Health News

Medicare punishes 2,499 hospitals for high readmissions

The federal government's effort to penalize hospitals for excessive patient readmissions is ending its first decade with Medicare cutting payments to nearly half the nation's hospitals. In its 10th annual round of penalties, Medicare is reducing its payments to 2,499 hospitals, or 47% of all facilities. The average penalty is a 0.64% reduction in payment […]

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Medicare payment patterns examined for hip fracture surgery

Reimbursement for hospital charges is increasing faster than payments for surgeons performing hip fracture surgeries on Medicare beneficiaries, according to a study published online March 9 in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. Dennis Q. Chen, M.D., from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, and colleagues evaluated trends and variations in hospital charges and […]

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New Medicare benefit would limit insulin copays to $35 a month

Reacting to skyrocketing prices for insulin, the Trump Administration announced on Tuesday a new benefit that would limit Medicare recipients’ copays for insulin to a maximum of $35 a month and save them about $446 a year if they have prescription plans that offer the benefit. Instead of the fluctuating copay amounts that are common […]

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Medicare for All unlikely to cause surge in hospital use

As political leaders debate the merits of a future Medicare for All system in the U.S., some analysts predict that implementing universal coverage could cause a sharp, unaffordable increase in hospital use and costs, overwhelming the system. But new research by a team at Harvard Medical School and The City University of New York at […]

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Removing Medicare exclusion would improve prisoner health

An expert in prisoner health from The University of Western Australia is calling for the Federal Government to stop excluding prisoners from Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to improve health outcomes and close the gap for Aboriginal people. In an article published in the Journal of Law and Medicine Research Fellow Craig Cumming, […]

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Guideline-Discordant Prostate Cancer Imaging Up With Medicare

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12, 2018 — Patients with prostate cancer receiving care in a Medicare-only setting are more likely to receive guideline-discordant imaging, according to a study published online Aug. 17 in JAMA Network Open. Danil V. Makarov, M.D., from New York University School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined the correlation between […]