Copyright 2008 Medical News Today Latest Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/medicare-medicaid/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119654.php Medicare overpaid for irinotecan, a cancer drug sold by Pfizer under the name Campostar, by $6.5 million in March because of a delay in updating its pricing formula, according to a report released on Tuesday by the HHS Office of Inspector General, Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119576.php Yielding to intense lobbying by the nursing home industry, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is giving skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), nursing homes that provide nursing and rehabilitative services to Medicare beneficiaries recovering from a hospital stay, a two-part rate increase worth more than $1.5 billion next year. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119578.php Statement from Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, Executive Director. "While we welcome news today from the U.S. Census Bureau that the number of uninsured Americans has declined, the picture is not all rosy. Yes, the number of people without health insurance has decreased from 47 million in 2006 to 45.7 million in 2007, but it's the government public health programs that are picking up the slack. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119511.php Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday sent a letter to acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems demanding a "full accounting" of how the agency underestimated the extent of improper Medicare payments for durable medical equipment, the Miami Herald reports (Weaver, Miami Herald, 8/27). Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119508.php The number and percentage of uninsured U.S. residents declined in 2007 to 45.7 million people, or 15.3% of the population, according to an annual U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday, USA Today reports (Cauchon/Appleby, USA Today, 8/27). In 2006, 47 million people were uninsured, or 15. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119391.php HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson on Monday released a federal audit that found that Medicare officials underestimated the amount of incorrect payments for durable medical equipment in 2006 and that the miscalculation was caused by the agency's failure to have auditors follow CMS' policy for checking claims, the Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Wed, 27 Aug 2008 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119405.php The New York State Department of Health in the next few weeks is expected to issue a final decision on whether to switch Medicaid beneficiaries with HIV/AIDS from fee-for-service plans to managed care plans, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/24). HIV / AIDS Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119285.php CMS has not conducted audits to ensure that Medicare prescription drug plans have implemented programs to prevent fraud as required by law, a lack of oversight that "risks significant misuse of funds in this $39 billion program," according to a Government Accountability Office report scheduled for release on Monday, the Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119281.php Uninsured U.S. residents will spend about $30 billion out-of-pocket on health care this year, while other parties -- mainly the government -- will spend about $56 billion on uncompensated care for the uninsured, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Health Affairs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119289.php In an Aug. 7 letter to Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins, CMS official Dianne Heffron questioned whether the state's plan to overhaul Medicaid by providing subsidized health coverage to 2.1 million uninsured residents would move quickly enough and be broad enough to justify relaxing federal rules, the Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119148.php Arkansas lawmakers will focus on health issues, including access to care, emergency care, childhood obesity and Medicaid, in the 87th General Assembly, state Surgeon General Joe Thompson said Wednesday at the second annual Arkansas Health Summit, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119147.php The administration of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) plans to appeal an appeals court ruling from earlier this week that temporarily halted a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to health care providers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Fernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/21). Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119144.php In 2007, about 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries reached the so-called "doughnut hole," or gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, during which time they were responsible for their medication costs, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study released on Thursday, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118917.php Americans who lack health insurance for any part of 2008 will spend $30 billion out of pocket for health services and receive $56 billion in uncompensated care while uninsured. Government programs pay for about three-quarters, or roughly $43 billion, of the uncompensated care bill, researchers report in today's Web Exclusive edition of Health Affairs. The researchers define uncompensated care as care received but not paid for fully by the uninsured or by a health insurer. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119150.php Two newspapers recently published editorials that addressed an HHS Office of Inspector General draft report on Medicare fraud reduction. According to the report, CMS in 2006 based claims of a $700 million reduction in Medicare durable medical equipment fraud on improper auditing conducted by an outside contractor. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118976.php The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced important additions to the Hospital Compare consumer Web site (http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) that will give consumers even better insight into the quality of care provided by their local hospitals. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119024.php CMS' 2006 claims that it had reduced Medicare durable medical equipment fraud to about $700 million were based on improper auditing and fell short of the actual amount of fraud, according to a draft report by the HHS Office of Inspector General, the Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118869.php More than 60,000 of Kentucky's estimated 93,000 uninsured children are eligible for KCHIP, the state's version of SCHIP, but are not enrolled, according to a report released on Monday by Kentucky Voices for Health, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. KCHIP is available to children of families with annual incomes less than 200% of the federal poverty level. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118866.php About three-fourths of older adults with basic computer skills could not find the most beneficial prescription drug plan on the Medicare Web site, and could not take the necessary steps to enroll to receive home health care services, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118932.php The US Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) has enhanced the government's Hospital Compare website to include death rates for the past two years from pneumonia as well as from heart attack and heart failure for individual hospitals throughout the country, making it easier for patients and their families to find out how the chances of surviving these conditions varies among hospitals. IT / Internet / E-mail Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118772.php Several consumer advocacy and business groups on Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., plan to announce a multimillion-dollar national television advertising campaign that will feature "Harry and Louise" and seek to promote health care in the presidential election, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118779.php While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics. Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118776.php Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, New Jersey's largest health insurer, on Friday filed to become a publicly held for-profit company, which could potentially provide the state $1 billion to spend on health care, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The insurer covers 3. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118774.php WellCare has agreed to pay $35.2 million as part of a Medicaid fraud investigation, but the payment does not settle nor limit the investigation, the health insurer wrote in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, the St. Petersburg Times reports (St. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:00:00 PDT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118761.php Windsor Medicare Extra announced plans to host a symposium in Little Rock on September 23, 2008. A diverse panel will meet to discuss emerging trends in treating those with mental health conditions in Arkansas. Windsor Medicare Extra is one of only two health plans in the nation contracted with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to provide special needs plans for those Medicare beneficiaries with mental health conditions. Psychology / Psychiatry