Latest KFF Health News Stories
Insurers Test New Payment Models For Health Care Providers
The patient-centered medical homes model, which has been the hallmark of one such experiment by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, is among the approaches receiving attention for reducing costs and reducing hospitalizations.
State Highlights: Fight Over New Ga. Trauma Center; San Francisco Premiums Expected To Drop
A selection of health policy stories from New York, Georgia, California, Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina.
Are Insurers Using Drug Tiers To Cherrypick Healthier Enrollees?
Critics charge that some plans continue to discriminate against sick people by putting certain drugs in the highest-cost drug tiers, requiring consumers to pay big out-of-pocket expenses. Meanwhile, critics and supporters of the law wait anxiously for a court decision on a challenge to the health law’s subsidies.
Viewpoints: Turning To New Legal Challenges To ACA; Is The Law Working?; Medicaid Problems In N.C.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
Longer Looks: Doctors’ Misunderstanding Of Test Results; The Medical Facts About Birth Control
This week’s studies come from BBC News, Reuters, The New Republic, MedPage Today and The Atlantic.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including health policy headlines from the marketplace, the campaign trail and regarding the health law’s implementation.
Congressional Democrats Push Legislation To Override Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby Decision
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., are expected to advance a bill Wednesday that would prevent companies from using a religious freedom law to avoid complying with the health law’s contraception coverage mandate.
VA Whistleblowers Testify About Retaliation
An independent federal agency is investigating 67 active complaints of employee retaliation at VA health facilities in 28 states, according to testimony before a House panel Tuesday.
Report Raises Concerns About Medicare Lab Billing
Medicare allowed $1.7 billion in payments to laboratories in 2010 for claims that raised red flags, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. Meanwhile, home health care and hospice provider Amedisys says the SEC’s probe of the company’s participation in Medicare led to no enforcement actions.
Study: No Evidence Hospitals Use Digital Records To Bilk Medicare
Concerns that hospitals are harnessing electronic health records to generate bigger revenues may be unfounded, according to a study published Tuesday. Meanwhile, NPR looks at how entrepreneurs are using technology to help older people manage their health.
Democrat Accuses Sen. McConnell Of Voting To Increase Medicare Beneficiaries’ Costs $6,000
Alison Lundergan Grimes makes the assertion in a campaign commercial, but analysts suggest that claim may not be right.
Minn. Home Health Care Workers File For Union Election
More than 26,000 are eligible to cast votes on whether to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), in one of the largest organizing drives in the state’s history.
Study On Cancer Care Offers Model For Possible Lower Spending On Treatment
The study, however, raised some questions because while it cut costs by a third and showed no decline in patient health, the spending on chemotherapy medications rose.
Calif. Small Businesses Can Keep Non-Conforming Health Plans Next Year
Elsewhere, a lawsuit accuses a big California insurer of deceptive enrollment practices, and consumers see that provider lists are often out-of-date and inaccurate.
Viewpoints: Misreading Hobby Lobby; Calmer Climate For ACA; Danger Of Tuberculosis, Measles
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
State Highlights: S. Fla. Doctor Group Gets $4M Medicare Bonus
A selection of health policy stories from Florida, New York, Iowa, Kansas, New Hampshire, Missouri, Idaho and South Carolina.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a status report on GOP discussions and debate about plans to replace the health law as well as coverage of emerging legislation to override the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.
Courts Consider Challenges To Health Law Subsidies
A federal judge weighs whether to allow a Republican senator’s lawsuit challenging the awarding of tax-free federal subsidies to buy health insurance to members of Congress and their staffs. Meanwhile, a U.S. appeals court is expected to decide any day on another challenge that argues the health law’s subsidies may be given only to residents of states that created their own insurance exchanges.
Senate Majority Leader Vows Response To Hobby Lobby Decision
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats will take up legislation to address the Supreme Court’s decision allowing some employers with religious objections to opt out of the health law’s contraceptive mandate. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood sets up a text helpline for women who have lost or will lose contraceptive coverage.
Medicare Mulls Expanding Telehealth To Wellness, Behavioral Visits
The proposed rule would also pay for rural telemedicine for providers who are closer to big cities. Elsewhere, telemedicine in treating injured workers — especially in rural areas — catches on.
