Medicare News and Research

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Medicare often overpays for wheelchairs, durable medical equipment

(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Sun-Sentinel: Medicare continues to pay high prices - often three times the cost on the private market - for power wheelchairs and other high-cost equipment. "As for the prices, the government is well aware that Medicare often pays too much. The Medicare reimbursement rate for wheelchairs ranges from $490 to $1,750 for the 13-month rental period, depending on the type of chair.

1 Dec 2010

Health law causing ripples in Congress, insurance industry, among doctors

The Washington Post: "One of the most significant savings envisioned in the new health- care law - limiting payments to the private health plans that cover 11 million older Americans under Medicare - is, so far, bringing little of the turbulence that the insurance industry and many Republicans predicted. ... Early clues to the actual effects have now materialized, as elderly Americans may sign up for a health plan for 2011 during an enrollment period through the end of the year, and the warnings of swift, serious damage to the program are not borne out.

1 Dec 2010

The complexity involved in efforts to dismantle the health law

The last time lawmakers repealed a major piece of health care legislation was more than 20 years ago, when vehement opposition to a 1988 measure providing new Medicare prescription drug coverage in exchange for higher income taxes led to repeal 16 months later, CQ HealthBeat reports. Polls are more evenly divided on the newest health care overhaul, and due to the law's unprecedented complexity, "efforts to unwind the measure are as fragmented as the health care system itself."

1 Dec 2010

Quality issues persist at hospitals, plastic surgery centers; use of CT scans in ER increases

Despite intensive efforts to improve patient safety, a six-year study at 10 North Carolina hospitals showed no decline in so-called patient harms, which included medical errors and unavoidable mistakes.

1 Dec 2010

Deficit plans target politically-protected Medicare program

The politically-sacrosanct Medicare program is in the crosshairs of proposals to cut the deficit, prompting possible battles between seniors' advocates and debt-conscious lawmakers, Kaiser Health News reports.

30 Nov 2010

Lame duck update: Congress delays Medicare payment cuts, fails to roll back health law's 1099 provision

Congress on Monday agreed to delay for one month a cut in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors, giving a short-term reprieve to a looming crisis over treatment of the nation's elderly.

30 Nov 2010

Health care models: Accountable Care Organizations, medical homes

Kansas Health Institute News Service examines accountable care organizations (ACOs): "In an effort to combat the lack of coordination that is widely recognized as a major shortcoming of the current health system, the new federal health reform law includes provisions intended to encourage wider use of Accountable Care Organizations or ACOs."

30 Nov 2010

California's largest insurers fined nearly $5 million

Los Angeles Times: "California's seven largest health plans were fined nearly $5 million in total Monday for failing to properly pay medical claims submitted by thousands of doctors and hospitals over the last three years. Insurance regulators said the companies also would pay 'tens of millions of dollars' in restitution to medical providers whose claims were underpaid or incorrectly rejected.

30 Nov 2010

Internists plead Congress to avert scheduled Medicare SGR cut

The American College of Physicians (ACP) today is sending a video to Congressional leaders and others that features internists - speaking in their own words (http://www.acponline.org/advocacy/video/sgr.htm) - issuing a heartfelt plea for Congress to avert the scheduled Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) cut and work toward putting an end to the repeated cycle of cuts. The 3-minute and 25-second video emphasizes how patients, in particular, will be hurt by the scheduled cuts.

30 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 30, 2010

Today's headlines include reports on congressional action on the Medicare doc 'pay fix' as well as results from a new poll related to how the public thinks Medicare should be addressed in the context of deficit reduction.

30 Nov 2010

CompPartners, Emerald Claims Management partner to provide intake and triage services to injured employees

CompPartners has partnered with Emerald Claims Management to provide intake and triage services to injured employees. The program expedites the delivery of medical services to claimants and reduces lost-time claims.

30 Nov 2010

Advanced Data Systems receives eHealthConnecticut REC Qualified Vendor status

Advanced Data Systems (ADS) has been designated an eHealthConnecticut REC Qualified Vendor. Qualified EHR Vendor status assures medical practices in CT that ADS and the MedicsDocAssistant EHR have met the REC's standards and criteria for inclusion in the eHealthConnecticut REC.

30 Nov 2010

Support elusive for debt panel as Wednesday deadline nears

The chairmen of a bipartisan panel appointed by President Barack Obama are altering an early draft of recommendations to reduce the nation's debt, in hopes of attracting broader support, The Wall Street Journal reports. Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican (former) Sen. Alan Simpson "need 14 of the 18 members of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to support their proposal in order to issue a formal recommendation, which could then be voted on by Congress before the end of the year.

30 Nov 2010

Medicare advantage enrollees will see more changes to plans

Medicare Advantage enrollees should make a habit of evaluating their options each year. Though experts say that beneficiaries won't be seeing a lot of changes this time and what changes there are will mostly be for the better it is a good idea for people to go through this annual drill before enrollment ends Dec. 31, just to make sure their plan choice remains a good one.

30 Nov 2010

Australia’s largest skin cancer study

More than 400,000 people will be diagnosed with some form of skin cancer this year and the most deadly form of the disease, melanoma, will claim more than a thousand lives in Australia say researchers. Queensland has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world with fair-skinned people being most affected with the strong subtropical sun.

29 Nov 2010

ACO's raise hope but also questions

The Wall Street Journal: "Spurred by incentives in the federal health-overhaul law, hospitals and doctors around the country are beginning to create new entities that aim to provide more efficient health care," called ACO's. "But these efforts are already raising questions about whether they can truly save money, or if they might actually drive costs higher. In Arizona, Tucson Medical Center is forming a company that the hospital will own jointly with local physicians' practices.

29 Nov 2010

First Edition: November 29, 2010

Today's headlines include advance coverage of Congress' lame duck session, as well as news about strategies surrounding deficit-reduction efforts and how they might impact health care costs.

29 Nov 2010

Lame duck session to include votes on Medicare 'doc fix,' health law's 1099 tax provision

Lawmakers, after taking Thanksgiving week off, arrive in town Monday along with the Capitol Christmas tree for the final stretch of the postelection session. Facing a daunting agenda, they could have that tree in their sights well into Christmas week.

28 Nov 2010

Hospital errors in U.S. continue despite efforts: Study

A new study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) showed that all the efforts to make American hospitals error free and safe are inadequate.

25 Nov 2010

Public health: Frequency of dialysis treatment questioned, chemotherapy drug shortages

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests that receiving dialysis six days a week results in better self-reported patient health than the conventional treatment of three times per week.

25 Nov 2010