Healthcare News

RSS

Public reporting and pay for performance in hospital quality improvement

A Medicare pay-for-performance pilot project that rewards hospitals based on quality measures contributes to "modest" improvements in quality of care, according to a study published online Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Wall Street Journal reports .

30 Jan 2007

Value based insurance design

Like a one-size-fits-all shirt that doesn't fit anyone very well, American health insurance plans charge every person the same out of pocket cost for medical services - regardless of their effect on a person's health.

30 Jan 2007

CMS proposes increase in Medicare reimbursements for long-term care hospitals

CMS on Thursday proposed a 0.71% increase in standard Medicare reimbursement rates for long-term care hospitals for 2008, CQ HealthBeat reports.

29 Jan 2007

Healthcare Research and Development Institute reaches settlement with two State Attorneys General over alleged anticompetitive practices

The Florida-based Healthcare Research and Development Institute, a consulting group owned by about three dozen hospital executives, has agreed to no longer accept fees from companies that sell medications, medical devices and financial services to not-for-profit hospitals nationwide, according to a settlement reached on Wednesday with the Connecticut and Florida attorneys general, the New York Times reports.

29 Jan 2007

Greater Boston Interfaith Organization urges delay in penalties against uninsured

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization on Wednesday asked state officials to delay for one year a provision of the Massachusetts health insurance law that will penalize residents who do not obtain insurance by July 1, the Boston Globe reports.

29 Jan 2007

Bush promotes health care proposals

Initiatives that encourage U.S. residents to purchase health insurance through the private insurance market are the best way to expand coverage and reduce health care costs, President Bush said Thursday while visiting a Missouri hospital to promote the health care proposals he outlined earlier this week in his State of the Union address, the Washington Post reports

28 Jan 2007

New York hospitals and clinics would lose $350 million per year under Medicaid rule recently proposed

Under the proposed rule, state Medicaid reimbursements to health care providers operated by local governments could not exceed actual costs.

28 Jan 2007

Doctors highlight political damage to Britain's NHS

The message from politicians that Britain cannot afford healthcare - even though it is one of the richest economies in the world - is damaging the NHS.

28 Jan 2007

Massachusetts health insurance law could cost more than anticipated

Monthly premiums under the proposed minimum requirements for the new Massachusetts health insurance law would cost an estimated $380 on average for an individual, according to a state panel, the Boston Globe reports.

23 Jan 2007

New York hospitals recommended for closure seek ways to continue operating

Several small private hospitals are seeking ways to reinvent themselves or be removed from a list of closures created by the New York Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, while other hospitals have filed lawsuits challenging the commission's recommendations, AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

23 Jan 2007

Medicare, social security obligations could harm future U.S. economy

Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke on Thursday at a Senate Budget Committee hearing said that if "early and meaningful action is not taken" by Congress to address the rising costs of retirement and medical services for baby boomers, "the U.S. economy could be seriously weakened, with future generations bearing much of the cost," the AP/Bergen Record reports.

23 Jan 2007

Overcrowding has not decreased in the last year at seven out of eight U.S. hospitals

According to the survey, 60% of respondents said that overcrowding forces their hospitals to divert ambulances to other facilities.

23 Jan 2007

Concerns about State proposals to cover the uninsured

Many U.S. companies have raised concerns that a number of recently announced state health insurance proposals "will drive up their expenses without solving the problem" of the uninsured, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.

23 Jan 2007

Seniors turn to credit cards to pay medical bills

An increased number of seniors have "turned to credit cards and home equity to pay medical bills" at a time when "more employers are cutting back on retiree medical and pension benefits," USA Today reports.

23 Jan 2007

Health inequalities in Britain

Tackling health inequalities in Britain needs closer co-ordination between all major policy areas including health, education, housing, employment and taxation, according to the authors of a new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) publication.

23 Jan 2007

Referral management schemes pose a serious threat to patients' interests

Referral management schemes are springing up across the NHS as a means of reducing primary care trusts' spending on secondary care services.

18 Jan 2007

Gambling addiction and its treatment within the NHS

In its hard-hitting report, Gambling addiction and its treatment within the NHS, the BMA is calling for gambling to be a recognised addiction that requires treatment on the NHS.

16 Jan 2007

NHS in need of proper workforce planning

As the NHS prepares for its last year of significant injections of extra money, the Chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Mr James Johnson, has called on the government to get its act together and reinstate proper workforce planning or risk wasting public money.

14 Jan 2007

Hospital death rate study reveals wide variations and stresses importance of Registered Nurses

Hospital death rates can be reduced by employing more Registered Nurses and the routine use of care maps or protocols, according to a study in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.

14 Jan 2007

Brain injury cognitive rehab not covered by many insurers

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined how many brain injury patients who experience subsequent problems with memory, mental processing or behavior often do not receive cognitive rehabilitation because their health insurers do not cover the treatment.

9 Jan 2007