Policy and Legislation
A new study by the National Center for Policy Analysis shows that states and the federal government could save $33 billion in prescription medication costs by switching to models used by Medicare and other private payers.
Poor childhood health caused by environmental factors, such as air pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals, cost the United States $76.6 billion in 2008, according to authors of a study in the May issue of Health Affairs.
Fifteen percent of U.S. nursing homes receive deficiency citations for infection control each year, according to a new study.
Republicans and Democrats have each offered proposals to reduce projected Medicare expenditures. Neither proposal has any realistic chance of passage. Maybe it’s time to blow the cobwebs off the 1999 proposal from the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.
Hospitals across the country have been rocked by nursing strikes over the last year. The coming months show no letup, which means that hospitals will continue to face major disruptions, both financial and otherwise.
Leaders of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care have said they are alarmed over aspects of the Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) payment rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last Thursday.
Community Health Systems, locked in a bitter hostile takeover bid for rival Tenet Healthcare, publicly defended itself Thursday, calling Tenet's allegations of improper patient admission practices "contrived and biased."
The Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new initiative that will reward hospitals for the quality of care they provide to Medicare beneficiaries. HHS officials said the program would also help reduce healthcare costs.
The commander of the American Legion is urging Congress to pass a bill that would allow military veterans to pay for non-combat-related medical care received at VA hospitals with their Medicare coverage.
Is it too early to think about the 2012 elections and potential candidates' takes on healthcare? I don't think so. Healthcare promises to be the mother of all topics for this upcoming election.