> Missouri will be the first state with a home health model to provide coordinated care to chronically ill Medicaid beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced this month. The new services go into effect Jan. 1, 2012. Statement
> Nurses and staff from seven hospitals under Steward Health Care protested against the growing Boston-based health operator for failing to honor a commitment to create a defined benefit pension plan, reports the Boston Business Journal. Article
> Even though long-term care (LTC) users represented only 6 percent of the Medicaid population in 2007, LTC accounted for nearly half (43 percent) of total Medicaid spending, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. Issue brief
> Even though states are slashing Medicaid's benefits and payments to hospitals and doctors, their spending on Medicaid will rise almost 29 percent this year, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured released last week. Survey
> Beyond the initial price of electronic health record hardware and software, Meaningful Use could cost a healthcare system millions of dollars, according to CIOs at CHIME's Fall CIO Forum in San Antonio. FierceHealthIT
> Hospitals in Washington may see a 50 percent cut in payments for Medicaid patients under proposed budget reductions. Proposals (.pdf)
And Finally... A fifth of Americans will order takeout on Halloween. Article