Georgia Weighs Medicaid Experiment (But Not Expansion)
State health officials say they will seek increased federal funding and permission to “experiment” with Medicaid to shore up rural and safety net hospitals.
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Losing A Hospital In The Heart Of A Small City
Economic challenges are squeezing the city of Lakewood, just outside of Cleveland, forcing the closure of one hospital, even as another is built in a more affluent suburb.
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Florida Governor Leaves D.C. Meeting Empty-Handed
Despite ‘a good conversation’ with HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Gov. Rick Scott gets no commitment on uncompensated care funding.
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A Matter Of Faith And Trust: Why African-Americans Don’t Use Hospice
Even as end-of-life planning gains favor with more Americans, African-Americans, research shows, remain very skeptical of options like hospice and advance directives. The result can mean more aggressive, painful care at the end of life that prolongs suffering.
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Patients Not Hurt When Their Hospitals Close, Study Finds
Despite frequent fears in communities when losing their hospitals, mortality rates do not rise, say Harvard researchers who examined 194 closures.
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Paying Medicaid Enrollees To Get Checkups, Quit Smoking and Lose Weight: Will It Pay Off?
Like wellness programs in the private sector, more than a dozen states are offering incentives to Medicaid enrollees to spur them to make healthier decisions — and potentially save taxpayers money.
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Rural Indiana Struggles With Drug-Fueled HIV Epidemic
In response to an HIV outbreak of historic proportions, Indiana’s legislature passed a bill permitting drug users in areas with disease outbreaks to trade used needles for clean ones. Sarah Varney reports for KHN and PBS NewsHour from Austin, Indiana.
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Running Out Of Money Is More Than Just A Worry For Many Seniors, Study Finds
About 12 percent of people 85 and older who died had no assets left and 20 percent had only their homes, according to the research. But even people who die much younger can face similar financial problems.
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Decoding Your Diagnosis: Psychiatrists Unveil Plain-English Guide For Patients
The American Psychiatric Association is releasing a new resource, Understanding Mental Disorders: Your Guide To DSM-5, to give patients and their families a better understanding of what these conditions involve and arm them with tools to advocate for their care.
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Medicare Itemizes Its $103 Billion Drug Bill
Federal officials release data showing prescription histories of hundreds of thousands of doctors and identifying the most common and costly drugs.
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Hope, Hurdles In Mental Health: A Medicaid Managed Care Firm’s First Year
Some say Cardinal’s first year’s performance has eased fears about care in Charlotte, N.C., but gaps and challenges remain.
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Montana Governor Signs Medicaid Expansion Into Law
Backers of Medicaid expansion celebrated in Helena as Gov. Steve Bullock signed the bill extending the health coverage to an estimated 45,000 more Montanans.
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An Obamacare Payment Reform Success Story – One Health System, Two Procedures
As part of an experiment run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, doctors, nurses and managers at Baptist Health System in San Antonio joined forces to cut costs for hip and knee replacements, getting patients on their feet sooner, saving taxpayers money and increasing their own earnings.
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More Evidence That Health Plans Stint On Mandated Birth Control Coverage
Researchers with the National Women’s Law Center find insurers around the country are failing to provide contraception and other care without copays.
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Florida House Goes Home Early Over Medicaid Impasse
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott sues the federal government, saying the state is being coerced to accept the expansion or lose dollars for other health care programs for the poor.
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Insuring Your Health
How Getting Married Affects Health Insurance Tax Credits
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers’ questions about cost and coverage.
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Medicaid’s Tension: Getting Corporate Giants To Do Right By The Needy
Tennessee’s TennCare program awaits federal rules to limit insurer profits and set stricter standards for quality and doctor networks — the biggest rules change for Medicaid managed care in a decade.
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California High Court To Consider Limits on Regulators’ Access to Prescription Database
A Burbank doctor, with the support of the AMA, says the Medical Board of California violated his patients’ privacy by checking his prescribing practices in a state database without a court order. The board says it needs that access to protect patients from harm.
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Hospitals Increasingly Turn To Patients For Advice
Federal efforts are driving hospitals to see patients as customers.
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Medicaid Programs Slow To Discourage Methadone Prescriptions Despite Widespread Problems
The federal government has been issuing warnings about the dangers of overdosing and addiction to methadone for nearly a decade. But only in the past two years have states started removing it from their Medicaid “preferred drug lists.”
