Patients Eligible For Charity Care Instead Get Big Bills
Nonprofit hospitals admit they sent $2.7 billion in bills over the course of a year to patients who probably qualified for free or discounted care.
New Round of Medicare Readmission Penalties Hits 2,583 Hospitals
Starting today, Medicare is keeping half a billion dollars in payments from 83% of general hospitals for having too many patients come back.
Hospitals Accused Of Paying Doctors Large Kickbacks In Quest For Patients
Hospitals are eager to get particular specialists on staff because they bring in business that can be highly profitable. But those efforts, if they involve unusually high salaries or other enticements, can violate federal anti-kickback laws.
Short-Staffed Nursing Homes See Drop In Medicare Ratings
In its latest update to the Nursing Home Compare website, the government gave 1,638 homes its lowest star rating for staffing — one star on its five-star scale. Most were downgraded because payroll records reported no registered-nurse hours at all for at least four days.
Americans Overwhelmingly Want Federal Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills
Three-quarters of people urge action to keep patients from facing high medical costs when their insurance doesn’t cover the care, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
Trump escucha quejas de la industria y bajan las multas en hogares de adultos mayores
Bajo la administración actual, la multa promedio se redujo a $28,405, muy por debajo de los $41,260 en 2016, el último año en el cargo del presidente Barack Obama.
Nursing Home Fines Drop As Trump Administration Heeds Industry Complaints
Inspectors are citing nursing facilities for violating health and safety more often than during the Obama administration. But the average fine is nearly a third lower than it was before President Donald Trump took office.
Military Doctors In Crosshairs Of A Budget Battle
Details of the reductions have not yet been announced, but in 2017 Congress ordered mandated changes to make the military health system more efficient.
Medicare Trims Payments To 800 Hospitals, Citing Patient Safety Incidents
The penalties are part of a program set up by the Affordable Care Act to prompt hospitals to pay more attention to safety issues that can lead to injuries, such as falls or hospital-acquired infections.
Refund On The Way To Latest ‘Bill Of The Month’ Patient
Ski buff Sarah Witter will get $6,358.26 back from her hospital and insurer after a careful review of her bill following the KHN-NPR story on her case.
After Her Skiing Accident, An Uphill Battle Over Snowballing Bills
She took a bad fall on the slopes and her surgeon used a metal plate to put the splintered bones of her leg back together. When that device failed less than four months later, she and her insurer had to pay full price for the replacement plate.
Assisted Living’s Breakneck Growth Leaves Safety Of Dementia Patients Behind
An analysis of inspection records in California, Florida and Texas shows significant numbers of violations related to assisted living residents with dementia.
Medicare reduce pagos a hogares cuyos pacientes vuelven a ser hospitalizados
El gobierno federal reducirá los pagos de un año a casi 11,000 hogares cuyos pacientes vuelven al hospital con demasiada frecuencia.
Medicare Cuts Payments To Nursing Homes Whose Patients Keep Ending Up In Hospital
The incentive program to discourage nursing homes from discharging patients too quickly will also give bonuses to facilities with fewer rehospitalizations.
Feds Order More Weekend Inspections Of Nursing Homes To Catch Understaffing
Medicare instructs inspectors to look for staffing inadequacies in homes that report suspiciously low numbers of registered nurses and weekend workers.
In Health Insurance Wastelands, Rosier Options Crop Up For 2019
Premiums are lower as choices increase in many parts of the country. But the financial relief is not enough to erase the price hikes that have been imposed in recent years.
Medicare alivia sanciones por readmisiones en centros con pacientes de bajos ingresos
Siguiendo órdenes del Congreso, Medicare está aliviando sus multas anuales por readmisión en cientos de hospitales que brindan servicios a residentes de bajos ingresos.
Medicare Eases Readmission Penalties Against Safety-Net Hospitals
Penalties will total $566 million for all hospitals. But many that serve a large share of low-income patients will lose less money than they did in previous years.
Surprise Medical Bills Are What Americans Fear Most In Paying For Health Care
Two-thirds of Americans worry about unexpectedly large bills from doctors, hospitals or other medical providers, a poll shows. Four in 10 have received one in the past year.
HHS Watchdog To Probe Enforcement Of Nursing Home Staffing Standards
The study follows a Kaiser Health News and New York Times investigation that found nearly 1,400 nursing homes have reported fewer registered nurses on duty than Medicare requires or failed to provide reliable staffing information to the government.
