Medicaid News and Research

RSS

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.

Coronavirus patients caught in conflict between hospital and nursing homes

A wrenching conflict is emerging as the COVID-19 virus storms through U.S. communities: Some patients are falling into a no man's land between hospitals and nursing homes.

30 Mar 2020

Federal judge rules Medicare patients can challenge ‘observation care’ status

Hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries who have been denied coverage for nursing home stays because their time in the hospital was changed from "inpatient" to "observation care" can now appeal to Medicare for reimbursement, a federal judge in Hartford, Connecticut, ruled last week.

30 Mar 2020

Under financial strain, community health centers ramp up coronavirus response

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced $100 million in supplemental funding for community health centers to support the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

27 Mar 2020

California isn’t testing enough children for lead, prompting legislation

In some parts of California, a higher percentage of children who were tested had elevated levels of toxic lead in their blood than in Flint, Michigan, during the height of that city's water crisis.

26 Mar 2020

Study shows disparities in guideline-concordant treatment for NSCLC patients

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-associated deaths in the United States. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a group of lung cancers named for the kinds of cells found in the cancer, constitutes more than 80% of all lung cancer cases.

25 Mar 2020

AGS reinforces the need for medical supplies, telehealth in COVID-19 response to Congress

In letters sent yesterday to Congressional leaders, Vice President Pence, and White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Deborah Birx, MD, experts at the American Geriatrics Society reinforced the need for medical supplies, telehealth, expertise in older adult care, and a range of other priorities in response to COVID-19.

24 Mar 2020

More mental health care utilization reduces odds of suicide among youths, study finds

A multistate study of Medicaid enrollees led by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center found that suicide risk was highest among youth with epilepsy, depression, schizophrenia, substance use and bipolar disorder.

23 Mar 2020

Some hospitals continue with elective surgeries despite COVID-19 crisis

In the same week that physicians at the University of California-San Francisco medical center were wiping down and reusing protective equipment like masks and gowns to conserve resources amid a surge of COVID-19 patients, 90 miles away teams of doctors at UC Davis Medical Center were fully suited up performing breast augmentations, hip replacements and other elective procedures that likely could have been postponed.

21 Mar 2020

Hoping that insurance expansion will help tamp outbreak, 9 states reopen marketplaces

At least nine states are offering their uninsured residents another opportunity to sign up for a health plan this year as they seek new ways to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.

21 Mar 2020

As coronavirus spreads widely, millions of older Americans live in counties with no ICU beds

More than half the counties in America have no intensive care beds, posing a particular danger for more than 7 million people who are age 60 and up - older patients who face the highest risk of serious illness or death from the rapid spread of COVID-19, a Kaiser Health News data analysis shows.

20 Mar 2020

Sebelius, looking back at ACA, says the country’s never ‘seen this kind of battle’

Kathleen Sebelius, who served as secretary of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama, helped lead the administration's negotiations with Congress over the Affordable Care Act and implementation of the law.

19 Mar 2020

Patient navigators reduce ER visits, hospitalization for high consumers of health care

Texas is one of a handful of states operating under a Medicaid 1115 Transformation Waiver that allows the expansion of Medicaid managed care while simultaneously maintaining hospital funding.

18 Mar 2020

Pediatrician uses her 'trusted voice' to underscore the importance of Census

For months in 2019, Chidiogo Anyigbo, M.D., MPH, had been consumed by the need to learn more and read more about the upcoming 2020 Census.

17 Mar 2020

Trump wrongly said health insurers will pay for all coronavirus treatment

As coronavirus cases multiply in the United States, one concern Americans have is what they can expect to pay if they seek treatment.

13 Mar 2020

Striking health inequities between dually enrolled and nondually enrolled older Medicare beneficiaries

In the United States, income inequality has steadily increased over the last several decades. Given widening inequities, health care leaders have been concerned about the health outcomes of older Americans who experience poverty, particularly because prior studies have shown a strong link between socioeconomic status and health.

11 Mar 2020

VCU Health halts 30-year campaign that seized patients’ wages, put liens on homes

In one of the most sweeping moves yet by a nonprofit hospital system to reduce aggressive bill collection, VCU Health is halting seizure of patients' wages and removing thousands of liens against patients' homes, some dating to the 1990s.

11 Mar 2020

FAIR Health launches website feature to aid shared decision making for palliative care

Today FAIR Health launched a groundbreaking website feature that combines clinical and cost information to support seriously and chronically ill patients and their caregivers in the process of shared decision making with clinicians for three palliative care scenarios.

10 Mar 2020

New federal rules will let patients put medical records on smartphones

Federal officials on Monday released groundbreaking rules that will let patients download their electronic health records and other health care data onto their smartphones.

9 Mar 2020

Pence leaves out key details about health coverage of coronavirus testing

Amid ongoing concern about the new coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence sought to assure Americans that their health insurance will cover the tests needed for diagnosis.

6 Mar 2020

With coronavirus lurking, conferences wrestle with whether to cancel

Nearly 100,000 pop culture fans flocked to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle last year, including many dressed as superheroes, aliens and robots. But something scarier than a comic book villain is roiling the conference this year — the spread of the coronavirus.