Healthcare News

RSS

Massachusetts Attorney General sues low-cost health insurer alleging unfair practices

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly (D) on Monday filed a lawsuit against Texas-based HealthMarkets, which sells low-cost health insurance to small businesses and students in the state, accusing the company of deceptive marketing practices and improper denials of patient claims, the Boston Globe reports.

26 Oct 2006

Washington, D.C., hospital house call program provides care for elderly residents

A program developed by the geriatric department of Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., hopes to reduce health care costs by providing house calls to elderly residents, the Washington Times reports.

26 Oct 2006

More hospital patients visited by 'hospitalists' rather than family physicians

An increasing number of private-practice physicians nationwide are relying on "hospitalists" to provide care to their hospitalized patients, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

26 Oct 2006

Interpretation services would cost Connecticut Medicaid $4.7 million annually

Reimbursing providers through the Connecticut Medicaid program for interpreting services for patients would cost about $4.7 million annually, half of which could be paid by the state and half of which could be financed through federal matching funds, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Connecticut Health Foundation, the Hartford Courant reports.

26 Oct 2006

No operation unless smokers quit

Some hospitals in the UK say they plan to save money by encouraging smokers to quit before undergoing routine operations.

25 Oct 2006

Consumer-driven health plans appear to reduce costs, but some plan beneficiaries forgo needed medical care

Consumer-driven health plans can help employers reduce health care costs but might lead some patients to forgo necessary care to save money, according to a study by RAND, the Washington Post reports.

24 Oct 2006

PBM Medco Health Solutions agrees to settle Medicare fraud, kickback allegations for $155 million

Medco Health Solutions, the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit manager, on Monday agreed to pay $155 million to settle fraud allegations brought by the federal government and several former company employees, the Newark Star-Ledger reports (Silverman, Newark Star-Ledger, 10/24).

24 Oct 2006

Health officials announce physician quiz campaign to help reduce medical errors

HHS and other health officials on Monday announced a new campaign designed to limit surgical complications by encouraging patients to quiz their doctors about medical procedures, CQ HealthBeat reports.

24 Oct 2006

Wall Street Journal examines concerns over limits of HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday examined how forms that outline the medical privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act "essentially detai[l] the many ways a doctor can use and disclose medical information -- often without a patient's consent or knowledge" -- and how patients who visit physician offices, hospitals and pharmacies mistakenly "assume signing somehow protects their privacy".

23 Oct 2006

Sen. Grassley seeks funding extension for hospitals to ensure Medicare reimbursements reflect local wages

Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday said that during the lame-duck session of Congress he will seek a six-month extension of a provision -- Section 508 of the 2003 Medicare law -- that allows reclassification of certain hospitals into different geographic regions for the application of the wage index to receive higher reimbursements, CQ HealthBeat reports.

23 Oct 2006

Maryland to reinstate Medicaid program for legal immigrant children, pregnant women

Maryland will reinstate a $7 million Medicaid program that provides health benefits to legal immigrant children and pregnant women, state officials said Thursday, the Washington Post reports (Otto, Washington Post, 10/20).

22 Oct 2006

Medicare cuts to wheelchair reimbursements prompt opposition from lawmakers, suppliers

Lawmakers from several states recently criticized Medicare cuts that will change reimbursement rates for power wheelchairs, the AP/Columbia State reports.

22 Oct 2006

Kaiser Permanente ordered to reinstate benefits it illegally canceled

The California Department of Managed Health Care on Wednesday ordered Kaiser Permanente to reinstate coverage for an individual policyholder because the insurer's cancellation of the coverage was illegal, the Los Angeles Times reports.

22 Oct 2006

More than 600,000 Medicare prescription drug benefit beneficiaries must apply for low-income subsidy

More than 600,000 low-income Medicare beneficiaries who were automatically enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug benefit and received a subsidy toward premium costs this year will have to apply to receive the subsidy for 2007 because their eligibility status has changed, CMS officials said on Thursday, the Washington Post reports.

22 Oct 2006

Lower employer health insurance coverage fuels rising number of uninsured

The decline in the number of employers offering health insurance has led to a rise in the percentage of U.S. residents who are uninsured, according to two issue papers released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, CQ HealthBeat reports.

22 Oct 2006

Columnist explores reasons for discrepancy in U.S., foreign health spending, related life expectancies

The answer to why many countries spend less on health care than the U.S. and have higher life expectancies is "fantastically complicated -- but also fantastically important," New York Times columnist David Leonhardt writes.

19 Oct 2006

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

Hospitals taking steps to limit ED patient 'boarding'

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined how a "growing number of hospitals are taking steps" to limit the practice of "boarding," in which hospitals admit emergency department patients when no rooms are available and leave them in hallways for extended periods of time.

19 Oct 2006

Despite aging U.S. population, few physicians specialize in treatment for the elderly

Even as the "population ages and more people ... need them ... geriatricians are in short supply," the New York Times reports.

19 Oct 2006

Healthcare News

Massachusetts Attorney General sues low-cost health insurer alleging unfair practices

Washington, D.C., hospital house call program provides care for elderly residents

More hospital patients visited by 'hospitalists' rather than family physicians

Interpretation services would cost Connecticut Medicaid $4.7 million annually

No operation unless smokers quit

Consumer-driven health plans appear to reduce costs, but some plan beneficiaries forgo needed medical care

PBM Medco Health Solutions agrees to settle Medicare fraud, kickback allegations for $155 million

Health officials announce physician quiz campaign to help reduce medical errors

Wall Street Journal examines concerns over limits of HIPAA Medical Privacy Rule

Sen. Grassley seeks funding extension for hospitals to ensure Medicare reimbursements reflect local wages

Maryland to reinstate Medicaid program for legal immigrant children, pregnant women

Medicare cuts to wheelchair reimbursements prompt opposition from lawmakers, suppliers

Kaiser Permanente ordered to reinstate benefits it illegally canceled

More than 600,000 Medicare prescription drug benefit beneficiaries must apply for low-income subsidy

Lower employer health insurance coverage fuels rising number of uninsured

Columnist explores reasons for discrepancy in U.S., foreign health spending, related life expectancies

Competition in health care industry can help reduce costs

Louisiana residents open to reforming or eliminating charity hospital system

Hospitals taking steps to limit ED patient 'boarding'

Despite aging U.S. population, few physicians specialize in treatment for the elderly

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

Latest News