beneficiaries

One health plan that has a better record than most in promoting disease management (DM) programs, PacifiCare, has just canceled a demonstration project in heart failure for Medicare FFS beneficiaries because it somehow failed to enroll enough people--even thought it will mean sending money back to the Federal government! PacifiCare says only 3,400 people had signed up for its HeartPartners heart-failure management program. It is unclear how this will impact UnitedHealth Group, which …

The Medicare Part D benefit continues its troubles in Washington. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that former economic adviser R. Glenn Hubbard, now the head of the Columbia University Business School, said he thinks the benefit was a "bad idea." Hubbard was formerly chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers. Despite such comments and criticism from patient advocates who argue the details of the benefit are highly confusing, the Bush administration is …

In time, the electronic health revolution may completely change the face of modern medicine, saving thousands of lives from preventable medical errors and increasing efficiencies to the point that out-of-control healthcare costs are finally brought back in line. In the last couple of years, however, the biggest beneficiaries have been the companies at heart of that transformation.

None have been as closely followed by Wall Street as Cerner, the Kansas City-based software company …

Medicare has granted 6 more demonstration projects to see if disease management can be effective in high-cost populations. This time the recipients are medical groups as opposed to health plans. It's called Care Management for High Cost Beneficiaries. Winners include medical groups in the Pacific Northwest working with Health Hero Network and the AMGA; groups in New York, Boston, and Texas; and Care Level Management, a physician home visiting program in California, Texas, and Florida. Release