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.

Company reaches $28 million settlement for Medicare program

The Tennesseean: "Healthways Inc. will return $28 million to Medicare's overseer under a settlement related to the company's participation in a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of its nurse-based health coaching for chronically ill seniors." The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had paid the company $72 million for the pilot program, which ended two years ago, under the condition that it meet "specific targets for cost savings, health outcomes and patient satisfaction."

7 Dec 2010

Aetna announces agreement to acquire Medicity

Aetna today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Medicity, a health information exchange technology company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

7 Dec 2010

IASIS Healthcare fourth quarter net revenue increases 1.6% to $629.9 million

IASIS Healthcare LLC today announced financial and operating results for the fiscal fourth quarter and year ended September 30, 2010.

7 Dec 2010

Watson, Natco confirm development agreement for generic Revlimid

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Natco Pharma Limited today confirmed an exclusive, U.S. development and license agreement, to develop and commercialize lenalidomide 5, 10, 15 and 25 mg tablets. The companies also confirmed that Natco has filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval to market its lenalidomide 5, 10, 15 and 25 mg product. Natco's lenalidomide tablets are generic versions of Celgene's Revlimid ® Tablets.

7 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 7, 2010

In today's headlines, Senate leaders appear to be nearing a one-year deal on Medicare's physician pay problem.

7 Dec 2010

Major depression reduces success rate of quitting smoking

Depressed smokers want to quit the nicotine habit just as much as non-depressed smokers, but a new study suggests that depression can put a kink in their success.

7 Dec 2010

Early physical therapy associated with fewer subsequent injections, surgery, physician visits: Study

The American Physical Therapy Association is pointing to a new study on low back pain in Medicare patients in its efforts to encourage the newly established Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to promptly launch a demonstration project on direct access to physical therapist services that was recommended in the recent health reform law.

7 Dec 2010

Research roundup: Early retiree insurance; high deductible plans and skipped care; innovation and FDA

Health Care Use And Decision Making Among Lower-Income Families In High-Deductible Health Plans - This study examines the health care experiences of lower-income families (those with incomes that were less than 300% of the federal poverty level) with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) compared to higher-income families.

7 Dec 2010

GOP's rallying cry on health reform: states' rights

A Republican senator is planning on introducing legislation this week that would allow state officials to challenge federal regulations before they go into effect. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told The Hill that his states'-rights bill is in large part a reaction to Democrats' healthcare reform law, which Republicans claim would create 159 'boards, commissions, bureaus, programs and offices of the federal government.

7 Dec 2010

State roundup: Wash. state to pay most of state worker premiums; Budget cuts and mental health in N.Y.; Idaho fraud

Gov. Chris Gregoire told state workers for months that they'd have to pay a bigger share of health-care costs — equal to 26 percent of their health-insurance premiums — because of a looming multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. That all changed when Gregoire's office agreed this week to have workers pay 15 percent of health-care premium costs, with the state picking up the other 85 percent in the next two-year budget (Garber, 12/3).

7 Dec 2010

Today's Op-Eds: ObamaCare and FEHBP; California prisons; and workhorse Medicaid

Even Washington's stupidest scandals can be revealing, and so it is with the liberal cri de snore that Republicans ought to renounce health insurance. Democrats have inadvertently drawn up another indictment of ObamaCare (12/4).

6 Dec 2010

Texas gov. Perry backs away from Medicaid dropout threat

Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program are breaking the state's budget, but opting out of the federal programs would have a devastating effect on health care delivery in Texas, according to a state report issued Friday. The report said most of the methods for fixing Medicaid spending in Texas will require acts of Congress, not the Legislature, to give the state greater flexibility in how the programs are run and a greater share of the national Medicaid financing.

6 Dec 2010

Elimination of first month purchase option for power wheelchairs will hurt Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas

For 12 years, Gerald Sloan, owner of Progressive Medical Equipment, LLC, has provided home medical equipment to Medicare patients from his retail outlets near Kansas City and St. Louis, and he is also vice president of the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services (MAMES). Today, Sloan is concerned that the elimination of the first month purchase option for Medicare beneficiaries requiring power wheelchairs will prevent patients in rural areas from receiving the mobility assistance that has been prescribed by their physicians.

4 Dec 2010

THCA has serious concerns regarding any effort to drop elders out of federal Medicaid program

On behalf of an aging Texas elderly population who depend upon adequate Medicaid funding to meet their growing care needs, and on behalf of the staff and facilities that are a mainstay of local economies throughout the state, THCA has serious concerns regarding any effort to drop out of the federal Medicaid program.

4 Dec 2010

LHC Group alters 2010 guidance due to reduction in Medicare reimbursement

LHC Group, Inc., a national provider of home health and hospice services, announced today that the Company is adjusting its full year earnings per share outlook for 2010 solely due to the 4.89% reduction to Medicare reimbursement that was outlined in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update for Calendar Year 2011, which was released on November 3, 2010, following the Company's third quarter earnings call.

4 Dec 2010

Debt panel members vote today; Some say recommendations will shape future efforts to reduce health costs

News outlets report that as the presidential debt commission plans to vote today, the final recommendations could shape the debate on how budgeteers treat Medicare, Medicaid and health care costs in the future -- regardless of the vote tally.

4 Dec 2010

In New York, quiet Medicaid spending talks proceed while a Michigan insurer adds a range of new insurance products

Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo and the state's health-care union are in quiet talks over Medicaid spending in an effort to avoid a bitter showdown next year over the state budget (Gershman, 12/3).

4 Dec 2010

Teva comments on Lovenox’s patent infringement lawsuit

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. commented today on the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sandoz Inc.

3 Dec 2010

Debt panel proposals target health costs

A White House-appointed commission's deficit-taming proposals would affect every corner of society. Workers with solid coverage on the job, seniors, drug companies, trial lawyers, hospitals, doctors, state governments and federal employees would all feel the effects.

3 Dec 2010

Republican governors want health law flexibility, could help insurers with reform

More than a dozen Republican governors-elect plotted ways to unravel the Democrats' health-care overhaul and to give states more freedom in regulating programs like Medicaid during a meeting late Wednesday with incoming Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

2 Dec 2010

Medicaid News and Research

Company reaches $28 million settlement for Medicare program

Aetna announces agreement to acquire Medicity

IASIS Healthcare fourth quarter net revenue increases 1.6% to $629.9 million

Watson, Natco confirm development agreement for generic Revlimid

First Edition: December 7, 2010

Major depression reduces success rate of quitting smoking

Early physical therapy associated with fewer subsequent injections, surgery, physician visits: Study

Research roundup: Early retiree insurance; high deductible plans and skipped care; innovation and FDA

GOP's rallying cry on health reform: states' rights

State roundup: Wash. state to pay most of state worker premiums; Budget cuts and mental health in N.Y.; Idaho fraud

Today's Op-Eds: ObamaCare and FEHBP; California prisons; and workhorse Medicaid

Texas gov. Perry backs away from Medicaid dropout threat

Elimination of first month purchase option for power wheelchairs will hurt Medicare beneficiaries in rural areas

THCA has serious concerns regarding any effort to drop elders out of federal Medicaid program

LHC Group alters 2010 guidance due to reduction in Medicare reimbursement

Debt panel members vote today; Some say recommendations will shape future efforts to reduce health costs

In New York, quiet Medicaid spending talks proceed while a Michigan insurer adds a range of new insurance products

Teva comments on Lovenox’s patent infringement lawsuit

Debt panel proposals target health costs

Republican governors want health law flexibility, could help insurers with reform

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

Advancing Intracellular Delivery with LumiPore®

Latest News