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Under-Use Of Safer Kidney Cancer Surgery For Poorer, Sicker Medicare, Medicaid Patients
An increasingly common and safer type of surgery for kidney cancer is not as likely to be used for older, sicker and poorer patients who are uninsured or rely on Medicare or Medicaid for their health care, according to a new study by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital...

Link Between Hospital Readmission Rates And Availability Of Care, Socioeconomics
Differences in regional hospital readmission rates for heart failure are more closely tied to the availability of care and socioeconomics than to hospital performance or patients' degree of illness, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care & Outcomes Research Scientific Sessions 2012. U.S...

Introduction Of Bipartisan Bill To Eliminate Medicare SGR Formula Applauded By ACP
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has applauded Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) for their bipartisan introduction of the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act of 2012. The bill is designed to eliminate the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and the turmoil brought by its resulting scheduled cuts...

Recommendations By AMA Committee On Doctor Fees Set By Medicare Are Followed 9 Times Out Of 10
To calculate physicians' fees under Medicare - which in turn influence some state and private payers' decisions on how they will pay doctors -- the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) relies on the recommendations of an American Medical Association advisory panel...

Poorer Neighborhoods More Likely To Have Scarce Primary Health Services
According to a study published in the latest issue of Health Services Research, blacks and lower income Hispanics are more likely to live in neighborhoods with few or no primary care physicians. Lead author Darrell J. Gaskin, Ph.D...

Wheelchair Breakdowns Becoming More Common, Reports AJPM&R
Wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI) report very high rates of wheelchair breakdowns - and the problem is getting worse, suggests a study in American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (AJPM&R), the official journal of the Association of Academic Physiatrists, AJPM&R is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health...

Hospital Infection Prevention Efforts Driven By Medicare Penalty
The 2008 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to cease additional reimbursement to hospitals for certain healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has led to enhanced focus on infection prevention and changes in practice by front-line staff, according to a national survey of infection preventionists published in the May issue of the American Journal of I...

Low Cost, Lifesaving Services Missing From Most Older Patients' Health Care: National Poll
Large majorities of older Americans experience significant and troubling gaps in their primary care, according to a new national survey, "How Does It Feel? The Older Adult Health Care Experience," released by the John A. Hartford Foundation, a champion for improved geriatric care and longtime partner of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing...

5 Key Practices That Lead To Successful Hospital-To-Home Transitions
Community health plans are improving how patients transition from hospital to home by breaking down silos of care, coordinating among providers, and directly engaging with patients, according to a new report entitled Transitions of Care from Hospital to Home...

'Reforming Medicare In The Age Of Deficit Reduction' - Internal Medicine Physician Specialists Release Policy Paper
American College of Physicians says stakeholders across health care spectrum must work together to protect Medicare for future generations. A dozen recommendations to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to high-quality, coordinated care were provided today by the American College of Physicians (ACP)...

Surgical Procedures For Skin Cancer Via Medicare Examined
According to an evaluation of Medicare beneficiaries, there has been a significant increase in surgical treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), from 2001 until 2006. The study, published in the April issue of Archives of Dermatology, states that the increase is primarily due to a doubling in the rate of Mohs micrographic surgery procedures...

During Medicare Coverage Gaps, Patients Often Stop Taking Heart Drugs
Patients who paid for heart medications solely through Medicare were 57 percent more likely to not take them during coverage gaps compared to those who had a Part D low-income subsidy or additional insurance, according to research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal...

Improving Primary Care Initiative By Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Innovation
It is called the CPC (Comprehensive Primary Care) initiative, and aims to strengthen coordination and collaboration between private and public health care payers in order to improve primary care...

Analysing Pre-Nursing Home Hospitalization Of Alzheimer's disease Patients And Medicare Costs
Among the key findings of a novel analysis of Alzheimer's disease-related Medicare expenditures, is that the federal insurer faces particularly high payments for hospitalization during the period between when patients are first diagnosed and when they enter long-term care...

Minorities, Medicaid Patients Less Likely To Be Prescribed Antidepressants
African-Americans and Hispanics with major depressive disorder are less likely to get antidepressants than Caucasian patients, and Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to get the newest generation of antidepressants...