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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.

Talecris announces publication of A1PI studies for AAT deficiency in Respiratory Research journal

Talecris Biotherapeutics announced today the publication of combined data from two studies demonstrating that augmentation therapy with Alpha(1)-Proteinase Inhibitor (Human) (A1PI) significantly reduces lung tissue loss in patients with emphysema related to Alpha(1)-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency.

15 Nov 2010

Health law expected to boost Medicaid enrollees in managed care

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: "HealthCare USA is one of dozens of private managed health care plans providing care to nearly half the nearly 50 million Americans on Medicaid, a state-federal program for the poor and disabled.

15 Nov 2010

States and providers threaten to drop Medicaid; shortage of providers threatens Medicaid managed-care networks

After Republicans in the Texas legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal to opt out of Medicaid last week, experts are trying to determine how serious they are, and whether other states are likely to follow suit, Kaiser Health News reports.

15 Nov 2010

Governors line up against the health overhaul

In Wisconsin, Republican Governor-elect Scott Walker asked [Democratic] Gov. Jim Doyle Thursday to freeze his administration's push on high-profile issues ranging from the implementation of the federal health care law to a costly upgrade of a state power plant until Walker takes office on Jan. 3.

15 Nov 2010

States' woes spur Medicaid drop-out talk

This story, a collaboration between Kaiser Health News' Marilyn Werber Serafini, the Kaiser Family Foundation's Robin Toner Distinguished Fellow, and the Texas Tribune's Emily Ramshaw, reports on Medicaid developments: "A week after newly emboldened Republicans in the Texas Legislature floated a radical cost-saving proposal — opting out of the federal Medicaid program — health care experts, economists and think tanks are trying to determine just how serious they are, and if it would even be possible" (Ramshaw and Serafini, 11/12).

12 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 12, 2010

Today's headlines include examinations of Medicaid and state budget issues as well as the next round of the congressional health overhaul fight.

12 Nov 2010

Employer-based insurance, funding to states among future implementation issues

The Atlantic spoke with Andrew Webber, president and CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health, "a national, not-for-profit organization that represents public and private sector employers," who said: "There are a lot of different requirement issues [in the health reform law]. … To be brutally honest, do [employers] like a lot of new regulation? No, they're business people. But I like the delivery system reforms."

12 Nov 2010

Docs continue to worry about Medicare payment cuts while CMS updates ratings for Medicare Advantage plans

WBUR in Boston reports on Medicare payments to doctors and the sustainable growth rate, and "the latest installment of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act and attempts to rein in spending on health care for the elderly." Congress set up the rate formula for doctors pay. But medical costs increased at a greater rate than expected and "Congress started telling doctors they had to take a cut to make the formula work.

12 Nov 2010

GOP prepares to grill Berwick at Senate hearing next week

Bloomberg: "Medicare Administrator Donald Berwick will face critics of President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul next week, his first appearance before Congress since he was appointed in a process that bypassed the Senate. Berwick will testify at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and the Medicaid program for the poor, the panel said today in a statement.

12 Nov 2010

AmerisourceBergen increases quarterly dividend 25% to $0.10 per common share

The Board of Directors of AmerisourceBergen Corporation today increased the Company's quarterly dividend rate 25 percent to $0.10 per common share from $0.08 per common share.

12 Nov 2010

Calif. nurses emerge as political force; Iowa official under fire for strict policy on nursing home inspections; new 'homey' facilities for seniors increasing

One of California's most powerful political players these days is a Bay Area-based nurses' union, which helped torpedo Republican Meg Whitman's efforts to become governor and boosted the prospects of the eventual winning candidate, Democrat Jerry Brown.

12 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 11, 2010

In today's headlines, health law advocates huddle in an effort to defend the measure against GOP efforts to undo it.

11 Nov 2010

Watson’s Uracyst pilot study for interstitial cystitis fails to demonstrate efficacy endpoints

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. pilot study evaluating Uracyst (sodium chondroitin sulfate solution 2.0%) for the treatment of interstitial cystitis did not meet predefined efficacy endpoints.

11 Nov 2010

Ky. Health Plan audit; employee costs in Massachusetts; state reform implementation politics

An organization that manages taxpayer-funded health services for Kentucky's poor and disabled spent freely on luxury hotels, meals, salaries, lobbying and consulting, a state auditor found in a 200-plus-page report which calls for stricter accountability for Passport Health Plan, a Medicaid managed-care provider that serves 164,000 people in Louisville and more than a dozen nearby counties.

10 Nov 2010

CDC report: 50 million Americans uninsured

KBOI (Boise, Idaho)/ABC News Radio: "According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 49.9 million people ages 18 to 64," or about 26.2 percent of the adult population, "had no medical coverage for at least part of the past 12 months. … Moreover, when children 17 and under are factored in, the number of Americans uninsured for at least part of a year span numbered 59.1 million."

10 Nov 2010

Mont. Medicaid managed care plan chills health industry

A plan to privatize some Medicaid services trumpeted by Montana's Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer has received a chilly reception from the health industry, leaving no clear resolution to the state's Medicaid funding problems, The Billings (Mont.) Gazette reports.

10 Nov 2010

ICSI launches new initiative to save health care imaging costs, improve patient care

A new initiative launched by the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, a nonprofit, health care improvement organization, could save the Minnesota health care community more than $28 million annually, as well as improve patient care and provider groups' productivity.

10 Nov 2010

States slash budgets for tobacco-prevention programs; Florida lawmakers consider Medicaid revision; Md. to probe nonprofit mental health clinic

"Many cash-strapped U.S. states are slashing budgets for tobacco-prevention programs, raising alarms among public-health groups as the nation's progress toward getting adult smokers to quit has stalled. The adult smoking rate was 20.6% in 2009, the same as a year earlier and largely unchanged since 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

10 Nov 2010

Depression in nursing home residents often unrecognized

Depression affects approximately 30 to 40 percent of nursing home residents, but it often goes unrecognized, according to American Geriatrics Society, which can lead to lower quality of life or even suicide. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found a series of indicators, other than changes in mood that are associated with the development of depression in nursing home residents.

10 Nov 2010

Families fight to care for disabled kids at home after they reach the age of 21

NPR reports on families who are fighting for continued funding to care for their severely disabled children at home.

10 Nov 2010

Medicaid News and Research

Talecris announces publication of A1PI studies for AAT deficiency in Respiratory Research journal

Health law expected to boost Medicaid enrollees in managed care

States and providers threaten to drop Medicaid; shortage of providers threatens Medicaid managed-care networks

Governors line up against the health overhaul

States' woes spur Medicaid drop-out talk

First Edition: November 12, 2010

Employer-based insurance, funding to states among future implementation issues

Docs continue to worry about Medicare payment cuts while CMS updates ratings for Medicare Advantage plans

GOP prepares to grill Berwick at Senate hearing next week

AmerisourceBergen increases quarterly dividend 25% to $0.10 per common share

Calif. nurses emerge as political force; Iowa official under fire for strict policy on nursing home inspections; new 'homey' facilities for seniors increasing

First Edition: November 11, 2010

Watson’s Uracyst pilot study for interstitial cystitis fails to demonstrate efficacy endpoints

Ky. Health Plan audit; employee costs in Massachusetts; state reform implementation politics

CDC report: 50 million Americans uninsured

Mont. Medicaid managed care plan chills health industry

ICSI launches new initiative to save health care imaging costs, improve patient care

States slash budgets for tobacco-prevention programs; Florida lawmakers consider Medicaid revision; Md. to probe nonprofit mental health clinic

Depression in nursing home residents often unrecognized

Families fight to care for disabled kids at home after they reach the age of 21

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