First Look At Medicare Quality Incentive Program Finds Little Benefit
One of Medicare’s attempts to improve medical quality –by rewarding or penalizing hospitals — did not lead to improvements in the first nine months of the program, a study has found. The quality program, known as Hospital Value-Based Purchasing, is a pillar of the federal health law’s campaign to use the government’s financial muscle to […]
Medicare Experiment Could Signal Sea Change For Hospice
What happens when hospice patients can keep getting life-extending treatment? Palliative care expert Diane Meier discusses the new program.
Good News For Boomers: Medicare’s Hospital Trust Fund Appears Flush Until 2030
But the fund that pays disability benefits needs help fast.
Advocacy Groups Say Medicare Should Negotiate With Drugmakers
Medicare could save billions if Congress overcame its reluctance to anger the drug industry and allowed the program to demand rebates or negotiate prices, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Wednesday. He added that’s something polls show many Americans support. Expensive new blockbuster drugs, such as a $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C treatment called Sovaldi, highlight the need to […]
Medicare Testing Payment Options That Could End Observation Care Penalties
The pilot projects underway at hospitals eliminate the requirement that seniors must be admitted for three days before they qualify for nursing home coverage.
Medicare Modifies Controversial Hospice Drug Rule
In response to strong criticism, Medicare officials are modifying rules intended to prevent the agency from paying twice for the same prescriptions for seniors receiving hospice care. Under the rules that took effect in May, hospice patients or their families could not fill prescriptions through their Part D drug plans until first confirming that the prescriptions […]
Letters To The Editor: A New Medical Convenience; ‘Copper Plans’ And Other Coverage Issues
Letters to the Editor is a regular feature in which readers comment on KHN original stories.
A Reader Asks: Does Selling Your House Affect Eligibility For Assisted Living?
KHN’s consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers this question.
Putting The Home In A Nursing Home
LaVrene Norton’s firm specializes in helping retirement communities and nursing homes train staff and design their residencies to fit the “household model.”
CMS May Soften Paperwork Requirements For Home Health Care
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Doctors may not have to write a narrative summary for patients needing home health care if a proposed rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is finalized. For Medicare to pay for a home health visit, which includes physical therapy, speech therapy and skilled […]
Study: Hospitals Using Electronic Medical Records Not Bilking Medicare
In 2012, Medicare was rocked by allegations hospitals were systematically overcharging the government program by misusing electronic medical records. A study published Tuesday disputes that.
Retooling Hospitals, One Data Point At A Time
The University of Utah improved quality and reduced costs by tracking each patient’s care.
Medicare Penalties For Hospital Infections Will Hit Alaska Hard
The four largest hospitals in Alaska are facing Medicare payment penalties for the quality of their care. Providence, Alaska Regional, Alaska Native Medical Center and Fairbanks Memorial are all in the bottom 25 percent nationally for the number of infections and serious complications patients get in their hospitals, according to data analyzed by Kaiser Health […]
More Than 750 Hospitals Face Medicare Crackdown On Patient Injuries
The 1 percent cut in payments is the latest effort by the federal government to improve hospital care.
Patient Injuries: Hospitals Most Likely To Be Penalized By Medicare
Out of all 761 hospitals that are in line to be penalized for high rates of infections and complications this fall, 175 of them are most likely to be penalized because their preliminary scores are nine or above on a scale of 1 to 10.
Methodology: How Hospital-Acquired Conditions Are Calculated
Before assessing penalties, Medicare assesses rates of infection among patients with catheters in major veins and in the bladder and eight other patient injuries, such as blood clots, bed sores and accidental falls.
Review Finds Flawed Management Of Nursing Home Inspections In Los Angeles County
Officials did not properly prioritize or track investigations, leading to delays and incomplete probes, according to a state audit.
Senators Offer Bill To Ease Readmission Penalties On Some Hospitals
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation on Thursday to make Medicare take the financial status of hospital patients into account when deciding whether to punish a hospital for too many readmissions. The bill attempts to address one of the main complaints about the readmissions program: that hospitals serving large numbers of low-income patients are […]
Insurer Begins Huge Palliative Care Program
“Person-centered care” is the buzz phrase floating around the health care industry, and a Pacific Northwest-based giant insurer thinks it has hit the mark with a new palliative care program coming this summer. Cambia Health Solutions, which includes Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield,will offer training to providers and additional benefits for policyholders: more than 2.2 million […]
Readers Ask: Are Insurance Premiums Capped? Do Doctors Have To Accept Medicare?
KHN’s consumer columnist answers inquiries from readers.
