chronic diseases news from FierceHealthcare
News
'Frequent fliers' cost health system billions
Frequent readmissions are never a good thing for a hospital's reputation, but they happen nonetheless. Usually elderly, and chronically ill, their care accounts for 75 percent of healthcare spending,... Read more...
SC group establishes quality trust
A group of healthcare organizations--including the South Carolina Hospital Association, Health Sciences South Carolina and Premier Healthcare Alliance--are coming together to study methods for... Read more...
Children 10 to 19 not receiving adequate care
A report released by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine says that children between the ages of 10 and 19 are not receiving adequate medical care. Specifically, their care... Read more...
Study: More than half of insureds on chronic-care meds
A new study suggests that for the first time, more than half of insured Americans are regularly taking prescriptions for chronic health problems. The most popular drugs include those used to lower... Read more...
PA health plans pay PCPs to track care
A group of Pennsylvania health plans have come together to create a program paying family doctors and other caregivers to manage patient care more closely. Among other things, the program will make... Read more...
Medicare disease management pilot ending this year
Three years ago, CMS hired eight private disease management firms to set up chronic care improvement programs for beneficiaries. The programs, which reached as many as 150,000 seniors enrolled in... Read more...
Medicare commission recommends primary care increase
Hoping to "reward a career in primary care" and decrease shortages, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has recommended that Congress create a budget-neutral adjustment that will boost payments... Read more...
NQF develops coordination of care measures
The National Quality Forum plans to begin developing quality measures related to coordination of care over the next 15 months, a move that could help to boost the emerging trend toward giving... Read more...
Senators ask CMS to keep disease-mgmt program
Last month, CMS decided to discontinue its planned three-year Medicare Health Support program--aimed at managing chronic diseases more effectively--arguing that initial results hadn't met quality,... Read more...
Humana debuts national complex care mgmt program
Humana is launching a care management program for chronically ill Medicare members in several states. The program, which provides care through both telephone and field-based social workers, nurses,... Read more...
