Happy Birthday, Obamacare
MSNBC
March 23, 2013
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/23/happy-birthday-obamacare/
If you like daft ironies, here’s one to chew on today. It was three years ago this week that President Obama signed the greatest piece of social-justice legislation this country has seen in decades. Since its enactment on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act has curbed the health insurance industry’s worst abuses, placed basic coverage within reach for a generation of young adults, and made birth control more accessible to reproductive-age women. Within months, the act will extend health coverage to millions of uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid and spawning a new market for individual plans. And how are American marking the occasion? We’re achieving near-record levels of hostility toward the whole enterprise.
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Here’s the insanely long list of amendments filed to the Senate budget
The Washington Post
March 23, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/23/heres-the-insanely-long-list-of-amendments-filed-to-the-senate-budget/
The Senate passed a budget for the first time in four years shortly before 5 a.m. on Saturday. Why was the night so long? Before the debate could end, senators spent hours wading through a long series of symbolic, non-binding votes on amendments to the budget, a.k.a. “vote-a-rama.” Senators filed more than 500 amendments, but just a fraction of the total was actually brought to the floor last night for a vote. (For more explanatory background on vote-a-rama read David Graham and Keith Hennessy.) Here’s a list of nearly all the amendments that were filed, with the ones that were actually voted on in bold. (Vote results courtesy of the Library of Congress’s invaluable THOMAS database.)
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Senate rejects ban on allowing former illegal immigrants healthcare benefits
The Hill
March 23, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/289995-senate-rejects-ban-on-allowing-former-illegal-immigrants-healthcare-benefits
The Senate rejected an amendment to the budget that would have banned illegal immigrants from qualifying for “ObamaCare” and Medicaid during the period of legal status. Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Session (R-Ala.) introduced the amendment, which failed on a 43-56 vote. His amendment would have prohibited illegal immigrants, who later gain citizenship, from getting healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act or through Medicaid.
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Report Card on Health Care Reform
The New York Times
March 23, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/report-card-on-health-care-reform.html?_r=0
Republican leaders in Congress regularly denounce the 2010 Affordable Care Act and vow to block money to carry it out or even to repeal it. Those political attacks ignore the considerable benefits delivered to millions of people since the law’s enactment three years ago Saturday. The main elements of the law do not kick in until Jan. 1, 2014, when many millions of uninsured people will gain coverage. Yet it has already thrown a lifeline to people at high risk of losing insurance or being uninsured, including young adults and people with chronic health problems, and it has made a start toward reforming the costly, dysfunctional American health care system.
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Va. attorney general says Medicaid expansion unconstitutional
Modern Healthcare
March 23, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130323/INFO/303229986/va-attorney-general-says-medicaid-expansion-unconstitutional
Legislation authorizing Medicaid expansion and imposing regional tax increases for transportation is unconstitutional, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said Friday. In an advisory opinion, the Republican Cuccinelli wrote that lawmakers improperly delegated authority to a panel on the Medicaid issue. And in an advisory opinion on another issue, he wrote that they violated a constitutional prohibition against state passage of local laws in the regional component of a sweeping transportation funding bill.
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Senate OKs budget plan that includes $275B in healthcare cuts
Modern Healthcare
March 23, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130323/NEWS/303229985/senate-oks-budget-plan-that-includes-275b-in-healthcare-cuts
An exhausted Senate gave pre-dawn approval Saturday to a Democratic $3.7 trillion budget for next year that embraces nearly $1 trillion in tax increases over the coming decade but shelters domestic programs targeted for cuts by House Republicans. While their victory was by a razor-thin 50-49, the vote let Democrats tout their priorities even as the plan contained an additional $275 billion in unspecified healthcare cuts over the next 10 years. The plan doesn't resolve the deep differences the two parties have over deficits and the size of government.
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At Age 3, Affordable Care Act Is No Less Controversial
NPR
March 23, 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/23/175099334/at-age-3-affordable-care-act-is-no-less-controversial
The Affordable Care Act turns 3 on Saturday, and it seems just as divisive as the day President Obama signed it. "This law expands our competitiveness, promotes wellness and prevention, and enhances the economic security of the middle class," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Friday. "It enables Americans to pursue their dreams, start a business, change jobs or care for their families with the certainty and security of affordable, quality health insurance."
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The week in review: Medicaid, health care exchange, right to work, more Detroit corruption
Michigan Radio
March 23, 2013
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/week-review-medicaid-health-care-exchange-right-work-more-detroit-corruption
This “week in review” Rina Miller and Jack Lessenberry discuss a state house subcommittee’s rejection to expand Medicaid, how Michigan will be run under a federal health exchange, how universities are going under scrutiny for negotiating new, long term contracts before Michigan’s right to work law goes into effect, and how a city pension attorney in Detroit and a former trustee were indicted for bribery.
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Maryland House advances measure to pay for health care exchange
The Washington Post
March 23, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maryland-house-advances-measure-to-pay-for-health-care-exchange/2013/03/23/23bb99be-9400-11e2-8e33-9cc6c739d012_story.html
The House of Delegates has advanced a measure to expand Medicaid eligibility and create a funding stream for Maryland’s health benefit exchange as part of the federal health care overhaul. The House gave the bill initial approval on Saturday. A vote is expected early next week.
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How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law
Tenth Amendment Center
March 22, 2013
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/03/22/50-vetoes-how-states-can-stop-the-obama-health-care-law/
Despite surviving a number of threats, President Obama’s health care law remains harmful, unstable, and unpopular. It also remains vulnerable to repeal, largely because Congress and the Supreme Court have granted each state the power to veto major provisions of the law before they take effect in 2014. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) itself empowers states to block the employer mandate, to exempt many of their low- and middle-income taxpayers from the individual mandate, and to reduce federal deficit spending, simply by not establishing a health insurance “exchange.” Supporters of the law do not care for this feature, yet they adopted it because they had no choice. The bill would not have become law without it.
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Risks seen in geography-based reimbursement
Modern Healthcare
March 22, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130322/NEWS/303229969/risks-seen-in-geography-based-reimbursement
Applying a geographically based index to set Medicare reimbursements would reward low-performing healthcare providers in some areas and punish higher performers in other regions, according to preliminary observations from an Institute of Medicine committee. That's because decisions in healthcare come from healthcare organizations and individual practitioners, not from the geographic region where they're based.
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Senate rejects repeal of healthcare law, again
The Hill
March 22, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/289827-senate-rejects-repeal-of-healthcare-law-again
The Senate on Friday rejected another GOP attempt to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law. An amendment to the Senate budget resolution from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) failed on a 45-54 vote on Friday. Cruz’s amendment would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and encouraged patient-centered reforms to reduce costs.
