Medicare News and Research

RSS

Competition in health care industry can help reduce costs

"Choice and competition work in health care," but "most of us aren't lucky enough to have access to a market shaped by them," Robert Moffit, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, writes in a Washington Times opinion piece.

19 Oct 2006

Louisiana residents open to reforming or eliminating charity hospital system

Seventy-two percent of Louisiana residents believe the state's health care system needs to be changed or completely rebuilt in order to provide better care to the uninsured, according to a poll released Monday by the non-partisan Council for a Better Louisiana, the AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

19 Oct 2006

Racial disparities in preventive health care persist

The racial gap in preventive health care -- such as Pap tests, mammograms, and prostate and colorectal cancer screenings -- persists and might be larger than previously thought, a study published online in BMC Heath Services Research finds, the Washington Post reports.

17 Oct 2006

Hospitals reduce elderly mortality rate, though gap between best, worst hospitals in U.S. widened in 2005

Patients ages 65 and older last year were 69% less likely to die at hundreds of the best hospitals than hundreds of the worst, according to a study conducted by Colorado-based Health Grades, Bloomberg/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

17 Oct 2006

Check out hospital rating before checking in

According to the latest study, the gap between the best and worst performing hospitals in the United States has widened by as much as 5 percent since last year.

17 Oct 2006

270,000 low-income Medicare beneficiaries in California will be assigned new prescription drug plans

About 270,000 low-income elderly and disabled Californians will automatically be assigned to new Medicare prescription drug plans Jan. 1, 2007, because four plans will no longer be available next year, the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 Oct 2006

Increased oversight, other efforts have reduced improper Medicare payment claims by $1.3B

Improved oversight and other efforts by CMS have helped reduce the rate of improper Medicare reimbursements for fee-for-service claims from 5.2% in 2005 to 4.4% in 2006 for a savings of $1.3 billion, according to agency Administrator Mark McClellan, CQ HealthBeat reports.

16 Oct 2006

U.S. consumers' health care concerns

USA Today on Monday published three articles addressing U.S. consumers' health care concerns as part of a week-long series titled "Prescription for Change," which examines possible improvements to the U.S. health care system.

16 Oct 2006

McClellan touts lower projected cost of Medicare prescription drug benefit

Mark McClellan, who left his position as CMS administrator this weekend, said he believes his greatest accomplishment during his tenure was improving quality of care in Medicare, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 10/13).

16 Oct 2006

Federal Agencies collected $1.47B in fraud from government health insurance programs in FY 2005

The Department of Justice and the HHS Office of Inspector General in a report issued this week announced that their joint Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program -- which attempts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in federal health care programs -- will collect $1.47 billion from criminal or civil cases brought during fiscal year 2005, The Hill reports.

8 Oct 2006

U.S. Court of Appeals sets January for arguments over erroneously sent Medicare premium reimbursements after holding lower court's decision

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday issued a temporary hold on an order by a lower court that CMS must inform 230,000 Medicare beneficiaries who received erroneous reimbursements of their Medicare prescription drug benefit premiums of their right to request a waiver of recovery of the funds, the Washington Post reports.

8 Oct 2006

National Eye Institute to finance two-year study comparing effectiveness of treatments for macular degeneration

The National Eye Institute on Thursday said it will finance a two-year study comparing the effectiveness of Genentech's eye treatment Lucentis and cancer drug Avastin for treating wet age-related macular degeneration, the New York Times reports.

8 Oct 2006

Now OK to get prescription drugs from Canada, but is it really?

According to the consumer group that sponsored "Rx Express" trains to Canada, the U.S. Customs announcement that it will no longer seize prescription drugs being shipped to the U.S. is not the solution that patients need.

5 Oct 2006

2007 Medicare prescription drug plans

Private health insurers that market Medicare prescription drug plans in 2007 will offer more plans, several of which will have lower premiums and more of which will provide coverage during the so-called "doughnut hole," Bush administration officials said on Friday, the New York Times reports.

3 Oct 2006

CQ's Carey addresses health IT legislation, House approval of HSA expansion, Medicare payment cuts, Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses House and Senate negotiations on legislation that would expand health care information technology, House approval of a measure to expand health savings accounts, Congress' inaction on scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts and Senate Democrats' attempt to block reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

3 Oct 2006

Democrats focus on income gap, health care costs in election campaigns

Many Democratic candidates "see this as the year when the widening gap between the rich and the rest of America will help win them votes" and some have focused on the issue of health care costs for middle-income voters, the Wall Street Journal reports.

3 Oct 2006

HHS says New Orleans-area health care reform proposal needs revising

A draft proposal from the Louisiana Health Care Design Collaborative on reforms for the New Orleans-area health care system requires some revisions to receive federal approval, a representative for HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said on Thursday, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports (Moller, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9/29).

3 Oct 2006

Hospital services most expensive part of U.S. health aystem

About 33% of every dollar spent on U.S. health care goes toward inpatient hospital care, according to a report by HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Washington Times reports (Howard Price, Washington Times, 9/23).

26 Sep 2006

Cigna provides data on cost, quality of services to web site

Cigna, which last year began to post cost and quality information for inpatient services performed at hospitals on a Web site for members, this week added data for outpatient services performed at stand-alone surgical centers, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports (Perotin, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9/20).

22 Sep 2006

Many Medicare beneficiaries lack coverage in prescription drug benefit 'doughnut hole'

Eighty-eight percent of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in stand-alone drug plans under the Medicare prescription drug benefit are in plans that do not provide coverage during the so-called "doughnut hole," according to a report released on Thursday by Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, the AP/Boston Globe reports.

22 Sep 2006

Medicare News and Research

Competition in health care industry can help reduce costs

Louisiana residents open to reforming or eliminating charity hospital system

Racial disparities in preventive health care persist

Hospitals reduce elderly mortality rate, though gap between best, worst hospitals in U.S. widened in 2005

Check out hospital rating before checking in

270,000 low-income Medicare beneficiaries in California will be assigned new prescription drug plans

Increased oversight, other efforts have reduced improper Medicare payment claims by $1.3B

U.S. consumers' health care concerns

McClellan touts lower projected cost of Medicare prescription drug benefit

Federal Agencies collected $1.47B in fraud from government health insurance programs in FY 2005

U.S. Court of Appeals sets January for arguments over erroneously sent Medicare premium reimbursements after holding lower court's decision

National Eye Institute to finance two-year study comparing effectiveness of treatments for macular degeneration

Now OK to get prescription drugs from Canada, but is it really?

2007 Medicare prescription drug plans

CQ's Carey addresses health IT legislation, House approval of HSA expansion, Medicare payment cuts, Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization

Democrats focus on income gap, health care costs in election campaigns

HHS says New Orleans-area health care reform proposal needs revising

Hospital services most expensive part of U.S. health aystem

Cigna provides data on cost, quality of services to web site

Many Medicare beneficiaries lack coverage in prescription drug benefit 'doughnut hole'

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Latest News