Bill Seeks Team-Based Approach To Caring For Medicare Patients With Chronic Illness
Sen. Ron Wyden plans to unveil a bill to encourage team-based care in the program for older and disabled Americans. In the meantime, Medicare readies to deliver payment data for individual doctors on a "case-by-case" basis.
Modern Healthcare: Lawmaker’s Bill Encourages Team-Based Care For Chronically Ill Medicare Patients
Sen. Ron Wyden and three other lawmakers are expected to introduce bipartisan legislation Wednesday intended to remove obstacles they say prevent Medicare providers from focusing on chronically ill patients (Zigmond, 1/15).
Medpage Today: Medicare To Release Doc Pay Data This Spring
Medicare will begin releasing payment data for individual physicians on a "case-by-case basis" as soon as this spring, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Tuesday. … The agency will evaluate requests for individual physician payment information starting in mid-March -- 60 days after the publication of a Federal Register notice explaining the policy, Blum said (1/14).
And insurers aren't waiting for proposed cuts to pressure lawmakers to preserve money for private Medicare plans --
Politico: Insurance Industry Ad Blitz To Preempt Medicare Cuts
This time around, the insurance industry isn’t even waiting for the Obama administration to threaten cuts to private Medicare plans: It’s launching a peremptory strike. America’s Health Insurance Plans announced an all-out advertising campaign Tuesday. Maintaining the same "Seniors are Watching" theme of more general ads last fall, the new seven-figure campaign is the group’s biggest mobilization to date for Medicare Advantage, a spokesman said. It comes in advance of an annual notice that sets the plans’ payment rates for the upcoming year and is focused on that issue (Norman, 1/14).