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Officials Unveil More Details Of Colo. Exchange Funding
Kaiser Health News
March 22, 2013
http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/03/officials-unveil-more-details-of-colo-exchange-funding/
A week after approving a tax on health insurance policies, Colorado officials are offering more details of their plans to fund the state’s health insurance exchange after federal backing runs out in 2014. Last week the state’s exchange board approved, with broad support, a 1.4 percent fee on all policies sold in the exchange. This week the board asked state lawmakers for the right to charge health plans up to $1.80 per member per month for up to three years to fund start-up costs.
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Obamacare Brought Down My Health Care Premiums
U.S. News & World Report
March 22, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/susan-milligan/2013/03/22/obamacare-is-lowering-some-health-care-costs
The snippy tone of the letter from my health insurance company really threw me for a minute. Very officious, very much this-is-totally-not-our-fault-the-bad-government-made-us-do-it, the letter informed me that because of the Affordable Care Act, my premium might change. Under the law, as of this year, insurance carriers would no longer be allowed to differentiate (or discriminate) on the basis of gender, and this, I was informed in a letter dripping with derision, might end up affecting how much I have to pay for my individual insurance each month. Well, it did. My premiums are now 7 percent lower than they were.
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Mich. panel OKs 'moral objections' health care bill
USA Today
March 22, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/22/michigan-bill-health-care-providers-deny-services-moral-objections/2009539/
In a move proponents call a win for religious liberty and opponents say legalizes discrimination against people at their most vulnerable, a state Senate committee passed a bill Thursday that would allow health care providers and institutions to refuse to provide service based on moral, religious or conscientious objections. The bill, which passed on a 5-1 vote in the Senate Health Policy Committee, is the same bill that passed the Senate during last December's frenzied lame-duck session. But it never got a vote in the House. Though services couldn't be withheld based on the patient, they could be withheld based on the service, which isn't spelled out in the bill. Opponents fear it could range from treatment of HIV/AIDS, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, sterilization or end-of-life issues.
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Why Health Care Spending Will Explode Under ObamaCare: Evidence From Medicare
Forbes
March 22, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2013/03/22/why-health-care-spending-will-explode-under-obamacare-evidence-from-medicare/
President Obama and the Democrats repeatedly claimed that getting every American insured would lower health care spending. However, every indication is that health care spending will explode. To see why look at Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Amy Finkelstein’s groundbreaking 2005 work on the introduction of Medicare.
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Senate overwhelmingly endorses states' collection of online sales taxes
The Hill
March 22, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/289961-senate-supports-states-rights-to-collect-online-sales-tax
The Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved an amendment empowering states to collect taxes for online sales, delivering a huge victory to lawmakers and stakeholders who have devoted more than two years to the effort. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) watched their amendment sail through the upper chamber on a 75-24 vote, confirming their hunch that their legislation has the support needed to pass outside the budget process. The Senate accepted Durbin's amendment by voice vote after his Enzi's modifications were approved.
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CMS on Obamacare's Health Insurance Exchanges: 'Let's Just Make Sure It's Not a Third-World Experience'
Forbes
March 22, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/03/22/cms-on-obamacares-health-insurance-exchanges-lets-just-make-sure-its-not-a-third-world-experience/
Obamacare’s reorganization of the U.S. health care system is slated to go on-line on January 1, 2014. That’s when the law’s key provisions go into effect: its individual mandate; its rules requiring higher premiums for young people; and its expansion of insurance coverage through Medicaid and the law’s subsidized private insurance exchanges. Increasingly, officials in the Obama administration are worried that the rollout of the exchanges will be chaotic, given the law’s complexity and unrealistic deadlines. “We are under 200 days from open enrollment” on the exchanges, noted Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at a recent conference. “I’m pretty nervous—I don’t know about you.”
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Help on the Way for Small Businesses Struggling With Health Care Costs
The Huffington Post
March 22, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-arensmeyer/small-business-health-care-costs_b_2935692.html
This week marks the third anniversary of the health care law's passage. Given the amount of airtime the law still gets, it's hard to believe the Affordable Care Act has been on the books that long. The law continues to generate controversy from the corridors of Capitol Hill to the sidewalks of Main Street, but in fact many important provisions impacting our country's primary job creators have been quietly helping small business owners better afford health insurance. However, next year when the bulk of the law's provisions go into effect, we'll see even more changes that will help rein in insurance costs for small employers and the millions they employ.
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Minnesota health exchange board members sought
Minnesota Post
March 21, 2013
http://www.minnpost.com/political-agenda/2013/03/minnesota-health-exchange-board-members-sought
Now that the Minnesota health insurance exchange MNsure has been signed into law, the governor must appoint six members to the board that will certify and select health insurance plans to be offered through the exchange. Applications are now available through the secretary of state's appointments website. The exchange, designed to help Minnesota individuals, families and small employers to find affordable health insurance and access tax credits or assistance to help pay for coverage, is supposed to start enrolling members in October. Supporters expect 1.3 million Minnesotans to use the exchange by 2016.
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After three years, healthcare reform is closing the gap
Miami Herald, by Sec. Sebelius
March 21, 2013
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/21/3299182/after-three-years-healthcare-reform.html
This week marks the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. For Floridians, that means a healthcare system that is stronger than it was three years ago — and a future that looks even brighter. Floridians who have health insurance now have more security thanks to new insurance-market reforms and consumer protections put into place by the law. Preventive services like mammograms and flu shots are newly available for free to 3.8 million people with private insurance plans. About 237,345 Florida Medicare beneficiaries with the highest prescription drug costs have saved an average of $678 on their medications. And Floridians are now protected from some of the worst insurance-industry abuses such as lifetime coverage caps that could cut off benefits when people need them most.
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First ACO Results Due This Summer, CMS Official Says
BNA Health
March 21, 2013
http://www.bna.com/first-aco-results-b17179872955/
The first results of the Pioneer accountable care organization initiative will be available this summer, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official told Congress March 20. Richard J. Gilfillan, director of CMS's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, told the Senate Finance Committee that CMMI is working on numerous programs that could alter the way health care is delivered, but added results of many of CMMI's projects may not be known for some time
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OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Healthcare reform turns 3
The Hill
March 21, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/289711-overnight-health-
It's been three years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law — and since healthcare helped sweep Republicans into the House majority. But Republicans aren't getting the same mileage out their anti-ObamaCare message these days. Democratic strategists say they're not too worried about the healthcare attacks they'll likely face in 2014 Senate races. Although the ACA remains unpopular in public polling, continuing to fight over the law is also unpopular. The law has been on the books since 2010, and it was further legitimized by the Supreme Court's ruling last year and Obama's reelection in a campaign that saw plenty of healthcare attacks.
