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Health reform implementation issues: Emergency room costs, consumer websites and small business questions

Kaiser Health News: The new health reform law guarantees insurance companies must cover emergency care for their beneficiaries at hospitals in- or out-of-network at the same rate. "The law also bars health plans from requiring prior authorization for emergency services. And it mandates that plans follow the 'prudent layperson' rule.

14 May 2010

Upcoming primaries involve tough fights over health votes

Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and some other lawmakers are facing stiff fights to retain their party's nomination for their own seats as they spend time defending their records and health care positions from the left.

14 May 2010

White House says new CBO estimates do not signify high health spending

"The new healthcare law doesn't include more spending and less deficit reduction than previously reported, an Obama administration official said Wednesday," The Hill reports.

14 May 2010

Studies explore geography's influence on medical practice, spending

Reuters: "Doctors in some parts of the United States are more likely to tell Medicare patients they are sick than in other parts, researchers said on Wednesday in a finding that could explain regional differences in health spending. The study is the latest from the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which [has uncovered] wide differences in spending by region, a finding that became a touchstone in the debate about the need for healthcare reform in the United States."

14 May 2010

New England Journal offers perspectives on health law

The New England Journal of Medicine dedicates a significant amount of its current issue to research and perspectives on the new health reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is abbreviated as ACA (5/12).

14 May 2010

CIGNA adds CTCA to national network

Recognizing the importance of access, quality and choice for its many customers who have been touched by cancer, CIGNA has entered into a new agreement that opens the doors to comprehensive, integrative care at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA).

14 May 2010

Study: Healthy retirees pay more for health care over the long term

A new study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that people "who enter retirement in good health are likely to pay more for medical expenses throughout the rest of their life than those who retire after developing a chronic condition," writes U.S. News & World Report.

14 May 2010

States take different actions in plans for implementing health overhaul law

WPRI: Rhode Island Governor, Donald Carcieri, continues to ask Attorney General Patrick Lynch to file a lawsuit against the federal health reform law. "But Lynch says he will not do it. In a statement, Lynch says he believes quality health care is a right for all citizens. He also says the law does not infringe on the rights of states" (Gouthro, 5/10).

14 May 2010

Interruptions in ER may harm patient care, researchers find

CNN: "Interruptions in the emergency room may exact an unhealthy toll on patient care, a group of Australian researchers reported Thursday. The researchers, from the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, found that interruptions led emergency department doctors to spend less time on the tasks they were working on and, in nearly a fifth of cases, to give up on the task altogether.

14 May 2010

Minnesota lawmakers debate budget, Medicaid expansion

More budget talks were expected Thursday as Minnesota's legislative session hurtled toward a midnight Sunday deadline with no deal on a $3 billion deficit. The Democratic-controlled Legislature defied another veto threat from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty late Wednesday and sent him a health and welfare package he opposes.

14 May 2010

KHN Column -- Rescissions: Much ado about nothing

In this Kaiser Health News column, John Goodman writes: "How many times have you heard President Obama say, 'Health insurers won't be able to drop your coverage just because you get sick?

14 May 2010

Justice Dept. defends health law implementation from court injunction

The Justice Department released a statement yesterday defending the federal health overhaul law from legal critics. "A conservative public interest group, the Thomas More Law Center, had filed a lawsuit in Michigan on March 23, the day Obama signed the law, and asked the court for an injunction to block it from taking effect.

14 May 2010

GOP launches attacks on CMS nominee Berwick

Republicans have begun attacking Donald Berwick, a doctor and Harvard professor nominated to head the Obama administration's Medicare and Medicaid agency, The Boston Globe reports. If confirmed, Berwick would run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency with 4,500 employees and an annual budget of $780 billion.

14 May 2010

Insight Imaging signs definitive agreement to acquire eight imaging centers for $8.5M

InSight Health Services Holdings Corp. today announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire eight imaging centers in the Phoenix, Arizona, El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico areas from subsidiaries of MedQuest, Inc. and Novant Health, Inc., for a total purchase price of approximately $8.5 million.

14 May 2010

Groups plead for more health funding as Chairman warns about cuts to proposed HHS budget

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., said Wednesday that groups pressing for $14 billion more in funding for education, health and labor programs will likely be disappointed because the budget proposed by President Barack Obama already faces cuts of about $3.5 billion in those areas.

14 May 2010

Federal officials say crackdown on Medicare fraud recovers $2.5 billion

The Associated Press: "The government says it recovered $2.5 billion in overpayments for the Medicare trust fund last year as the Obama administration focused attention on fraud enforcement efforts in the health care industry. Investigators have new tools this year to help crack down on health care fraud, with the Justice Department and the Health and Human Services Department working cooperatively to police companies.

14 May 2010

Today's Opinions: CBO numbers undercut health law promises; Concerns about Berwick nomination; The recission myth

The Democrats' reform is barely out of the gate and the Congressional Budget Office already says its previous cost estimate was too low. Either the bill's supporters lied or they're profoundly ignorant. Either way, they are not fit to serve the country, much less rule it, which many of them seem to believe is their divine right. As noted on these pages and elsewhere, government programs always cost far more than their original projections (5/12).

14 May 2010

Home health care stocks fall with Senate Finance Committee inquiry

Shares of four home health care providers tumbled Thursday after the Senate Finance Committee raised questions about how the companies bill Medicare for home health therapy visits, The Associated Press/ABC News reports.

14 May 2010

First Edition: May 13, 2010

Among today's headlines are reports that some Republican senators are taking aim at President Obama's pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

13 May 2010

New research: 10-minute frailty test can predict surgical outcomes in older patients

A simple, 10-minute "frailty" test administered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and - most strikingly - whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

13 May 2010