Community Benefit
This year is sure to show more growth in all areas of the community care sector, according to experts.
In what it touts as the first time a long-term care insurance provider has teamed with a healthcare organization to promote health and wellness, Genworth Financial has unveiled a health education collaboration with the Mayo Clinic aimed at improving the well-being of Baby Boomers.
Medicare costs in the last six months of life are influenced more by patient characteristics - such as ability to function, the severity of the illness and family support - than by regional factors, such as the number of hospital beds available, according to a study published in The Annals of Internal Medicine.
With Constitutional challenges to the individual mandate now threatening the very life of the new health care law, Republicans aren't the only ones that would like to see it jettisoned and replaced with something better.
While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is federal law, much of its implementation is in the hands of the states. Near the top of the list on the state's to-do list is the creation, design and operation of the health insurance exchanges.
The Beth Israel Deaconess Physician Organization will roll out analytics software to help its doctors measure clinical performance. The goal is to reduce variations in care - capabilities essential to the Massachusetts-based organization's plans to operate successfully under anticipated state and national payment reform changes.
Amid tepid enrollment, the Department of Health and Human Services has renewed efforts to increase awareness of the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), the government's temporary insurance plan for those denied private insurance due to pre-existing conditions.
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association says Florida could reduce its Medicaid prescription drug spending by $462 million.
At a time when several newly-elected governors are railing against health reform's governmental intrusion, new Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is taking a different path - a proposal released this week to create a single-payer health plan for his state.