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Obama, GOP spar on Medicare 'doc fix' Medical News Today Share     News outlets are reporting on the politics surrounding Medicare payments to physicians. President Barack Obama Saturday accused Senate Republicans of standing in the way of important legislation that would block deep pay cuts for doctors who care for Medicare patients. Obama said the majority of the U.S. Congress is ready and willing to prevent a pay cut of 21 percent. But he used his weekly radio and Internet address to express concern that some Republicans are seeking to block a vote on the issue. If they do, doctors could see the cut in their Medicare payments this week, the president said. More
Jobs bill: No guarantee Congress will pass must-pass legislation this week The Huffington Post Share
Doctors are sending white lab coats to Washington to protest a 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates taking effect due to Congress's ongoing failure to push through urgent, must-pass jobs legislation -- but there's still no guarantee that it will pass this week. More Medicaid payments again under threat in Virginia The Virginian-Pilot Share
For two years, doctors, dentists and hospitals have been making do under a freeze in reimbursements for treating indigent children, pregnant women and disabled people under the Medicaid program. Because of inflation and increased demand, that "freeze" is really a nice way of saying payments have been cut. This year those providers find themselves praying for yet another year under the hated and misnamed freeze. The alternative is much grimmer. More 5 painful health care lessons from Massachusetts CNN Money Share
The best guide to how President Obama's historic health-care legislation will reshape the nation's medical marketplace and fiscal future is the pioneering model in Massachusetts. The Bay State's reform program started in late 2006, and it shares virtually all the major features of the new federal plan. More
Reimbursement of unproven medical tools drives use Reuters Share
Lack of solid evidence doesn't seem to hamper doctors' use of new technology, as long as they can get reimbursed for it, researchers said on Monday. They found that after the U.S. Congress had mandated Medicare coverage of a digital tool to help detect breast cancer, health providers were quick to pick it up even though it hadn't showed clear-cut benefits for the women. More US health care industry can eliminate $3.6 trillion in health care waste over next 10 years The Medical News Share
The U.S. health care industry can eliminate $3.6 trillion in healthcare waste over the next 10 years by addressing a series of operational inefficiencies, according to a white paper published by Thomson Reuters. More Should people be paid to stay healthy? The New York Times Share
Many health insurers, hospitals and government programs have created physicians incentive programs to prod doctors to alter the way they practice medicine and to keep costs down. Some employers and insurers have also developed "wellness" programs that cut insurance premiums for patients who lose weight or stop smoking. An article in the New York Times on Monday describes an approach that is gaining ground: paying people to take their medications to avoid the much larger costs of hospitalization. More Violence on the rise at US health care centers HealthDay News via Bloomberg Businessweek Share
More and more violent crimes are occurring in America's hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities, according to a new alert issued by the Joint Commission, an independent health care oversight group. Since 2004, there have been "significant increases in reports of assault, rape and homicide, with the greatest number of reports in the last three years," the group said in its "Sentinel Event Alert," the latest in a series of alerts on serious adverse events occurring in health care settings. More
With deficit worries, Democrats get spooked about spending TIME Magazine Share
For decades, few issues in Washington have symbolized the disconnect between politicians' bold words and timid actions more than budget deficits. Politicians on both sides of the aisle rarely missed an opportunity to opine ominously about the dangers of out-of-control spending, all the while doing precious little to actually bring it under control. More Some unintended consequences of health care reform Medscape Today Share
Our U.S. health care system certainly has its faults, and at least two major ones must be corrected. First, large numbers of U.S. citizens do not have health insurance, and a system should be created to provide this necessity. Second, health care costs are increasing in an out-of-control manner that, if unchecked, could bankrupt our country. The proposed House and Senate healthcare reform bills address these two issues. However, it is unclear in these massive bills just how this will be accomplished. The unintended consequences of the measures being taken to resolve these 2 basic issues are even less clear. More Castlight on a quest to create a "Travelocity for health care" Xconomy Share
It's a classic principle in economics: markets don't work very well when there's no price transparency. If the airlines refused to quote you a price for a transcontinental ticket and then sent you a bill for an unpredictable amount six months after your flight, you probably wouldn't fly much. But this is exactly how most consumers experience the U.S. medical care payment system. Under the complex web of reimbursement rates negotiated in secret between providers and insurers, insured patients are usually charged directly only for their premiums, deductibles, and copayments, and have no way to compare the actual costs of treatments from different providers, even if they want to. More |
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