Search Tag: medicare
2023 25 Oct
This article explores the complexities of health insurance for individuals with disabilities and highlights the importance of using online quotes to find the right coverage. Key Points Eligibility for disability-related health insurance coverage depends on factors such as disability severity, income, and age. Consulting...Read more
2022 05 Dec
A new study, authored by experts from the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of California San Francisco and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that women over the age of 65 may be undergoing unnecessary cervical cancer screenings. The study looked at Medicare claims data between 1999 to 2019 for fee-for-service...Read more
2021 29 Dec
Oak Street Health, Inc., a network of value-based primary care centers for adults on Medicare has announced that Chief Operating Officer (COO) Geoff Price will transition to the newly formed role of Chief Innovation Officer. Oak Street Health’s current President, Brian Clem, will transition to the COO role. These moves are effective as of January 1,...Read more
2021 03 Jun
More patients with breast cancer will benefit from access to its Breast Cancer Index test, under new extended Medicare coverage, Hologic, Inc. has announced. Its’ subsidiary, Biotheranostics, Inc., has received broader Medicare coverage for the test, meaning that clinicians can better manage treatment of a broader scope of patients. Under...Read more
2018 10 Jul
Amidst rising health costs in the U.S., researchers have examined the role of value-based care and competition in the cost equation. They found that across 900 different markets, value-based payment models had not produced the expected reductions in costs, mainly because many markets have few value-based options available. In addition, many of...Read more
2018 25 Jan
Th e way forward for US healthcar e Experts draw their conclusions on the American health system and what needs to be done to eradicate the many problems that continue to manifest. In a recently published book, health leaders Dr. Denis Cortese and Antony Bell offer a radical overview of the dissatisfaction of the...Read more
2017 28 Mar
Republicans have failed in their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a major election campaign promise. After weeks of contentious negotiations over the American Health Care Act, Republicans were forced to pull the House bill on healthcare reform when it was clear that it didn’t have enough votes to pass. The move received mixed reactions...Read more
2016 02 Aug
The U.S. government released much-anticipated first overall hospital quality ratings last week with many of the country’s best-known facilities receiving below average scores while obscure hospitals were awarded top scores. The Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rated 3,617 hospitals on a one- to five-star scale. The hospital industry has...Read more
2015 21 Dec
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics analysed the real prices that hospitals negotiate with private insurers. They found that hospitals that spend less on Medicare do not necessarily spend less on healthcare overall. The researchers analysed 92 billion health insurance...Read more
2015 26 Sep
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine reports that a new Medicare payment model reduced the number of times patients received services providing little or no health benefit. The researchers analysed Medicare claims data before and after the initiation of the Medicare Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Program, an Affordable Care...Read more
2015 07 Sep
Electronic health record documentation tools, including the clinic note that recaps a patient's medical history, should be redesigned to better meet the needs of physicians, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine . Researchers from the University of Missouri noted that EHR documentation "mimicked"...Read more
2015 28 Jul
During 1999-2013, all-cause mortality and hospitalisation rates, along with inpatient expenditure per death, decreased for U.S. Medicare beneficiaries age 65 years or older, according to a new study published in JAMA . “Even though it is difficult to disentangle the specific reasons for improvement, it is clear that over the past 15 years there have...Read more
2015 18 Jul
Two new web sites provide "ratings" of surgeons based on analysis of data on surgical complications rates and patient outcomes. These ratings are intended to help patients and their families in finding the right surgeon for an operation. SurgeonRatings.org , run by the nonprofit Consumers' Checkbook/Center for the Study of Services, only lists surgeons...Read more
2015 16 Jul
Critically ill patients with complex diagnoses generally receive better and less expensive care at long-term acute care hospitals (LTCHs), according to a new study reported in the journal Medical Care . Results showed lower death rates and similar or lower Medicare costs at LTCHs, compared with other care settings, for patients with multiple organ...Read more
2015 12 Jun
A study published in Health Affairs lists the 50 hospitals in the United States that mark up treatments by more than 10 times the costs allowed by Medicare — a markup of more than 1,000 percent for the same medical services. The findings show that the combination of a lack of regulation of hospital charges in the U.S. and no market competition is...Read more
2015 31 May
A new study by University of Southern California economists shows that hospital productivity growth — the increase in output produced from inputs such as labour and capital — has actually improved in recent years. The finding suggests that U.S. hospitals may actually be able to deliver on the assumption in the Patient Protection and Affordable...Read more
2015 04 May
The Pioneer Accountable Care Organisation (ACO) Model has helped curb increases in total Medicare expenditures of ACO-aligned beneficiaries, resulting in savings of about $385 million in its first two years of implementation, according to a study published online in JAMA . The Pioneer ACO Model was launched by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...Read more
2015 28 Jan
Midas+, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Xerox, is combining its vast data resources with five years of Medicare and claims data to help hospitals better predict readmissions. With this new system, known as Midas+ Readmission Penalty Forecaster, a hospital can get a much more accurate prediction or “near real-time” information on both patient patterns...Read more
2014 12 Dec
A UCLA study has shown for the first time that higher-earning physicians make more money by ordering more procedures and services per patient, rather than by seeing more patients. This "very surprising" finding may not be in the best interest of patients, according to a research letter published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine . Researchers...Read more
2014 13 Nov
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced this week its proposal for low-dose computed tomography (CT) scans to become a covered service in the screening of high-risk patients for lung cancer. Patients must be between the ages of 55 and 74, and be a current smoker or one who quit within the past 15 years. They must have smoked...Read more
2014 11 Nov
A study published in the 12 November issue of JAMA reports that hospice care for Medicare patients who are terminally ill with cancer is associated with fewer intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, lower rates of hospitalisation and invasive procedures, and significant reductions in medical expenditures during a patient’s final year of life....Read more
2014 22 Oct
US hospitals that converted from nonprofit to for-profit status in the 2000s subsequently enjoyed better financial health, but their conversion made no difference in the quality of care provided or mortality rates, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA. Their study examined characteristics of US acute care hospitals...Read more
2014 18 Aug
Recent research published in BMJ Open shows that there are significant price differences for ten common blood tests in California hospitals. While some patients were charged as little as $10 for one test, there were others that were charged $10,169 for the same test. More than 150 hospitals in California were analysed and tests such as lipid panel,...Read more
2014 17 Aug
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that Medicare's Open Payments system is now back online following a two-week stoppage to rectify some erroneous information concerning what a particular doctor received from healthcare manufacturers. Under the US Affordable Care Act, also known as the Sunshine Act, drug and device makers...Read more