Aging
Medicare Could Save Billions By Scrapping Random Drug Plan Assignment
A new study finds that Medicare is spending billions of dollars more than it needs to on prescription drugs for low-income seniors and disabled beneficiaries. In 2013, an estimated 10 million people who participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, received government subsidies to help pay for that coverage. They account […]
PCORI, NIH Announce Plans For $30 Million Study On Falls
The nation’s largest and most intensive study of how to best prevent seniors’ injuries from falling will begin next year under a $30 million grant announced Wednesday by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health. A diverse group of 6,000 adults over age 75 or their caregivers will be recruited around […]
Some Costly Hospital Complications Not Tracked by Medicare, Analysis Finds
An analysis released Thursday identified dozens of potentially avoidable hospital complications that are not being tracked by the government even though some occur frequently and are expensive to treat. Premier, Inc., a consulting company that works with hospitals on improving quality, analyzed 5.5 million patient records to identify 86 common complications that occurred in the […]
Readers Ask: Are Insurance Premiums Capped? Do Doctors Have To Accept Medicare?
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) This week, consumers had questions about premiums and benefits for plans sold on the health insurance marketplaces as well as concerns about physician participation in the Medicare program. Q. I understood that under the health law, premiums for individuals could not increase by double digits, that […]
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. Photo by ulrichkarljoho via Flickr Cambia Health Solutions, which includes Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield,will offer training to providers and additional benefits for […]
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 […]
Review Finds Flawed Management Of Nursing Home Inspections In Los Angeles County
This KHN story also ran in the . It can be republished for free. (details) Los Angeles County public health staff repeatedly failed to follow state policies on nursing home inspections, leading to improper closure of cases and incomplete and delayed investigations, according to a report issued by the California Department of Public Health. After […]
Methodology: How Hospital-Acquired Conditions Are Calculated
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) A quarter of the nation’s hospitals in October will receive lower Medicare payments because their rates of patient complications are higher than their peers. Federal officials released a preliminary analysis in April scoring hospitals and provisionally assigning penalties to 761 hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & […]
Patient Injuries: Hospitals Most Likely To Be Penalized By Medicare
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Medicare has identified 761 hospitals that are in line to be penalized for high rates of infections and complications this fall. Some of these hospitals may avoid the penalties in the fall after federal officials factor into their analysis an additional year of infections. Below are […]
More Than 750 Hospitals Face Medicare Crackdown On Patient Injuries
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) During a hernia operation, Dorothea Handron’s surgeon unknowingly pierced her bowel. It took five days for doctors to determine she had an infection. By the time they operated on her again, she was so weakened that she was placed in a medically induced coma at Vidant […]