Medicare News and Research

RSS

ChatGPT shows promise in polypharmacy management

Polypharmacy, or the concurrent use of five or more medications, is common in older adults and increases the risk of adverse drug interactions.

18 Apr 2024

Medicare’s push to improve chronic care attracts businesses, but not many doctors

Carrie Lester looks forward to the phone call every Thursday from her doctors' medical assistant, who asks how she's doing and if she needs prescription refills. The assistant counsels her on dealing with anxiety and her other health issues.

18 Apr 2024

Nursing resources key to improving patient experience ratings

The nursing work environment, nurse education, and staffing levels are independent factors affecting hospital scores on a key measure of patient-centered care – with significant implications for reimbursements, reports a study in Medical Care.

17 Apr 2024

Kidney-CHAMP framework provides equitable access and overcomes barriers to kidney disease care

Manisha Jhamb, M.D., launched the Kidney-CHAMP study five years ago because she saw a looming tsunami of chronic kidney disease cases. She was pulled to find a way to assist the primary care physicians upon whom this burden would fall.

16 Apr 2024

Lawsuit alleges Obamacare plan-switching scheme targeted low-income consumers

A wide-ranging lawsuit filed Friday outlines a moneymaking scheme by which large insurance sales agency call centers enrolled people into Affordable Care Act plans or switched their coverage, all without their permission.

16 Apr 2024

California health workers may face rude awakening with $25 minimum wage law

Nearly a half-million health workers who stand to benefit from California's nation-leading $25 minimum wage law could be in for a rude awakening if hospitals and other health care providers follow through on potential cuts to hours and benefits.

16 Apr 2024

When rogue brokers switch people’s ACA policies, tax surprises can follow

Tax season is never fun. But some tax filers this year face an added complication: Their returns are being rejected because they failed to provide information about Affordable Care Act coverage they didn't even know they had.

15 Apr 2024

Nearly 1 in 4 adults dumped from Medicaid are now uninsured, survey finds

Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid in the past year say they are now uninsured, according to a survey released Friday that details how tens of millions of Americans struggled to retain coverage in the government insurance program for low-income people after pandemic-era protections began expiring last spring.

12 Apr 2024

Quality dementia care in nursing homes: Lessons from the pandemic

No one associated with nursing homes – as residents or their families, friends, staff or administrators – is unaware of the massive impact of the pandemic on these facilities which provide essential services to a growing number of older adults, many living with cognitive impairment.

12 Apr 2024

Study provides reassurance regarding the safety of using hormone therapy after age 65 years

After the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) in 2002, many women have resisted taking hormone therapy (HT), especially after age 65 years, because of fears of increased risks for various cancers and heart disease.

10 Apr 2024

Congress likely to kick the can on covid-era telehealth policies

Nearly two hours into a Capitol Hill hearing focused on rural health, Rep. Brad Wenstrup emphatically told the committee's five witnesses: "Hang with us."

10 Apr 2024

An Arm and a Leg: Attack of the Medicare machines

Covering the American health care system means we tell some scary stories. This episode of "An Arm and a Leg" sounds like a real horror movie.

10 Apr 2024

Researchers leverage machine-learning techniques to predict future risk of pressure injuries

Bedsores-;also known as pressure injuries-;are the fastest rising hospital-acquired condition, according to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research in Quality, and as a result have become the second most common reason for medical malpractice suits in the United States.

9 Apr 2024

After public push, CMS curbs health insurance agents’ access to consumer SSNs

Until last week, the system that is used to enroll people in federal Affordable Care Act insurance plans inadvertently allowed access by insurance brokers to consumers' full Social Security numbers, information brokers don't need.

9 Apr 2024

Rising complaints of unauthorized Obamacare plan-switching and sign-ups trigger concern

Federal and state regulators aren't doing enough to stop the growing problem of rogue health insurance brokers making unauthorized policy switches for Affordable Care Act policyholders, say consumers.

8 Apr 2024

Biden is right about $35 insulin cap but exaggerates prior costs for Medicare enrollees

The cost of insulin in the United States has risen considerably in recent years, with some estimates finding that Americans have paid around 10 times as much for the drug as people in other developed countries.

5 Apr 2024

BMI influences efficacy of nerve-stimulation treatment for sleep apnea, study finds

A nerve-stimulation treatment for obstructive sleep apnea that originally was approved only for people with body mass indexes (BMIs) in the healthy range recently was extended to patients with BMIs up to 40, a weight range generally described as severely obese.

4 Apr 2024