Legislation Aims to Protect Chronically Ill
January 17th 2014Patients at high risk - including those with cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease - will be covered under the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) until March 31, thanks to a decision this week from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Physician Medicare Payments to be Disclosed
January 16th 2014The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its intention to release Medicare payment data of individual physicians on a case-by-case basis. The agency seeks to publicly impart the information following a 2013 federal court decision that overturned an injunction previously barring the release of physicians' Medicare payments.
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Young and Healthy Still Needed in Exchanges
January 15th 2014Who's purchasing health plans through the insurance exchanges? According to the federal government, more than 2.1 million people have enrolled into private insurance coverage through December, and an additional 1.6 million became eligible for financial assistance under Medicaid.
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Newly Insured Face Obstacles with Exchanges
January 14th 2014The newly insured will face barriers to receiving care as they attempt to prove to doctors and pharmacists that they have coverage through the exchanges. In addition, many of those same patients are having difficulty in understanding which doctors are included in their network plans.
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Will 2014 Be the Year of the Electronic Health Record?
January 9th 20142014 has been identified as the make-or-break year for electronic health records (EHRs). Despite a more than $22 billion federal investment to reward meaningful use of EHR technology, new report findings suggest that the government has failed to put protections in place that would prevent the technology from increasing costs, including through overbilling.
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Medicare Beneficiaries Unikely to Relocate for Better Coverage
January 8th 2014Across the country, Medicaid expansion varies among states. Some experts worried about whether that variation would drive Americans to relocate to other states so that they could obtain better medical coverage. However, those concerns are likely to prove unfounded, according to a recent study from Harvard.
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Healthcare Spending Growth Slows
January 7th 2014An annual report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finds that health spending totaled $2.8 trillion in 2012, which accounted for 17.2% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) and was down slightly from the 17.3 % of GDP in 2011.
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ED Visits Top Executive 'Watch List'
January 6th 2014The Affordable Care Act has been touted as a means to control costs and improve quality of care. One initiative in that effort is to steer patients away from visiting the emergency department (ED). That undertaking may prove to be challenging.
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Medicare Pricing Drives Costs of US Healthcare
January 3rd 2014January 2014 has arrived, and with that Affordable Care Act coverage begins. Over the next 12 months, the administration will thoroughly consider the ways in which it can control the rising costs of healthcare in the United States. This is especially true for the nation's Medicare program.
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ACOs Join in Medicare Shared Savings Program
December 30th 2013Starting in January, there will officially be an additional 123 accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program. As providers and hospitals transition to this emerging care model, there is mixed opinion over its longevity.
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Value of Genetic Testing in Breast Cancer
December 26th 2013The value of genetic testing in breast cancer is subject to debate, but it also holds promise. One recent clinical trial simulated by a group of researchers, for instance, found that the 7 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (7SNP) genetic test for breast cancer was cost-effective when used for MRI screenings in patients at intermediate risk of developing the disease over their lifetime.
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Enrolling the 'Young Invincibles'
December 18th 2013A collaborative effort is under way to enroll millions of young and healthy Americans into health plans that are available in the federal and state insurance exchanges. As the enrollment deadline approaches, many individuals aged 19 to 29 years remain unfamiliar with the health reform policy changes. Their participation is imperative to keeping premiums affordable for the higher-risk pool of consumers.
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High-Risk Consumers Get Needed Coverage Extension
December 17th 2013In an effort to avoid a coverage gap in health insurance, those covered under the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) will get until January 2014 to enroll into a new plan through the state or federal healthcare exchange website.
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Medicare Beneficiaries' Access to Physicians
December 16th 2013Access is an important component of the Triple Aim (cost, quality, access), and it has also been stressed as a significant factor in health reform initiatives. As the influx of uninsured increasingly seeks care, and if the number of providers available to provide primary care decreases as projected, achieving access to quality and cost-effective care may become more problematic.
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Stage 2 Meaningful Use Deadline Extended, Sights Set on Stage 3
December 13th 2013The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that Stage 2 of the EHR Meaningful Use program would be extended through 2016, especially as many healthcare CIOs continue to struggle with health IT tool vendors. This also means that Stage 3 will be delayed until 2017.
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Nearing Deadline for Exchange Enrollment Hopeful to Increase Numbers
December 11th 2013Several months ago, Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, was asked what success would look like for the state and federal healthcare exchanges. Her response to NBC News was, Well, I think success looks like at least 7 million people having signed up by the end of March 2014. Now, with only an estimated 365,000 having become newly insured through the exchanges to date, some are concerned about meeting enrollment expectations.
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Drug Cost Not an Indication of Effectiveness
December 10th 2013In the battle to control costs and out-of-pocket expenses for consumers, it would seem logical that doctors would choose the lower-cost drug. However, a report found that when given the choice, doctors chose the more expensive eye medicine over a lower cost option, even when both prescriptions provided the same effective treatment.
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