Medicare News and Research

RSS

Today's selection of opinions and editorials

As things stand, it's a wonder that so many people are fighting so much over something so toothless (11/30).

30 Nov 2009

Medicare prescription drug plan premiums to average 11 percent rise in 2010

Premiums for Medicare Part D plans will rise an average of 11 percent next year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The cost for all Medicare prescription plans has increased 50 percent nationally since 2006.

30 Nov 2009

Top Maryland hospitals worry about effects of health reform

Leaders at Maryland's top hospitals worry about efforts to cut hospital costs in the health care reform proposals.

30 Nov 2009

Centene announces new program to educate children on the importance of active and healthy lifestyle

Centene Corporation today announced the creation of a program called Kids' Club, aimed at educating its child members on a variety of health topics. Centene's health plans are reaching out directly to children with newsletters, contests and other innovative events, such as readings with the author of "The Adventures of Thumbs Up Johnnie(TM)."

30 Nov 2009

Royal Philips Electronics demonstrates its portfolio of dose radiation managing products

Royal Philips Electronics today announced its response to an industry need by showing its portfolio of products designed to manage dose radiation at this year's 95th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago.

From Philips Healthcare 30 Nov 2009

Rural beneficiaries more likely to undergo joint replacement surgeries than urban recipients

Southern Illinois University researchers determined Medicare beneficiaries living in rural areas were 27% more likely than urban recipients to have total knee or hip replacement surgeries.

30 Nov 2009

Public option expected to dominate Senate debate on health reform this week

The Associated Press: "... the all-hands-on-deck Democratic coalition that allowed the bill to advance is fracturing already. ... Some Democratic senators say they'll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they'll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed overboard.

29 Nov 2009

Many amendments to massive Senate health bill expected

The Senate is scheduled to begin debate Monday on health care, and according to some news organizations, they have their work cut out for themselves.

27 Nov 2009

Researchers predict diabetes cases to double and cost to triple in the next 25 years

The diabetes population in the United States will almost double over the next 25 years and annual medical spending on the disease is projected to hit $336 billion, up from $113 billion today, according to a study published in the December issue of Diabetes Care. The National Changing Diabetes® Program (NCDP), a program of Novo Nordisk, commissioned the analysis by a team from the University of Chicago.

27 Nov 2009

White House advisers: Senate reform bill controls health costs

In a pre-Thanksgiving conference call with reporters, senior Obama administration officials praised cost controls in the Senate health reform bill.

26 Nov 2009

Prevent Health Care Fraud Act of 2009: American Association for Homecare endorses bill

The American Association for Homecare endorses the new "Prevent Health Care Fraud Act of 2009," S. 2128, which is designed to substantially improve tools and resources available to prevent fraud in Medicare. The bill was introduced by Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.).

26 Nov 2009

Senators away for holiday continue health debate at home

Senators away for the Thanksgiving holiday are continuing the health care reform debate with constituents and are facing far less vitriol than during the August recess.

25 Nov 2009

Lobbyists – including some surprise players – keep the heat on health legislation

Washington groups have lobbied Congress and the public in nearly every imaginable direction on health reform. But those groups include a few that you may not have guessed would have an interest.

25 Nov 2009

Experts call for greater crackdown on Medicare fraud

Efforts to crack down on Medicare fraud heat up while some experts say more should be done.

25 Nov 2009

Health reform financing ideas watered down, questions remain on premiums, taxes

The New York Times reports that while the Senate health bill "includes nearly every big idea that health economists and medical researchers have for slowing cost growth — as well as for improving the patchwork quality of American health care, ... many of the ideas, like the rule on Medicare reimbursement, have been at least partly neutered. A provision to punish hospitals for infecting their patients, for example, would cut payments for the related treatments by a mere 1 percent.

25 Nov 2009

Health companies' momentum may cut right through reform savings

Health companies have done better than the rest of corporate America during the past decade, MarketWatch/Seattle Times reports. While profits at the S&P 500 companies declined slightly over 10 years, "[d]ata compiled by MarketWatch show that the 52 health-care companies in the index are about to close out the decade with average profits that nearly tripled."

25 Nov 2009

Fact checks examine various health care reform claims

The Christian Science Monitor reports on four key issues - a public option, raising taxes and cutting costs, individual mandates and abortion - that may become points of major differences when expected debate begins Nov. 30 on the Senate bill. The Monitor examines how each issue is covered in both the House and the Senate bills (Chaddock, 11/24).

25 Nov 2009

AARP calls for Idaho's members of Congress to support real health care reform

As the debate over health care reform is expected to pick up in the Senate after Thanksgiving, notices of health care premium increases are hitting mailboxes across Idaho -- leaving many families wondering how they'll be able to afford the hikes. While high health care costs have left nearly 15% of Idaho without insurance, as benefits run out for the state's 67,300 jobless residents that number will jump in the coming months.

25 Nov 2009

Healthways and Physicians Health Choice agree to provide SilverSneakers Fitness Program

Healthways, Inc. and Physicians Health Choice today announced an agreement to provide the Healthways SilverSneakers® Fitness Program, the nation’s leading exercise program for older adults, to eligible Physicians Health Choice plan members in Texas, Florida, New Mexico and Arkansas beginning in January 2010.

25 Nov 2009

Results of impact of 2010 CMS Physician Fee Schedule survey released

The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) has released the initial results of a survey about the impact of the 2010 CMS Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on patients and practices.

25 Nov 2009

Medicare News and Research

Today's selection of opinions and editorials

Medicare prescription drug plan premiums to average 11 percent rise in 2010

Top Maryland hospitals worry about effects of health reform

Centene announces new program to educate children on the importance of active and healthy lifestyle

Royal Philips Electronics demonstrates its portfolio of dose radiation managing products

Rural beneficiaries more likely to undergo joint replacement surgeries than urban recipients

Public option expected to dominate Senate debate on health reform this week

Many amendments to massive Senate health bill expected

Researchers predict diabetes cases to double and cost to triple in the next 25 years

White House advisers: Senate reform bill controls health costs

Prevent Health Care Fraud Act of 2009: American Association for Homecare endorses bill

Senators away for holiday continue health debate at home

Lobbyists – including some surprise players – keep the heat on health legislation

Experts call for greater crackdown on Medicare fraud

Health reform financing ideas watered down, questions remain on premiums, taxes

Health companies' momentum may cut right through reform savings

Fact checks examine various health care reform claims

AARP calls for Idaho's members of Congress to support real health care reform

Healthways and Physicians Health Choice agree to provide SilverSneakers Fitness Program

Results of impact of 2010 CMS Physician Fee Schedule survey released

Revolutionizing Life Science: An Interview with SCIEX on ASMS, the SCIEX 7500+ System, and AI-Driven Quantitation

From Discovery Biology to ELRIG Chair

Breathing New Life into Diagnostics: Plasmion's SICRIT Technology

Latest News