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Roundup: Conn.'s 'moderate' Medicaid cuts; Calif. adult day care threatened; disabled face 'unclear futures'

The national Center for Reproductive Rights filed a federal lawsuit Monday to halt implementation of the requirements that women wanting an abortion must have a sonogram and hear a detailed description of the fetus. The group called the mandates patronizing and an intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship.

15 Jun 2011

Merck announces changes to high-dose simvastatin prescribing information in the U.S.

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced changes to the prescribing information in the United States for the highest dose of simvastatin, 80 mg, and the use of simvastatin with certain other medicines.

9 Jun 2011

Roundup: Poll finds growing support in Mass. for health law

Support for the Massachusetts universal health care law has increased since 2009, according to a poll of the state's residents -- even as the law has become the subject of blistering attacks in national and presidential politics, and health care costs soar.

6 Jun 2011

From the legislatures: Calif. Assembly passes rate regulation bill; Wis. lawmakers vote to raise health costs for new firefighters, police

The state Assembly approved a bill Thursday that would give state regulators the power to reject or modify excessive health insurance premium increases similar to the way auto and homeowner insurance is regulated in California. Lawmakers voted 47-28 to approve the measure after Republican legislators walked off the floor in protest. AB52 now moves to the state Senate.

4 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 3, 2011

Reporting for Kaiser Health News, Marilyn Chase writes: "Memorial, a 278-bed hospital in this city 55 miles north of San Francisco, sued California to try to stop the payment reductions. Now it is part of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could redefine states' responsibilities on Medicaid services and ultimately determine whether Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown can go forward with cuts he says are vital to closing the state's budget gap.

3 Jun 2011

State roundup: Texas special session highlights health issues

States are slashing funding, and more cuts are expected. But in places like Reno, where police have teamed up with counselors to aid the mentally ill, the services don't seem expendable.

3 Jun 2011

First Edition: June 2, 2011

Today's health policy headlines cover a gamut of develoments, including reports about the latest Medicare dust up in the ongoing budget negotiations and about oral arguments in the latest round of appellate court action related to health law legal challenges.

2 Jun 2011

Texas special legislative session on budget will deal with Medicaid; Calif. shifting Medicaid to managed care

Gov. Rick Perry was expected to begin weighing a Republican presidential bid this week but instead found himself enmeshed again in the battle over the state budget. Political watchers here will scrutinize the governor's special-session agenda for clues to his national intentions. So far, besides the budget, it includes a long-term overhaul of Medicaid and redrawing congressional districts.

2 Jun 2011

Viewpoints: More on Medicare's 'hard choices'; elderly and anti-psychotics; Calif. insurance rate hikes

Unless we make hard decisions now, in less than a decade every dollar of federal revenue will go to covering the costs of Medicare, Social Security and interest payments on our debt. ... I admire Congressman Paul Ryan's honest attempt to save Medicare.

2 Jun 2011

Administration seeks to stop Medicaid providers, recipients from suing states

Medicaid recipients and health care providers cannot sue state officials to challenge cuts in Medicaid payments, even if such cuts compromise access to health care for poor people, the Obama administration has told the Supreme Court.

1 Jun 2011

Physicians brief Congressional staffers on patient-physician relationship

On May 26, three physicians, including Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX), briefed Congressional staffers on the effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes called ObamaCare, on the patient-physician relationship and patient care.

1 Jun 2011

States struggle to rein in medical costs

About half of all states are cutting public health care, an area that is already stretched thin by previous cuts in 31 states and a spike in Medicaid enrollment induced by high unemployment. Services for mental health, abused children, the elderly and the underinsured are the primary targets (Hube, 5/27).

27 May 2011

State roundup: Budget battles continue in statehouses

Massachusetts labor leaders have given up their full-throated battle to protect certain collective bargaining rights amid an increasing likelihood that the Legislature will empower local governments to raise the health insurance costs of teachers, firefighters, and other municipal employees.

27 May 2011

N.J. seeks waiver to trim Medicaid rolls; Texas trims Medicaid budget

New Jersey is trying to deal with bulging Medicaid costs by trimming new eligibility for the government health-care program to the bare bones. The Christie administration wants to cut the state's relatively generous program way back as part of a "waiver" it is seeking from the Obama administration.

21 May 2011

Research roundup: Closing E.R.S; Predicting future health costs; Providing rural residents with specialized care

Factors Associated With The Closures Of Emergency Departments In The United States -- This study looks at the community, market and medical factors that led to an increase of urban hospital-based emergency department closures.

20 May 2011

Fla. officials facing tight timeframe for Medicaid overhaul; Advocates in Ariz. threaten lawsuit on cuts

Needing federal approval to overhaul the Medicaid program, Florida health officials have less than three months to develop a detailed plan to sell to the Obama administration.

20 May 2011

Study: Costs get in way of cancer patients refilling their prescriptions

About 10 percent of cancer patients aren't taking the oral medicines they need either because of the cost or they feel they are already taking too many other drugs, according to a study released by health-care consulting company Avalere Health late Wednesday.

20 May 2011

Study: 10% of cancer patients fail to fill initial oral oncolytic prescriptions

Ten percent of cancer patients failed to fill their initial prescriptions for oral anti-cancer drugs, according to a new study published jointly today in the Journal of Oncology Practice and American Journal of Managed Care.

19 May 2011

Florida plan to revamp Medicaid raises questions; Texas hospitals complain about Medicaid rate cuts

To visit the low-rise medical offices dotting the sun-bleached highways of Broward County is to meet doctors and patients who complain of being guinea pigs in a social experiment gone wrong.

12 May 2011

Florida's largest insurer enters Medicaid system; Texas may ask feds for block grant

In a potentially huge change, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida plans to enter the Medicaid program and compete in what likely will become a statewide managed-care system. Blue Cross, the state's largest health insurer, has stayed out of Medicaid in the past. But its new stance comes as Florida lawmakers seek to enroll almost all Medicaid beneficiaries in managed-care plans -- and as last year's federal health law prepares to funnel more people into the system.

12 May 2011

Managed Care News and Research

Roundup: Conn.'s 'moderate' Medicaid cuts; Calif. adult day care threatened; disabled face 'unclear futures'

Merck announces changes to high-dose simvastatin prescribing information in the U.S.

Roundup: Poll finds growing support in Mass. for health law

From the legislatures: Calif. Assembly passes rate regulation bill; Wis. lawmakers vote to raise health costs for new firefighters, police

First Edition: June 3, 2011

State roundup: Texas special session highlights health issues

First Edition: June 2, 2011

Texas special legislative session on budget will deal with Medicaid; Calif. shifting Medicaid to managed care

Viewpoints: More on Medicare's 'hard choices'; elderly and anti-psychotics; Calif. insurance rate hikes

Administration seeks to stop Medicaid providers, recipients from suing states

Physicians brief Congressional staffers on patient-physician relationship

States struggle to rein in medical costs

State roundup: Budget battles continue in statehouses

N.J. seeks waiver to trim Medicaid rolls; Texas trims Medicaid budget

Research roundup: Closing E.R.S; Predicting future health costs; Providing rural residents with specialized care

Fla. officials facing tight timeframe for Medicaid overhaul; Advocates in Ariz. threaten lawsuit on cuts

Study: Costs get in way of cancer patients refilling their prescriptions

Study: 10% of cancer patients fail to fill initial oral oncolytic prescriptions

Florida plan to revamp Medicaid raises questions; Texas hospitals complain about Medicaid rate cuts

Florida's largest insurer enters Medicaid system; Texas may ask feds for block grant

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