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HHS Secretary Sebelius: 'Obamacare' is lowering health care costs
The Washington Times
March 21, 2013
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/mar/21/hhs-secretary-kathleen-sebelius-obamacare-lowering/
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has pushed back at Republican claims that President Obama’s health care reforms are draining the economy, saying “Obamacare” has lowered Medicare and private insurance costs significantly. Mrs. Sebelius told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Thursday that Medicare costs are significantly lower than before the president’s health care reform law was passed in 2010.
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CMS, ONC Launch Online Health IT Resources
Becker’s Hospital Review
March 20, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/cms-onc-launch-online-health-it-resources.html
CMS is hosting a series of webinars for eligible professionals on what they must do to earn incentives and avoid payment adjustments associated with the Physician Quality Reporting System, eRx Incentive Program and Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs, according to an AHA News Now report. Also, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has launched the first in a series of webpages that will offer health IT resources tailored to the needs of critical access hospitals and rural hospitals. This is to support ONC's goal of having 1,000 critical access hospitals and small, rural hospitals obtain meaningful use before 2015, according to the report.
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A health care tale of two counties
CNN
March 20, 2013
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/20/a-health-care-tale-of-two-counties/
Two New York boroughs, Manhattan and the Bronx, are separated by just a few stops on the subway. Nonetheless, they are vastly different in key public health measurements. The Bronx ranks dead last for health among all counties in New York, while Manhattan (also known as New York County) is near the top third. The rankings were based on rates of premature death and health-related quality of life. The list was recently compiled and updated for every county in every state by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute.
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Our coming deficits are driven by old people, not health inflation
The Washington Post
March 20, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/20/our-coming-deficits-are-driven-by-old-people-not-health-inflation/
You’ve heard — perhaps on this very blog! — that our long-term deficits are almost entirely driven by health-care costs. That’s true over the next 50, 60, 70 years, which is, absurdly, the time frame people often talk in. But over the next 20 years, it’s not quite right. A more accurate way to put it would be that in the coming decades, new spending is almost entirely driven by health-care programs. But what’s really driving the spending in those programs is the aging of the population, not the rise in health-care costs. Over at the Concord Coalition’s blog, Joshua Gordon makes this point in an unusually clear way — by which I mean, of course, with graphs.
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Questions Abound in Learning to Adjust to Health Care Overhaul
The New York Times
March 20, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/smallbusiness/a-bakery-with-95-employees-confronts-the-new-health-care-law.html?pagewanted=all
Baked in the Sun is a wholesale baker and distributor of freshly baked pastries near San Diego. The company is one of thousands of small businesses that employ more than 50 full-time employees and thus will be required to offer health insurance to their workers — or pay into a government fund — beginning Jan. 1. Rachel Shein and Steve Pilarski, the married owners of the bakery, which employs 95 people, estimate this could cost their business up to $108,000, and they are weighing their options as the date approaches. “Our revenues are about $8 million, but the food business is a low-margin industry so cutting $108,000 out of our profits, which are just over $200,000, is a big deal,” said Ms. Shein, who is the chief executive. They are evaluating different ways to comply with the new law and finance the expense.
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What skills do healthcare CIOs, executives need to succeed?
EHR Intelligence
March 20, 2013
http://ehrintelligence.com/2013/03/20/what-skills-do-healthcare-cios-executive-need-to-succeed/
The healthcare industry is rapidly changing as have the expectations for healthcare executives, especially those appointed to health IT leadership positions such as CIO. Although the chief information officer is primarily charged with overseeing the management of health information systems, the value attached to health data requires increased integration of clinical, administrative, and business operations. “You’re at the table now, CIO, act like a chief, which many do, and understand that it’s not just the clinical leadership to make outcomes better,” Mike Supple, Senior Vice President of Business Development & Marketing at B. E. Smith told EHRintelligence.com at HIMSS13. “The CIO is a very big component of that, supplying data and information and making sure they get the right decision support.”
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Thune: Improving objectionable parts of Affordable Care Act not feasible
Argus Leader
March 20, 2013
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130320/UPDATES/130320028/Thune-Improving-objectionable-parts-Affordable-Care-Act-not-feasible?nclick_check=1
Sen. John Thune said Thursday that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can't be fixed as an alternative to repealing it. On Wednesday, Thune outlined his complaints against the law, which he said will increase health care costs and increase the deficit -- though supporters of the law dispute those claims. Democrats have blocked all Republican attempts to repeal the 2009 health care reform law, which was largely upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
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AHIP: Hospital prices drive up healthcare costs
Fierce Health Payer
March 20, 2013
http://www.fiercehealthpayer.com/story/ahip-hospital-prices-drive-healthcare-costs/2013-03-20
Insurers have been saying it for a long time--the prices that hospitals and other providers charge play a large role in the ever-increasing rise in healthcare costs. And now a new study from America's Health Insurance Plans confirms that claim, finding that hospital prices have been growing amid increased provider consolidation. Inpatient hospital prices increased more than 8 percent each year from 2008 to 2010, according to the study, published in the American Journal of Managed Care. AHIP alleges a primary driver of these escalated costs is the increase in hospital consolidation, providing hospitals with an unbalance of power to resist insurers' attempts to negotiate lower payments.
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The Face of Future Health Care
The New York Times
March 20, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/kaiser-permanente-is-seen-as-face-of-future-health-care.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
When people talk about the future of health care, Kaiser Permanente is often the model they have in mind. The organization, which combines a nonprofit insurance plan with its own hospitals and clinics, is the kind of holistic health system that President Obama’s health care law encourages. Kaiser has sophisticated electronic records and computer systems that — after 10 years and $30 billion in technology spending — have led to better-coordinated patient care, another goal of the president. And because the plan is paid a fixed amount for medical care per member, there is a strong financial incentive to keep people healthy and out of the hospital, the same goal of the hundreds of accountable care organizations now being created.
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Grads in Health Care Fields See Bright Job Market
U.S. News & World Report
March 19, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/articles/2013/03/19/grads-in-healthcare-fields-see-bright-job-market
Though they may not want to admit it, baby boomers are getting creaky — and a lot of their parents are requiring medical attention, too. And starting in 2014, millions of people who haven't had insurance will gain coverage and feel freer to seek care.
