure signed into law

President Barack Obama invited congressional leaders to meet with Vice President Joe Biden in hopes of taking on longer-term fiscal issues such as Medicare spending. Meanwhile, a new poll demonstrates that taking on such entitlement programs is challenging, because public opinion does not necessarily endorse deep cuts in this area.

4 Mar 2011

U.S. Representatives, Gene Green introduce bipartisan bill to ensure Medicare reimbursement

U.S. Representatives Ed Whitfield and Gene Green today introduced H.R. 905.

4 Mar 2011

Health care fraud a hot topic on Capitol Hill

Hearings in the House and Senate Wednesday examined public and private efforts to address health care fraud. And the Government Accountability Office issued a new report on fraudulent or improper billing to Medicare.

3 Mar 2011

Mater improves communication with external healthcare providers

A pilot of new web-based software designed to improve communication between Mater Health Services and external providers is being rolled out across Brisbane.

3 Mar 2011

Block grant plan among Medicaid alternatives eyed by GOP

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is among those who advocate this concept, but the Obama administration's Medicaid chief "shot down" the approach.

3 Mar 2011

First Edition: March 3, 2011

Today's headlines highlight the difficulties lawmakers will face in finding a compromise on long-term budget issues, such as Medicare and Medicaid spending.

3 Mar 2011

NHCAA's Seven Guiding Principles for Policymakers to combat health care fraud

As the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means and House Energy and Commerce Committees and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee all hold hearings today on combating health care fraud, waste, and abuse, an analysis that examines the "Seven Guiding Principles for Policymakers" to fighting health care fraud invites new questions about legislative efforts to reduce accountability and oversight of independent drugstores, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association said today.

3 Mar 2011

SAMHSA survey: 65% of substance abuse treatment facilities accept private health insurance

A new nationwide survey of substance abuse treatment facilities reveals that in 2008 nearly two thirds accepted some private health insurance payment.

3 Mar 2011

Health law's coverage expansions tally $118 billion in state costs, Republicans say

House and Senate Republicans issued a report Tuesday in advance of a Capitol Hill hearing charging that the health law's expansion of Medicaid will come with a cost to states that is far more than congressional auditors estimated.

3 Mar 2011

1099 repeal measure's pay-for mechanism triggers democratic concern

With a House vote scheduled for Thursday, the White House is on record opposing the "offset" used to pay for the repeal of this reporting provision included in the health law, but it also stopped short of threatening a veto. This part of the bill also may cause it to lose bipartisan support in the lower chamber.

3 Mar 2011

WARFARIN study to explore impact of genetic testing on individualized dosing

Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, Inc. announced today that the WARFARIN Study was initiated in major hospital systems nationwide to assess the utility of genetic testing to determine a personalized warfarin dose for individual patients to reduce their risk of serious bleeding or clotting events.

2 Mar 2011

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

New national public awareness campaign for colon cancer prevention and screening

Almost 40 percent of Americans at risk for colon cancer are not getting screened. StopColonCancerNow.com, a national public awareness campaign for colon cancer prevention and screening, is working to improve that statistic by urging anyone 50 and older to get screened during National Colon Cancer Awareness Month in March.

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

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

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

Medicare News and Research

Two-week budget measure signed into law

U.S. Representatives, Gene Green introduce bipartisan bill to ensure Medicare reimbursement

Health care fraud a hot topic on Capitol Hill

Mater improves communication with external healthcare providers

Block grant plan among Medicaid alternatives eyed by GOP

First Edition: March 3, 2011

NHCAA's Seven Guiding Principles for Policymakers to combat health care fraud

SAMHSA survey: 65% of substance abuse treatment facilities accept private health insurance

Health law's coverage expansions tally $118 billion in state costs, Republicans say

1099 repeal measure's pay-for mechanism triggers democratic concern

WARFARIN study to explore impact of genetic testing on individualized dosing

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

New national public awareness campaign for colon cancer prevention and screening

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

Budget pressures, health law expansions trigger Medicaid skirmishes

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

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

Axolotl's two EHR systems receive ONC-ATCB certification

LifeWatch fourth quarter revenues increase 11.9% to $21.9 million

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

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