Capsules: CMS community initiatives could reduce health costs; Report: States making it easier to apply for Medicaid

Now on Kaiser Health News' blog, Phil Galewitz reports on a study finding that states are making it easier to apply for Medicaid: "Despite the reluctance of some Republican governors to expand Medicaid next year under the 2010 health law, most governors are making it easier for people to apply for coverage in the state-federal program for the poor" (Galewitz, 1/23). 

Also on Capsules, Ankita Rao writes about a CMS pilot program: "A pilot program introduced by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to boost quality of care for seniors by developing community-wide approaches to health problems could play a key role in bringing down costs, according to a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association" (Rao, 1/22). Check out what else is on the blog.