Medicare News and Research

RSS

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The costs of public employees' health benefits, more on Medicare Advantage, and will reform undermine medical innovation?

We want to spend just a little less, so that we have more money for other purposes. And we want to spend just a little differently, so that we're getting a higher quality, more humane health care system (Jonathan Cohn, 8/30).

30 Aug 2010

Health IT: New Medicaid rules, a race for meaningful use, fraud prevention

Instructions for state Medicaid directors to distribute some of the funding for electronic medical records through their programs beginning next year have been circulated by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, American Medical News reports. "The incentive program stipulates that the federal government will pay the full cost of Medicaid bonuses to eligible physicians who adopt certified EMR technology in a way that meets the government's 'meaningful use' criteria.

30 Aug 2010

Patient Home Monitoring releases Reverse Take Over third quarter 2010 results

Patient Home Monitoring, a new company focused on in-home cardiology healthcare services, today released its post Reverse Take Over third quarter financial results, which primarily represent the period from the RTO on June 2, 2010 to June 30, 2010.

30 Aug 2010

Independent drugstore lobby demands more 'transparency' for PBMs in pharmacy supply chain

"Despite recent press revelations of its 'top secret' lobbying campaign to maintain the confidentiality of its own Medicaid pricing information, the independent drugstore lobby continues to demand more 'transparency' for others in the pharmacy supply chain, most notably PBMs.

30 Aug 2010

Boehringer Ingelheim announces sub-analysis result of RE-LY trial

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced results from a pre-specified, retrospective, un-blinded sub-analysis of the RE-LY trial the largest atrial fibrillation outcomes trial ever conducted were published in The Lancet.

30 Aug 2010

US Oncology engages Milliman to develop physician-payer risk contracting model

Innovent Oncology, a subsidiary of US Oncology, has engaged Milliman, a premier global, actuarial and consulting firm, to help develop models in which physician-led oncology organizations can contract around risk, with the intent of negotiating with payers in the first half of 2011.

30 Aug 2010

Roughly one in six cancer survivors forgo some medical care due to cost, Study finds

Two years after undergoing a double mastectomy and chemotherapy so severe she was hospitalized in intensive care for several weeks, breast cancer survivor Denise Hicks should be following what her doctors call 'the plan' which includes additional medications and treatments.

30 Aug 2010

ACOs to offer better coordinate care for patients

HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of managed care market intelligence, reports that provider groups in California, including physician groups, independent practice associations, hospitals and medical foundations, are beginning to shape their role in the anticipated shift towards accountable care organizations (ACO).

30 Aug 2010

Weekend Update: Use of high deductible insurance plans rises; Rubio assails health law; Medicaid vs. schools

The New York Times takes a look at the use of high deductible health insurance plans linked to tax exempt savings accounts and points out that although the plans have been growing in use, the new federal health law may make them "less attractive, if new rules, yet to be announced, require lower deductibles and impose other restrictions."

30 Aug 2010

Today's Opinions: Medicare illusions, small biz perks, abortion regs and more

Americans told lawmakers in Washington that they wanted reforms that would lower costs; Democrats in Congress increased them. They said they wanted Medicare protected; Democrat leaders used it as a piggy bank, cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare to help pay for this massive new government expansion of health care (Sen. Mitch McConnell, 8/26).

27 Aug 2010

Montana Gov. seeks cheaper drugs for residents; Legal immigrants may lose health insurace in Mass.

The Associated Press: "Gov. Brian Schweitzer, cooking up a new plan to get cheaper prescription drugs for state residents, said he wants to let every Montanan get discounted medicine through Medicaid." It's his most recent idea about how "to either import cheaper name-brand prescriptions or to otherwise bypass what he sees as exorbitant prices charged by 'drug cartels.'"

27 Aug 2010

Moody's reports negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals

News outlets report on hospital issues, including a Moody's report suggesting a negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals.

27 Aug 2010

Obama administration touts federal efforts to combat health care fraud

The Los Angeles Times: Obama administration officials at a meeting in Los Angeles Thursday touted their efforts to crack down on health care fraud, "saying quickly expanding criminal enterprises are costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year. ... Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said their agencies were jointly targeting fraud in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs.

