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Briggs introduces a new program to improve quality of healthcare in nursing homes

Briggs, the company known for over 60 years as a trusted provider of documentation solutions to long term care facilities, today announced a unique program to improve the quality of care in the nation's 14,000 Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes.

27 Aug 2009

NPR reviews the heated debate over the creation of Medicare and Medicaid

NPR gives a historical perspective on current reform efforts with an interview about the debate during the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.

27 Aug 2009

Iowa hospital pays Feds $4.5 million for overpaying doctors with Medicare money

An Iowa hospital has agreed to pay $4.5 million to the federal government to settle claims that it illegally overpaid physicians in an effort to boost business.

27 Aug 2009

Waxman seeks to save money on Medicare drugs

The New York Times: "Representative Henry A. Waxman is on a crusade to save Medicare billions of dollars — in a way that he says would end up helping the elderly."

27 Aug 2009

Health spending blamed for ballooning deficit projection

The White House's grim new budget projections, released Tuesday, show a decade-worth of deficits tallying $9.05 trillion, $2 trillion deeper than anticipated in February, the New York Times reports. Peter Orszag, the White House budget director, said "the key driver of our long-term deficits" is federal health spending, mainly on the ballooning Medicare and Medicaid programs, making health reform essential. "Over all, it underscores the dire fiscal situation that we inherited and the need for serious steps to put our nation back on a sustainable fiscal path," Orszag said, asserting that this White House was confronting a Bush administration legacy (Calmes, 8/25).

27 Aug 2009

New president elected for the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making non-profit organization

Michael J. Barry, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, has been named the new president of the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, the non-profit organization in Boston that has pioneered the creation and use of high quality audio-visual decision aids to enhance patient involvement in their own medical decisions.

26 Aug 2009

First Edition: August 26, 2009 - Kennedy dies

Today's headlines focus on the overnight death of Senator Edward Kennedy and his career as one of Washington's most influential lawmakers.

26 Aug 2009

Premier’s ClinicalAdvisor offers customized benchmarking and regulatory reporting solution for hospitals and health systems

To help hospitals achieve maximum revenue retention as a part of Medicare's Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, the Premier healthcare alliance has enhanced its quality benchmarking and regulatory reporting solution to include RAC capabilities.

26 Aug 2009

Covenant Medical Center resolves False Claims Act allegations by paying $4.5 million

Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa has agreed to pay the United States $4.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, the Department of Justice announced today.

26 Aug 2009

Analysis of pending health reform bill points to huge cuts in Medicare funding

A new American Health Care Association analysis of the pending House health reform bill when combined with the impact of a recently-enacted Medicare regulation cutting Medicare-funded nursing home care by $12 billion will result in total cuts of $44 billion over ten years.

26 Aug 2009

Reform efforts focus attention on regional innovations in care delivery

As health reform efforts loom over Congress, news outlets find models of innovation in their own backyards. Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania, a Florida satellite of the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Oregon and Washington state, and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Va., all get some attention.

26 Aug 2009

Chicago physician segment likely to grow more consolidated in future

HealthLeaders-InterStudy, a leading provider of managed care market intelligence, reports that while the medical community in Chicago is more consolidated than most large cities, with multiple large physician groups affiliated with health systems, the physician segment is likely to grow even more consolidated in the future.

26 Aug 2009

White House increases deficit projection; CBO offers slightly better outlook

"The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House and congressional budget officials projected Tuesday in competing but similar economic forecasts, " The Associated Press reports.

26 Aug 2009

Racial/ethnic disparities in clinically confirmed outcomes of heart and stroke surgeries

Minorities have poorer results and higher rates of unnecessary surgery from a common procedure used to remove plaque from inside the carotid artery, according to a UT Southwestern Medical Center doctor who is lead author of the study in the journal Stroke.

26 Aug 2009

One-quarter of medicare beneficiaries will see premium hikes next year

While some in Medicare will not see premiums rise, Medicaid recipients, wealthy retirees and new enrollees will all have to pay more, U.S. News and World Report reports.

26 Aug 2009

Survey reveals that majority of middle-class Americans are worried about about health care costs in retirement

Amid growing protests from opponents of health care reform, the majority of middle-class Americans are expressing concern about paying for medical costs during retirement – and dramatically underestimating the financial burden they’ll be expected to bear.

26 Aug 2009

Medicare's Part D program subsidizes cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries

Medicare's Part D program, designed to subsidize the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries, has been the subject of much debate. Proponents have touted the plan's ability to expand access to prescription drugs to seniors; critics have long questioned its design and user-friendly appeal.

26 Aug 2009

Prescription assistance program helps Iowa residents to save money on drugs

Iowa residents have saved over $800,000 on prescription drugs through Iowa Drug Card since the launch of the free statewide prescription assistance program. The program, which offers free discount drug cards to Iowa residents, was launched in June, 2008. Every resident of Iowa is eligible to participate in the prescription assistance program.

26 Aug 2009

Aetna promotes patient safety measures through informative website

Aetna (NYSE:AET) is strengthening its efforts to promote patient safety with easy-to-find online information for members. New policies also require health care facilities, physicians and other health care professionals to take action to prevent medical errors and changes the way they are paid when medical errors do occur.

26 Aug 2009

GOP unveils latest salvo in health reform battle: seniors' bill of rights

Republicans unveiled what they've termed the "Health Care Bill of Right for Seniors" Monday in an attempt to tailor their messages to the elderly, The Washington Post reports.

26 Aug 2009