|
Mobile version
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
House fight puts 'doc fix' on hold DOTmed.com Share    
The current "doc fix," which would freeze a looming 27 percent cut to Medicare reimbursements to doctors, is sailing through some choppy seas, as the House of Representatives Tuesday effectively shot down a short-term solution. The House didn't vote on a Senate tax holiday bill Monday that included a two-month freeze on the cuts, which start in January, as Republican leaders are trying to push for the House's version of the bill, which it passed last week. And on Tuesday, after a bitter partisan squabble, the House effectively voted "no" to the Senate's efforts. More
Supreme Court sets week's worth of arguments over Obama's health care plan for late March The Washington Post Share
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will use an unprecedented week’s worth of argument time in late March to decide the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul before the 2012 presidential elections. The high court scheduled arguments for March 26-28 over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which aims to provide health insurance to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans. The arguments fill the entire court calendar that week with nothing but debate over Obama’s signature domestic health care achievement. More States given say on healthcare law benefits The Seattle Times Share
In a major surprise on the new healthcare law, the Obama administration recently said it would not define a single uniform set of "essential health benefits" that must be provided by insurers for tens of millions of Americans. Instead, each state will be allowed to specify benefits within broad categories. The move would allow significant variations in benefits from state to state, much like the current differences in state Medicaid programs and the Children's Health Insurance Program. More More than 30 organizations to test new health-care model for seniors The Washington Post Share
Thirty-two groups were named Monday to test a new healthcare model, called for in the healthcare law and designed to improve care for seniors while reducing costs. The groups, which range from Boston-based Partners HealthCare, the largest health-care provider in Massachusetts, to the doctor-led HealthCare Partners of southern Nevada, were selected as the first Medicare accountable care organizations by the Department of Health and Human Services. The organizations are designed to save $1 billion over five years by promoting coordination between doctors and hospitals and ensuring that people with chronic conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure get the care they need to stay out of the hospital. More
State Medicaid costs continue to outpace education and other vital services The Pelican Post Share
Medicaid costs continued to rise in 2011, consuming a greater percentage of overall state spending. This was a result of federal stimulus money, heightened health care expenses and increased enrollment, according to the latest edition of the State Expenditure Report released by National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and the National Governors Association (NGA). However, state policymakers in Louisiana and in other states will have fewer resources available to accommodate Medicaid over the next few years as the funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) “wind down” and the economy continues to experience a sluggish recovery, the report says. More Reducing hospital readmissions NJ Spotlight Share
Hospitals are using a variety of approaches to stem readmissions: running hospital-based clinics to provide follow-up care to discharged patients, working with nursing homes to coordinate the care the patient gets when moving from hospital to nursing home, and providing telemonitors that transmit the patient's vital statistics to clinicians who can intervene if the patient's condition deteriorates. More From ERs to pharmacies, drug policies changing Star News Share
Dr. Bryan Durham described one of the biggest public health threats currently confronting the United States with one statistical comparison: The country, with 4.6 percent of the world's population, consumes more than 80 percent of the world's opium, the acting ingredient in prescription painkillers. Durham, medical director of New Hanover Regional Medical Center's emergency department, proclaimed those figures as evidence of the nation's prescription drug abuse problem while he and two of his colleagues fielded questions from hospital trustees about a proposed policy to bar doctors from refilling certain types of medications in the emergency room. His statement raised eyebrows. And without a word of dissent, the trustees gave the emergency room the green light. More
Texting for alcohol intervention in high-risk young adults PsychCentral Share
A new study explores text messaging as a method to interact with young adults to reduce alcohol consumption and decrease binge episodes. The novel intervention uses the mobile platform to intervene among young adults who present at a hospital Emergency Department for alcohol-related problems. Researchers examined the use of text messaging, both to collect drinking data from young adults after Emergency Department discharge, as well as provide immediate feedback and ongoing support to them. The researchers found that text messaging is effective on both levels. More |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