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Health Care Law 3rd Anniversary: Paying for Quality Saves Health Care Dollars
White House
March 19, 2013
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/03/20/health-care-law-3rd-anniversary-paying-quality-saves-health-care-dollars
For decades before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health care costs outstripped inflation, without corresponding improvements in health care quality. Our system didn’t incentivize quality or efficiency. We paid providers for the quantity of care, not the quality of care delivered. And we were not using technology to deliver smarter care. The Affordable Care Act includes steps to improve the quality of health care and lower costs for you and for our nation as a whole. This means avoiding costly mistakes and readmissions, keeping patients healthy, rewarding quality instead of quantity, and creating the health information technology infrastructure that enables new payment and delivery models to work.
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Solutions for controlling healthcare fraud and abuse
The Hill
March 19, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/289057-solutions-for-controlling-healthcare-fraud-and-abuse
Now that sequestration is in effect, healthcare leaders are eager to see exactly how these cuts will take shape and the impact they will have. While the sequester remains politically unpopular with both parties, cuts to programs geared toward saving Medicare funds such as HHS’s Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control program, seem to make even less sense than others.
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Illinois judge deals blow to retiree health care challenge
Crain’s Chicago Business
March 19, 2013
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130319/NEWS02/130319718/illinois-judge-deals-blow-to-retiree-health-care-challenge
An Illinois judge on Tuesday ruled that healthcare for retired state workers does not have a constitutional guarantee, a decision that could help lawmakers who are trying to pass reforms of the state's badly underfunded pension system. The ruling dismissing class-action challenges to a 2012 law that gave the state the ability to change health care premium rates for retirees was a setback for public labor unions opposed to any changes in retirement benefits.
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CMS Makes Hospital Inspection Reports Available to Public
Becker’s Hospital Review
March 19, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/quality/cms-makes-hospital-inspection-reports-available-to-public.html
The Association of Health Care Journalists launched hospitalinspections.org, a database of federal inspection reports on U.S. hospitals since January 2011. This free, searchable database includes the results of federal inspections of acute-care hospitals and critical access hospitals due to complaints. Previously this information was available only by filing Freedom of Information Act requests to CMS, according to the news release. With the launch of this website, CMS provides transparency into hospitals' quality.
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Conservatives should continue to push for Obamacare’s repeal, says author of ‘Devouring Freedom’
Daily Caller
March 19, 2013
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/19/why-conservatives-should-continue-to-push-for-obamacares-repeal/
Though the odds of Obamacare’s repeal look stark in the aftermath of President Barack Obama’s re-election, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Jim Antle argues that the law’s repeal remains a worthwhile pursuit for the GOP. “The implementation of Obamacare is going to be rife with problems,” Antle told The Daily Caller in an interview about his new book, “Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped.”
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North Dakota looks at banning all abortions by defining life as beginning with conception
The Washington Post
March 19, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/north-dakota-looks-at-banning-all-abortions-by-defining-life-as-beginning-with-conception/2013/03/19/07c080b4-904d-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
North Dakota lawmakers who approved what would be some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. are now considering outlawing all abortions. The “personhood” measures would ban abortions by defining human life as beginning with conception. It’s drawing opposition from some doctors who say it could cause problems for infertile couples seeking to use in vitro fertilization to conceive, but supporters insist that’s addressed in the legislation.
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Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Washington: Financial Alignment Demonstrations for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries Compared
Kaiser Health News
March 19, 2013
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/8426.cfm
This policy brief compares demonstration programs in Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Washington state that will introduce changes in the care delivery systems through which people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid receive services, as well as changing the payment approach and financing arrangements among the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the states and providers.
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CMS sets aggressive 2013 meaningful use targets
Family Practice News
March 19, 2013
http://www.familypracticenews.com/single-view/cms-sets-aggressive-2013-meaningful-use-targets/1e711294c828123ec4afddb0be3cb144.html
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expecting half of eligible physician offices and 80% of eligible hospitals to be meaningful users of electronic health records this year – a target that even the agency itself calls aggressive. To date, 161,890 eligible professionals – out of 527,200 who are eligible – have attested to meaningful use, according to the most recent statistics from CMS. Most of those (161,677) did so successfully. About 200 were not successful. Of the 5,011 hospitals that are eligible, 2,653 have been successful. None failed.
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Millions Got Free Preventive Care Due to Health Law, HHS Says
U.S. News & World Report
March 18, 2013
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/03/18/millions-got-free-preventive-care-due-to-health-law-hhs-says
About 71 million Americans with private health insurance plans received at least one free preventive health service -- such as a mammogram or flu shot -- in 2011 and 2012 because of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration said Monday. In addition, about 34 million people in traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans also received at least one free preventive health service -- such as an annual wellness visit -- due to the health care law, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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$12.3B in EHR Incentive Pay Distributed Through February, CMS Says
iHealthBeat
March 18, 2013
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2013/3/18/123b-in-ehr-incentive-pay-distributed-through-february-cms-says.aspx
Last week, a federal official announced that an estimated $12.3 billion in meaningful use incentive payments had been distributed to 219,000 eligible hospitals and health care professionals as of the end of February, Government Health IT reports. Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
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New York flunking health-care navigation
Biz Journals
March 18, 2013
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2013/03/18/new-york-flunking-health-care-navigation.html
New York state received a failing grade for its efforts to help consumers gain a basic understanding about how much they can expect to pay for health-care services. It was among 29 states across the nation graded with an “F” in a new Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws, a report that examines state laws designed to give consumers basic information about the average or expected prices of common health services.
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Six things you need to know about Oregon's largest health care collaboration
Biz Journals
March 18, 2013
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2013/03/18/six-things-you-need-to-know-about.html
As the largest coordinated care organization in Oregon, Health Share of Oregon has an enormously complex job to do. Health Share grew out of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s ambitious plan to use the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act as a springboard to transform health care in Oregon. It is the largest of 15 CCOs in Oregon charged with providing better care to Medicaid patients for less money.
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Interview: Talking health care with Gov. Scott Walker
The Washington Examiner
March 18, 2013
http://washingtonexaminer.com/interview-talking-health-care-with-gov.-scott-walker/article/2524648
Throughout the nation, conservative governors who opposed President Obama’s health care law are now grappling with how to make decisions assuming it remains reality. One major decision has been whether to set up a state-based health care exchange as allowed by the law, or default to a federal exchange. Another has been whether to expand Medicaid. On Saturday, following his well-received speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, I spoke with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his unique solution to the Medicaid question as well as his thoughts on the larger health care debate in the age of Obamacare. What follows is a transcript of our interview.
