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Connecticut Judge orders HMOs to publicly release information on reimbursements for Medicaid beneficiaries' care

Three HMOs that administer managed care plans for Connecticut's Medicaid program must make public the rates they pay providers and other information, state Superior Court Judge George Levine ruled on Wednesday, the Hartford Courant reports.

2 Dec 2006

New York Health Care Commission approves recommendations for financing changes

The New York Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century on Monday approved a list of policy recommendations that would change the way health care is financed in the state, the New York Times reports.

23 Nov 2006

Clinician led management can fix the NHS

Clinician led management can fix the NHS, argues a senior doctor in this week's British Medical Journal. He calls on the government to let clinicians and managers plan and run their services free from political control.

19 Nov 2006

New agreement questions NHS relation with industry

The Department of Health's new clinical trials agreement raises questions about the NHS's relation with the drug industry, says an editorial published on the British Medical Journal website.

19 Nov 2006

Americans say smokers should pay more for health cover

According to a survey in the United States most people believe the health insurance system is in dire need of a fix; it is estimated that as many as 46.6 million Americans are uninsured.

15 Nov 2006

More banks offer health savings accounts, additional benefits

The number of banks that offer health savings accounts has more than tripled since the end of 2005, as more employees enroll in high-deductible health plans that qualify for HSAs, the Wall Street Journal reports.

14 Nov 2006

Fewer Colorado residents enroll in HMOs, hospital profits increase

Fewer Colorado residents enrolled in HMO plans in 2005, but Denver-area hospitals "enjoyed their strongest profits in recent memory," according to findings released Friday from the Colorado Managed Care Review 2006, the Denver Post reports.

13 Nov 2006

Congress to focus on labor-HHS, other unfinished appropriations Bills during Lame-Duck session

Congress likely will focus on the fiscal year 2007 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and other unfinished spending bills during a lame-duck session that began on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

13 Nov 2006

Former HCFA Administrator suggests new U.S. agency on comparative clinical effectiveness

"Developing a Center for Comparative Effectiveness Information," Health Affairs: In a Health Affairs Web exclusive, Gail Wilensky -- an economist, senior fellow at Project HOPE and former administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration -- examines the growing interest in the U.S. for unbiased, credible information on comparative clinical effectiveness by those who support competitive health care pricing and by those who support administered pricing.

8 Nov 2006

Toyota builds employee health clinic in new factory to reduce health care costs

In an effort to contain health care spending, Toyota Motor will construct a $9 million medical clinic for employees and their families at its new San Antonio truck factory, the Detroit News reports.

8 Nov 2006

Many employers promote high-deductible health plans during open enrollment period

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined how "employers are trying to get workers to confront ever-rising" out-of-pocket heath care costs as the open enrollment period for health plans "goes into high gear at many companies."

8 Nov 2006

Reimbursement reductions could force Nevada physicians out of state

Reductions in insurance companies' physician reimbursement rates could lead many Nevada physicians to leave the state amid a physician shortage, according to Bill Pierce, president of the Nevada Association of Family Physicians, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.

8 Nov 2006

Hospital strapped for cash may offer radiotherapy facilities to pets

A British hospital has come under attack over its plans to earn desperately needed cash, by offering its radiotherapy facilities for the treatment of pets suffering from cancer.

31 Oct 2006

Former HHS Secretary Thompson says states will take lead on health care reform

Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, chair of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and a partner at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, on Thursday told reporters that states likely will take the lead on health care reform in the absence of federal action, CQ HealthBeat reports.

30 Oct 2006

Utah receives poor marks for adolescent vaccination, women's cancer screenings

Fewer adolescents in Utah get vaccinated than their counterparts in other states, and Utah women receive fewer screenings for breast, colorectal and cervical cancer compared with women nationwide, according to findings released Thursday at the State of Our Health program forum, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

30 Oct 2006

Proposal to construct Department of Veterans Affairs medical facility in South Carolina might delay Omnibus Bill

A proposal by to build a $70 million medical facility in Charleston, S.C., could stall efforts to pass an omnibus Department of Veterans Affairs bill before the end of the lame-duck session next month, CQ Today reports (Yoest, CQ Today, 10/27).

30 Oct 2006

Health care IT bill could increase costs by $416 million

America's Health Insurance Plans released a new study that found a provision in a health care information technology bill (HR 4157) passed earlier this year by the House could increase U.S. health care costs by as much as $416 million, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 10/27).

30 Oct 2006

Texas Comptroller calls for immediate end to social services contract citing mismanagement

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday said a five-year contract with an Accenture LLP group that administers enrollment for Medicaid, the state's SCHIP program and other social services "must be ended" because of mismanagement, the Houston Chronicle reports.

30 Oct 2006

TennCare expanding efforts to acquire deceased beneficiaries' estates

TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid program, is "stepping up its efforts" to sell deceased beneficiaries' homes to "recoup some of the roughly $1 billion" annually that the state pays for long-term care, the Tennessean reports.

30 Oct 2006

Most U.S. residents do not examine source, date of health care data posted online

Three-fourths of U.S. adults who search for health care information online regularly do not examine the source and date to determine the quality of the data, according to a survey released on Sunday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, Reuters/Boston Globe reports.

30 Oct 2006