27 Aug 2010

Research Roundups: Underinsured children; Hospital progress on electronic records; Federal officlals' work on comparative effectiveness

Underinsurance Among Children In The United States - This study examines the scope of underinsurance, or health insurance that fails to sufficiently meet the needs, of children living in the U.S. Based on information obtained from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the authors of the study report, "19.3% — or 14.1 million — of all U.S. children (and 22.7% of children with continuous insurance coverage) were underinsured in 2007, exceeding the number of children without any insurance at all during the year (3.4 million) and the number who had insurance during only part of the year (7.6 million)."

27 Aug 2010

Groups press Congress to end patients' wait for Medicare

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jessica Marcy reports: "Under federal rules, most people with disabilities who are younger than 65 aren't eligible for Medicare until more than two years after they qualify for Social Security disability income.

27 Aug 2010

HealthSpring announces acquisition of Bravo Health

HealthSpring, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Bravo Health, Inc., an operator of Medicare Advantage coordinated care plans in Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic region, and Texas, and Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans in 43 states.

27 Aug 2010

First Edition: August 27, 2010

In the headlines today, news about U.S. plans to step up efforts to crack down on health care fraud.

27 Aug 2010

Few US hospitals meet federal guidelines for 'meaningful use' in adoption of EHRs

Transforming the U.S. health care system from paper-based to electronic-based may improve health care quality and reduce costs, but a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) suggests that goal is far off. The adoption of basic or comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) by U.S. hospitals increased modestly from 8.7% in 2008 to 11.9% in 2009, but only 2% of hospitals met the federal "meaningful use" standard needed to qualify for government financial incentives.

27 Aug 2010

Premier healthcare alliance labor management program helps hospitals save over $120 million

During a period of economic uncertainty, 150 hospitals and healthcare systems saved more than $120 million in labor and supply costs over the past year by participating in LaborConnect®, a Premier healthcare alliance labor management program.

27 Aug 2010

Medicare expands coverage for tobacco-related counseling

Previously, Medicare rules allowed the program to cover tobacco-related counseling only for beneficiaries who already suffered from a tobacco-related disease. "Under the new policy, Medicare will cover up to two tobacco-cessation counseling tries each year, including as many as four individual sessions per attempt. ...

27 Aug 2010

Medicare News and Research

Today's Opinions and Editorials: The costs of public employees' health benefits, more on Medicare Advantage, and will reform undermine medical innovation?

Health IT: New Medicaid rules, a race for meaningful use, fraud prevention

Patient Home Monitoring releases Reverse Take Over third quarter 2010 results

Independent drugstore lobby demands more 'transparency' for PBMs in pharmacy supply chain

Boehringer Ingelheim announces sub-analysis result of RE-LY trial

US Oncology engages Milliman to develop physician-payer risk contracting model

Roughly one in six cancer survivors forgo some medical care due to cost, Study finds

ACOs to offer better coordinate care for patients

Weekend Update: Use of high deductible insurance plans rises; Rubio assails health law; Medicaid vs. schools

Today's Opinions: Medicare illusions, small biz perks, abortion regs and more

Montana Gov. seeks cheaper drugs for residents; Legal immigrants may lose health insurace in Mass.

Moody's reports negative outlook for not-for-profit hospitals

Obama administration touts federal efforts to combat health care fraud

Research Roundups: Underinsured children; Hospital progress on electronic records; Federal officlals' work on comparative effectiveness

Groups press Congress to end patients' wait for Medicare

HealthSpring announces acquisition of Bravo Health

First Edition: August 27, 2010

Few US hospitals meet federal guidelines for 'meaningful use' in adoption of EHRs

Premier healthcare alliance labor management program helps hospitals save over $120 million

Medicare expands coverage for tobacco-related counseling

Advancing Neuroscience Research Through Collaboration and Patient-Centered Innovation

The impact of vibration on microscopy

How Omics Technologies Are Transforming Biological Research and Drug Discovery

Latest News