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Healthcare reform law pre-empts Missouri law on contraception coverage
Modern Healthcare
March 18, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130318/INFO/303189992/healthcare-reform-law-pre-empts-missouri-law-on-contraception
Under the Missouri law, insurers and employers or other health care plan sponsors cannot be compelled to provide coverage for contraceptives, abortion or sterilization “if such items or procedures are contrary” to their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Two insurers — Health Alliance Life Insurance Co. and HMO Missouri Inc. — challenged the law after they received charges from the Missouri Department of Insurance that they were violating state law by not offering health care plans excluding coverage for contraceptives.
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29 states fail in healthcare price transparency
Fierce Healthcare
March 18, 2013
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/29-states-fail-healthcare-price-transparency/2013-03-18
Nearly two-thirds of states--29--received a failing grade for their healthcare price transparency laws in a report released today by the Catalyst for Payment Reform. Another seven states squeezed out a D grade, according to the report compiled by a consortium including the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute and large healthcare payers. Only two states--Massachusetts and New Hampshire--received As for their price transparency laws. Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin earned Bs, while Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota and Vermont received Cs.
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New HIPAA rules pose challenges for healthcare industry
Thompson Reuters
March 18, 2013
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/03_-_March/New_HIPAA_rules_pose_challenges_for_healthcare_industry/
As the healthcare industry gears up to comply with new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, set to take effect March 26, providers are looking for guidance on how broader patient-privacy rules could affect their businesses, said Nixon Peabody healthcare partner Linn Freedman. The Department of Health & Human Services in January announced an expansion of the 1996 act, which provided privacy and security protections for patients' health information.
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How Obamacare Raises Healthcare Costs
Forbes
March 18, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbell/2013/03/18/how-obamacare-raises-health-care-costs/
Obamacare was hailed as not only a great piece of legislation but as a key tool to decrease the ever-rising cost of healthcare in the U.S. Unfortunately, the act almost certainly will have the opposite effect. Obamacare will increase healthcare costs significantly and exacerbate many of the key cost drivers of healthcare. Why? Obamacare is based on providing access to insurance for all and providing penalties for those without health insurance. As written earlier, health insurance is part of the problem of rising costs, not the cure. Forcing an additional 30 million people into health insurance programs using insurance exchanges (which many states say they cannot do, so the federal government will have to manage them) simply adds to the cost burden.
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Agency: IRS failed to tally paperwork burden from healthcare mandate
The Hill
March 18, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/pending-regs/288793-agency-irs-failed-to-tally-paperwork-burden-from-healthcare-mandate
The federal government’s small-business advocate is taking aim at the healthcare reform law’s insurance mandates. The Office of Advocacy, an independent agency within the Small Business Administration, is calling out the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for failing to conduct a regulatory flexibility analysis in the crafting of the rules. The analysis is required under a 32-year-old law called the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires that agencies spell out how their regulation will impact small businesses in both hours and dollars.
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Health Care Prices Remain A Mystery In Most States
Forbes
March 18, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2013/03/18/health-care-prices-remain-a-mystery-in-most-states/
As public scrutiny intensifies over price transparency in health care, a new report shows 72 percent of the nation, or 36 states, failing to improve information to consumers on what medical treatments and procedures actually cost. The report from two business coalitions representing some of the nation’s largest employers is the latest troubling sign that most prices in health care remain a mystery to consumers, employers and patients picking up the tab for health care services. They cite national studies showing prices for identical procedures can vary more than 700 percent in some cases.
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29 States Get F On Disclosure Laws For Health Care Prices
NPR
March 18, 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/18/174660050/29-states-get-f-on-disclosure-laws-for-health-care-prices
Wonder why you can't get a straight answer on how much a treatment or test will cost you? One big reason: State laws that allow hospitals and other providers of health care to keep costs hidden until they send you the bill. A report card on price transparency released Monday gives 29 states an F and seven states a D for policies that keep patients and their families in the dark on prices. The failing grade went to those with practically no transparency requirements.
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Two former health chiefs push La. Medicaid expansion
Modern Helthcare
March 16, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130316/INFO/303159986/two-former-health-chiefs-push-la-medicaid-expansion
Two former Louisiana healthcare secretaries pushed Friday for expanding Medicaid in the state to cover thousands of uninsured residents, pitting them against Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal. David Hood was secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals under Republican former Gov. Mike Foster. Fred Cerise was DHH secretary under Democratic former Gov. Kathleen Blanco. The two men were featured in a newspaper ad published in The (Baton Rouge) Advocate newspaper calling the Medicaid expansion a good deal for Louisiana.
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Obama's charm campaign: High marks, no concessions
Modern Healthcare
March 16, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130316/INFO/303159985/obamas-charm-campaign-high-marks-no-concessions
Over dinner at a fancy hotel a few blocks from the White House, Republican senators wanted to know if President Barack Obama would support a gradual increase in the age of eligibility for Medicare, set at 65 since the program's inception more than four decades ago. The president hedged, according to several people at the event, recalling the discussion on a cost-saving change to Medicare that most if not all leading Democrats in Congress adamantly oppose.
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Employers, Small Businesses Bristle Over Health Law
Kaiser Health News
March 16, 2013
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2013/March/15/health-law-implementation-big-picture.aspx
The Wall Street Journal reports on the fee that many employers will pay for each person that they insure next year while KHN details a possible "loophole" for small businesses. And, on Capitol Hill, a GOP bill is being advanced that would require insurance companies to disclose their health law tax burden and how it impacts premiums to consumers, and Senate Democrats press Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to speed up the health law's implementation.
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Sen. Mitch McConnell renews attack on health care reform law, Democrats
Courier-Journal
March 16, 2013
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130315/NEWS010605/303150074/Sen-Mitch-McConnell-renews-attack-health-care-reform-law-Democrats?nclick_check=1
Looking ahead to his re-election campaign next year, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday fired a volley of attacks at President Barack Obama and Democrats, depicting them as a party of failed policies, old ideas — and old candidates. The Kentucky Republican told the Conservative Political Action Conference that Democrats are hurting the nation’s economy and threatening constitutional rights. Andå he renewed his assault on Obama’s health care law, calling it an “assault on liberty.”
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McConnell takes aim at Obamacare
BizJournals
March 15, 2013
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2013/03/15/mcconnell-takes-aim-at-obamacare.html
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., is vowing to fight for a repeal of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, an overhaul of the U.S. health care system championed by President Obama. According to a report from the Associated Press, McConnell, who is Senate minority leader, made the comments while speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. The report said McConnell called the law a “monument to liberalism.”
