Regulators Penalize Some Maryland Hospitals For Complication Rates
A Maryland program to curb hospital infection rates is showing signs of success, but nine hospitals still fell short last year and were penalized a total of $2.1 million.
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A Maryland program to curb hospital infection rates is showing signs of success, but nine hospitals still fell short last year and were penalized a total of $2.1 million.
Melanie Bella heads the new federal office that seeks to help people whose coverage is often fragmented because they qualify for both programs and to save the government money by streamlining that coverage.
20 percent of Medicare patients are back in the hospital within 30 days, a trend that endangers patients and raises health costs.
The conservative group FreedomWorks recommends a system of vouchers to replace Medicare, Medicaid and provisions of the new health law.
Jackie Judd of the Kaiser Family Foundation is joined by Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News and David Nather of Politico to talk about the president's 2012 proposed budget and a House bill that would repeal a provision of the health care overhaul that small businesses find particularly onerous.
The president chose to submit a profoundly unserious budget. There's no entitlement reform to close the long-term fiscal gap. There's no tax reform. There are some minor cuts to marginal programs for show. But, overall, it's very much a business-as-usual budget, with a few new and expensive long-term commitments thrown in for good measure. It's like the president and his team woke up after the mid-term election with a bad case of political amnesia.
In his 2012 budget, the president proposed a two-year, $54 billion solution to stop the scheduled cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients. The plan draws on savings from a variety of sources, including states, drug makers
Beginning this year, seniors who hit the coverage gap will get substantial discounts on both brand-name and generic drugs.
Starting this year, affluent Medicare beneficiaries will begin paying more than the standard premium for their Part D coverage.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are at risk of losing access to health services as states prepare to make yet another round of budget cuts.
House Republicans are holding committee hearings this week on the health law's provisions governing Medicare, abortion and small business.
The Independent Payment Advisory Board, a key cost-containment provision of the health law scheduled to be created this year, faces an uncertain future.
Poll finds high support for Medicare and Medicaid, complicating political strategies for election of 2012.
A big topic on the minds of many in the public policy community is what the future holds for the nation's out-of-control entitlement spending in general and Medicare in specific.
MedPac assails Medicare plan to extend quality bonus payments - meant for top-performing health insurers - to those with lower scores.
Sometimes the noisiest voices in the health overhaul debate don't make a good faith effort to acknowledge important scientific or policy-oriented nuances in their arguments. It's happening again in the wake of a controversial regulatory ruling about a cancer drug.
KHN reporters preview some of the big issues coming this year: Marilyn Werber Serafini, the Robin Toner Fellow at KHN, says efforts to cut federal spending likely will be hampered by campaign promises on Medicare funding.
In 2011 many new provisions of the health law kick in, providing benefits for many and potential new costs for some others.
The new health law adds coverage for an annual checkup, but in the past beneficiaries have not shown great interest in the "wellness exams" offered when they first qualify for Medicare.
Democrats and Republicans may spend the next two years fighting about what to jettison or retain in the new health law. If these battles are resolved, we'll be back to address another looming challenge: long-term care. It's best that this happen sooner rather than later.
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