CMS announces demo for hospital-physician payment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services want to test an approach of bundling payment for both hospital and physician services. CMS last month outlined a planned demonstration project that would combine payments for both hospital and physician services for a select number of episodes of care, with the intent of seeing if such an approach will be more efficient and improve the quality of care. The project, called the Acute Care Episode demonstration, will test whether a global payment will better align the incentives for both types of providers leading to better quality and greater efficiency. DATE: 05/19/08
Rules proposed to oversee Medicare Advantage sales
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has toughened standards for selling Medicare Advantage and prescription drug programs to beneficiaries. CMS said it was also taking steps to extend protection to all beneficiaries, including those receiving low-income subsidies and those enrolled in special needs plans. The proposed rules would prohibit sales practices such as door-to-door marketing and cold calling. The rule would also clarify CMS' ability to levy fines, giving the agency the authority to levy penalties of as much as $25,000 for each enrollee affected, or likely to be affected, by the violation. DATE: 05/09/08
Public pays $45B a year on 19 million uninsured
Health insurance coverage and unpaid healthcare for full-time workers and their family members without employer coverage cost the U.S. public $45 billion a year, according to a report from The Commonwealth Fund. The report, by Sherry Glied and Bisundev Mahato at Columbia University, found that 19 million full-time workers and their dependents were uninsured in 2004, compared to 16 million in 1999. DATE: 05/06/08
Leavitt pitches urgency on value-driven healthcare
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said HHS has no intention of slacking off in its efforts to drive transparency into the U.S. healthcare system during the winding down of the Bush Administration. At the Fifth Annual World Health Care Congress, held in April, Leavitt said he has "a continued sense of urgency" and plans on picking up the pace to drive much-needed change. HHS is also experimenting with competitive bidding for bundled services. DATE: 04/24/08