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State Demonstration Proposals to Integrate Care and Align Financing for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
Kaiser Family Foundation
March 15, 2013
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/dual_eligibles_map.cfm?RenderForPrint=1
This map shows the current status of the state demonstration proposals to integrate care and align financing for beneficiaries eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Over 9.1 million seniors and younger people with significant disabilities are dually eligible for both programs, and as many as 2 million of them may be included in the demonstrations. Dual eligible beneficiaries are among the poorest and sickest beneficiaries covered by either program and consequently account for a disproportionate share of spending in both programs. A number of states are working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop proposals to test capitated and/or managed-fee-for service models to integrate care and align financing for dual eligible beneficiaries, based on new demonstration authority in the Affordable Care Act. CMS is presently reviewing the states’ proposals to determine which will be implemented. Enrollment in the first demonstrations is expected to be effective in July 2013, with others expected to follow later in 2013 and in 2014.
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Healthcare Watch: Preparing for the price of Alzheimer's disease
Los Angeles Times
March 15, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-healthcare-alzheimer-20130317,0,6014508.story
For seniors and their families, Alzheimer's disease and its hefty price tag are an increasingly scary prospect. About 5.4 million Americans are affected by Alzheimer's disease, making it the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Because of growing life expectancies and aging baby boomers, that number is expected to triple by 2050.
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U.S. judge in Mich. blocks contraception mandate
Modern Healthcare
March 15, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130315/INFO/303159978/u-s-judge-in-mich-blocks-contraception-mandate?utm_source=frontpage&utm_medium=newsitem309&utm_campaign=carousel-traffic
A judge on Thursday blocked the federal government from requiring the founder of Domino's Pizza to provide mandatory contraception coverage to his employees under the health care law. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the contraception provision of the law against Tom Monaghan and Domino's Farms Corp., a management company located near Ann Arbor, Mich.
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Call for screening of healthcare enrollers meets resistance
Los Angeles Times
March 15, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure-criminal-checks-20130315,0,4358783.story
State officials say they need 20,000 people for the job of signing up millions of Californians for health insurance in the coming months, but a battle is brewing over whether these workers should undergo background checks and fingerprinting. At issue is the level of screening these "assisters" should receive before they handle confidential information about the people they are enrolling this year in the state's new health insurance exchange, called Covered California.
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Improving Healthcare, One Search At A Time
NPR
March 15, 2013
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/15/174409384/improving-healthcare-one-search-at-a-time
By combing through 100 million search queries on Bing, Yahoo and Google, Microsoft Research Lab co-director Eric Horvitz and his colleagues were able to discover a previously unknown interaction between two commonly prescribed drugs. Horvitz says the method might detect dangerous drug interactions earlier than the FDA's warning system.
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Wendy's talks about new products, breakfast, health care and rising costs
Columbus Dispatch
March 15, 2013
http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-bottom-line/2013/03/wendys-tests-new-products-gauges-profits-from-breakfast-health-care-reform.html
Wendy's is gearing up food innovation, and trying to figure out how discontinuing breakfast in some markets, health care reform and rising commodity costs could affect its bottom line. Steven Hare, chief financial officer for the Dublin-based fast-food company, addressed these issues during a Thursday presentation at the UBS Global Consumer Conference in Boston.
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CMS Revises Hospitals' Readmission Penalties for the Second Time
Becker’s Hospital Review
March 15, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/racs-/-icd-9-/-icd-10/cms-revises-hospitals-readmission-penalties-for-the-second-time.html
CMS has once again revised penalties for hospitals under its Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which cuts hospitals' Medicare payments up to 1 percent for higher-than-expected 30-day readmission rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients, according to a Kaiser Health News report. The penalties are based on discharges from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2011. Medicare initially released penalties for hospitals in August, then revised them at the end of September after finding errors in its calculations. This second revision corrects technical errors resulting from CMS' failure to include all Medicare inpatient claims in its calculations, according to a CMS correction document.
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House Democrats unveil health care wishlist
Florida Times-Union
March 15, 2013
http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2013-03-15/house-democrats-unveil-health-care-wishlist
House Democrats Friday outlined the priorities they deem necessary to support any legislative plan to expand Medicaid coverage. The plan comes a week after a Senate panel kept the idea of expanding health care insurance on life-support. They voted against outright expansion as envisioned under the Affordable Care Act, but put forward two plans that would use the Affordable Care Act to help people get private coverage. The House panel had simply voted to not recommend Medicaid expansion, while Gov. Rick Scott has supported expansion for at least three years.
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Match Day: More medical graduates entering primary care
USA Today
March 15, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/15/doctors-medicine-match-residents/1990549/
The number of medical students committing to primary care rather than specialties increased for the fourth straight year in the largest "match program'' in history, a report out Friday says, but medical experts warn a severe shortage of doctors will still exist. The numbers were announced as part of the Match Day event in which graduating medical school seniors find out where they will spend their residencies -- the next three to seven years of their medical careers.
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Michigan Judge Blocks Health-Care Birth-Control Mandate
Bloomberg
March 15, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-14/michigan-judge-blocks-health-care-birth-control-mandate.html
The U.S. health-care reform’s mandate requiring employee insurance plans to provide coverage of contraception was blocked by a federal judge in Michigan. Tom Monaghan and his property-management company, Domino’s Farms Corp., sued the U.S. government in December, contending that complying with the mandate would require him to violate his religious beliefs as a member of the Catholic Church. Domino’s Farms would have to provide contraceptive products, including an abortion-inducing drug, or be forced to pay $200,000 a year as a tax or penalty, the plaintiffs said.
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Judge tosses suit against Obama over health care advice
Politico
March 15, 2013
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/03/judges-tosses-suit-against-obama-over-health-care-159420.html?hp=l5
After more than three years, a federal judge in Washington has thrown out a conservative organization's lawsuit accusing President Barack Obama of violating a federal transparency law as he solicited advice about health care reform. In an 11-page opinion filed Friday (and posted here), U.S. District Court Judge Richard Roberts said White House lawyers had established that the various meetings held to get outside advice and support for Obama's health care reform initiative did not amount to the kind of formal committee that would invoke the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
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Oklahoma's largest health system uses CMS grant to launch medical home
Healthcare Finance News
March 14, 2013
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/oklahomas-largest-health-system-uses-cms-grant-launch-medical-home
Integris Health, Oklahoma's largest health system, announced Thursday it will build a medical home model under a grant from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). The partnership marks Integris 's latest effort to adjust to the emerging value-based system of health, which rewards providers commensurate with the quality of care they deliver, according to a news release. To succeed in a value-based environment, Integris's leaders say they realize, they need population health and care management tools that enhance the capabilities offered by their electronic health record (EHR).
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CMS issues first guidance on sequestration impact on Medicare
Healthcare Finance News
March 14, 2013
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/blog/cms-issues-first-guidance-sequestration-impact-medicare
As required by law, on March 1, 2013, President Obama issued a sequestration order triggering automatic cuts to a wide range of federal programs, including Medicare payments to providers and health plans. On March 8, 2013, CMS released its first guidance on sequestration, in the form of an “e-News” message to providers. CMS confirms that Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) claims with dates-of-service or dates-of-discharge on or after April 1, 2013 generally will incur a 2% reduction. Claims for DMEPOS supplies – including claims under the DMEPOS competitive bidding program – also will be reduced by 2%, if the date of service, or the start date for rental equipment or multi-day supplies, is on or after April 1, 2013. CMS notes that the sequestration adjustment will be applied to claims after determining coinsurance, any applicable deductible, and any applicable Medicare Secondary Payment adjustments. Moreover, while beneficiary deductible and coinsurance payments are not subject to sequestration, Medicare’s payment to beneficiaries for unassigned claims is subject to the 2% cut. CMS encourages Medicare providers and suppliers who bill claims on an unassigned basis to discuss with beneficiaries the impact sequestration will have on Medicare reimbursement.
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Senate Dems propose $275B in healthcare cuts
Modern Healthcare
March 13, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130313/NEWS/303139944/senate-dems-propose-275b-in-healthcare-cuts
The first Senate Democratic budget proposal in four years would cut federal healthcare spending by $275 billion over 10 years. The spending blueprint offered by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the Budget Committee, would reduce—but not eliminate—annual deficits through an even combination of tax increases and spending cuts. The healthcare cuts—for which few details were provided—were part of $975 billion in overall cuts the budget would implement over the coming decade. Murray's budget specified only that it would derive the savings through accelerating provisions that tie provider reimbursements to patient outcomes, reducing waste and fraud, and encouraging greater provider “engagement.”
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Bills aim to address expected doctor shortage in California
Modern Healthcare
March 13, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130313/INFO/303139978/bills-aim-to-address-expected-doctor-shortage-in-california
A Democratic California state lawmaker introduced a package of bills Wednesday to address an expected doctor shortage as the state prepares to insure millions of new patients under federal healthcare reforms. Sen. Ed Hernandez of West Covina said his bills would expand services that can be provided by nurse practitioners, optometrists and pharmacists in order to help alleviate a shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas and inner cities dominated by minorities. The bills are SB491, SB492 and SB493.
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Oklahoma House Votes to Nullify Obamacare, 72-20
Tenth Amendment Center
March 13, 2013
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/03/oklahoma-house-votes-to-nullify-obamacare-72-20/
Nullification of Obamacare in Oklahoma took a step closer to reality Wednesday when the Oklahoma House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would nullify the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. HB1021 declares Obamacare unconstitutional and calls on the Oklahoma legislature to take action to prevent implementation of the federal health care plan in the Sooner State.
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Health Reform Success Requires Good Incentives
MedPage
March 13, 2013
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Ethics/37874
Improperly aligned incentives could undermine healthcare reform efforts by being either ineffective or leading physicians to think more about economics and less about the patients' interest, according to a perspective article. Instead, reform-related incentives should focus not just on economic motivation but on an array of financial and nonfinancial incentives across the delivery system, stated the piece published in the March 14 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Insurers warn of sticker shock due to health care law’s new taxes, requirements as it expands
The Washington Post
March 13, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/insurers-warn-of-sticker-shock-due-to-health-care-laws-new-taxes-requirements-as-it-expands/2013/03/13/bb9806c0-8bf2-11e2-af15-99809eaba6cb_story.html
Some Americans could see their insurance bills double next year as the health care overhaul law expands coverage to millions of people. The nation’s big health insurers say they expect premiums — or the cost for insurance coverage — to rise from 20 to 100 percent for millions of people due to changes that will occur when key provisions of the Affordable Care Act roll out in January 2014.
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Follow Medicare Savings Model, Insurers Told
MedPage Today
March 13, 2013
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Washington-Watch/37865
To slow down growth in health spending, health insurers could employ the same strategy Medicare used a decade ago to increase use of generic drugs, a former Medicare czar said. Medicare's prescription drug benefit created tiers of products, with much higher copays for brand-name drugs compared with their generic counterparts. As a result, seniors accelerated their use of the lower-cost generics and caused Medicare Part D spending to be much less than initially anticipated. Today, generics account for about 80% of all drugs dispensed.
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Connecticut Feels the Burden of Medicaid Expansion & Exchange Regs: CMS Plays Control Card
Forbes
March 13, 2013
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2013/03/13/connecticut-feels-the-burden-of-medicaid-expansion-exchange-regs-cms-plays-control-card/
In a completely overlooked news story by the national healthcare media, the Democratic Governor of Connecticut, had asked the federal government for flexibility to tighten eligibility of its Medicaid program in order to save some $50 million. The Malloy Administration sought a waiver last summer because it was worried about skyrocketing enrollment and the number of college-aged children on the program. On March 1 the federal government formally rejected their request. The media has fixated on Republican Governors’ decisions to expand Medicaid, often writing with disbelief that any reasonable person would ever consider not expanding. (Avik has written on many good reasons before.) Yet, the story in heavily Democratic Connecticut should prove that there are underlying fiscal issues with Medicaid. These pitfalls transcend party lines, regardless of who is paying the bills, and they highlight the heavy hand D.C. retains by denying state flexibility.
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CMS announces 20 new participants in program to improve transitions, reduce rehospitalizations
McKnight’s Long Term Care News
March 12, 2013
http://www.mcknights.com/cms-announces-20-new-participants-in-program-to-improve-transitions-reduce-rehospitalizations/article/283927/
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced 20 new organizations participating in the Community-based Care Transitions Program (CCTP), which is an initiative to cut down on hospital readmissions by facilitating better patient transitions between acute and post-acute providers. With the latest round of participants, there are now 102 community-based organizations (CBOs) taking part in the program, CMS said March 7. The CBOs receive funding for two years to undertake efforts to cut down on readmissions, and the funds can be renewed for the duration of the five-year CCTP program based on performance. The CCTP program has $500 million in funding to distribute through 2015.
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When It Comes To Health Care, Patients Don't Want To Weigh Costs
NPR
March 12, 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/12/174106660/when-it-comes-to-health-care-patients-don-t-want-to-be-swayed-by-cost
People willingly drive across town to save 50 cents on a carton of milk. But when it comes to health care, they don't want to think about how much it costs, and they don't want their doctors to think about it either, according to a recent study in the journal Health Affairs. That's not good news for those who hope to nudge people into being more cost-conscious health care consumers.
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CMS offers new FAQs for EHR Incentive Program
EHR Intelligence
March 12, 2013
http://ehrintelligence.com/2013/03/12/cms-offers-new-faqs-for-ehr-incentive-program/
CMS has added a trio of new questions and answers to its FAQ list about meaningful use and eligibility for the EHR Incentive Program, and has also updated three answers to reflect the most current guidelines. New FAQs: If an eligible professional (EP) practices at an outpatient location, a location other than an inpatient (place of service 21) or emergency department (place of service 23), and that location is only equipped with Certified EHR Technology to the criteria applicable to an inpatient setting, must the EP include that location in their meaningful use calculations? Read the answer here.
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What Paul Ryan's New Budget Means for Health Care
National Journal
March 11, 2013
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/what-paul-ryan-s-new-budget-means-for-health-care-20130312
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's budget is once again full of the politically fraught health care policies that have made the publication of its two predecessors such big events. This year’s version basically sticks to last year’s script when it comes to health care. It would make big cuts to Medicaid right away, and would postpone cuts to Medicare for 10 years. Here's what Ryan's budget would mean for health entitlement programs: No Medicare savings for 10 years. The plan would not eliminate traditional Medicare. The big cuts would come out of Medicaid. Ryan would repeal Obamacare, sort of. Ryan says he’s open to different entitlement cuts.
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CMS releases Sunshine Act final rule
Healthcare Finance News
March 11, 2013
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/cms-releases-sunshine-act-final-rule-0
It's been a long time coming, but in early February, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the final rule for the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. Guidance on the Sunshine Act - an Affordable Care Act regulation requiring drug, device and biological companies, medical supply manufacturers and group purchasing organizations to publicly disclose their financial relationships with doctors and teaching hospitals - was originally supposed to be released in the fall of 2011 but it wasn't released until December of 2011, ruffling a lot of feathers within the communities most impacted by the rule.
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Home care, tele-medicine cut health costs
Sun Sentinel
March 11, 2013
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-cutting-medicare-health-costs-20130310,0,109269.story
To understand how the health-care system sometimes fails patients and often wastes money, consider the case of a South Florida nursing-home patient who developed a cough and slight fever. "The nurse notifies the doctor, who doesn't get much information and says, 'Send her to the emergency room,'" recounts Joseph Ouslander, associate dean for geriatric programs at Florida Atlantic University. "She has tests in the emergency room, some of which are falsely positive, and is admitted unnecessarily to the hospital, where she gets acute confusion and breaks her hip.
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Arkansas plan shows that health care law’s Medicaid expansion leaves flexibility for states
The Washington Post
March 9, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/arkansas-plan-shows-that-health-care-laws-medicaid-expansion-leaves-flexibility-for-states/2013/03/09/be994f24-8836-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html
The Obama administration has taken a hard line with governors about an option to expand Medicaid under the new health law, telling them to take it or leave it — but leave it and lose access to millions of federal dollars. It turns out there is some wiggle room after all. In an unexpected move, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently agreed to a proposal by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (D) to reject the Medicaid expansion and instead use federal money to buy private health insurance for the 200,000 people who would have been covered under the expansion.
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CNN's Visionary Documentary on Health Care
The Huffington Post
March 9, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-freudberg/escape-fire-documentary-cnn_b_2839950.html
To get a sense of how out of whack American health care costs are, we need only look to Canada, a society whose standard of living and culture are very similar to that of the United States. Per person, the U.S. spends almost double what Canada does on health care, yet American health outcomes, like life expectancy, rank lower. And opinion polls show Canadians by large majorities are generally satisfied with their health system.
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Minn. Senate approves health care marketplace bill
AP
March 8, 2013
http://www.nujournal.com/page/content.detail/id/296717/Minn--Senate-approves-health-care-marketplace-bill.html?isap=1&nav=5031
After hours of debate, the Minnesota Senate approved a bill late Thursday night that will make major changes to the state's health care system to conform with the Obama administration's health overhaul. Lawmakers voted 37-28 to pass the measure, which implements the health insurance exchange, an online marketplace for 300,000 uninsured Minnesotans and others to shop for coverage plans and seek assistance to pay for them. The debate stretched late into the night as Republicans in the minority failed to force changes to a plan they consider too expensive, too intrusive and lacking in accountability in how the exchange is governed.
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GOP leaders open to health care alternative
AP
March 8, 2013
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2013/mar/08/gop-leaders-open-to-health-care-alternative-we/
Texas Republicans have made it clear they hate the idea of expanding health care for the poor under the Affordable Care Act, but a key leader pledged Friday to work on a state alternative to accomplish the same goal and bring in the same federal matching funds. House Appropriations Chairman Jim Pitts said lawmakers from several committees will work together to try to come up with a home-grown solution to providing more poor people with health care. A Gallup poll released Friday showed 28.8 percent of Texans lacked health insurance in 2012, which Gallup called the highest rate in the nation and highest ever recorded in the United States.
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A Bump In The Road To Accountable Care?
Kaiser Health News
March 8, 2013
http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/03/a-bump-in-the-road-to-accountable-care/
The Pioneer accountable care organizations have long been the shining stars of the Affordable Care Act’s strategy to rein in the country’s out-of-control spending on health care. The 32 organizations are part of a Medicare pilot project called for in the health law that could revolutionize the health system by paying doctors and hospitals for quality of service rather than the volume of services. Pioneers would be offered a bonus for giving patients high quality care at a reduced cost. If they failed to hit certain quality targets or did not manage to reduce the cost of care, they would be dinged accordingly. For the first year of the program, everything seemed like smooth sailing. But the pioneers appear to have hit their first pothole—and the administration is scrambling to make sure the project goes forward.
The problem: That pesky little part about accountability.
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States balk at $15B Obama healthcare
The Hill
March 8, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/administration/287005-states-balk-at-15b-obama-healthcare-tax-on-insurers
A newly unveiled component of President Obama’s healthcare law forcing insurers to pay annual fees is sowing angst in state capitols, where officials view the provision as a $15 billion tax that could disrupt Medicaid programs and other services.
The health insurance providers fee, included in the healthcare reform law over the objections of congressional Republicans, is designed to raise tens of billions of dollars in the coming years.
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