gao report

A GAO report found that Medicare needs to keep better tabs on how contractors manage patients' health data. The study found that over 40 percent of Medicare contractors and state Medicaid agencies experienced a breach of patient data in the last two years, though it did not examine the severity of the breaches. "According to the study, 47 percent of Medicare Advantage contractors reported privacy breaches within the past two years, as did 44 percent of Medicaid agencies, 42 percent of …

The AMA's National House Call campaign made a stop in Philadelphia yesterday, bringing attention to how the proposed Medicare cut will impact doctors serving poor and elderly patients. According to an AMA survey, 45 percent of the association's members said the cuts will force them to limit the number of Medicare patients they treat. "Physicians want to serve America's seniors. Unfortunately, drastic Medicare cuts will force physicians to make difficult practice changes," the AMA said in …

Congress is unlikely to cut physician reimbursement rates as mandated by a 1997 program designed to decrease Medicare spending. The 1997 program set up annual spending goals for physician reimbursement. If those goals exceeded economic growth, that was supposed to trigger reimbursement cuts because Medicare funding can't keep doctor's repayments in line with rapidly inflating healthcare costs. But lawmakers fear that decreasing doctors' pay will drive beneficiaries from the program and …

A long-running concern of Congress, analysts and physician groups is that decreased Medicare reimbursements will prevent physicians from accepting Medicare beneficiaries. The concern came to the forefront in 2002 when fees were reduced by 5.4 percent and have continued as healthcare costs outpace reimbursement rates.

Now a GAO report finds that reimbursement has little impact on beneficiaries' access to doctors. The report asked beneficiaries whether or not they had difficulty …

A GAO report has found that the National Disaster Medical System doesn't adequately plan for transporting nursing home patients. Though it's a task that's left primarily to local officials, federal aid may be needed if they become overwhelmed. It's an issue that arose following Hurricane Katrina last year, when nursing home operators were unsure whether to evacuate patients who were already in fragile condition.

"This report outlines gaps in our disaster response system which may …

Two new reports were released assessing the impact of specialty hospitals on the healthcare market. CMS concludes that specialty hospitals "deliver efficient, high-quality services" but wonders if some providers may be avoiding their obligation to provide charity care. The GAO report notes that specialty players have a mixed impact on their general competitors, arguing that the evidence does not support the view that specialty competition encourages "existing hospitals to adopt changes that make them more efficient and better able to compete." Article

The release of yesterday's GAO report criticizing the FDA's oversight of the safety of drugs and medical devices caused a chain reaction in Washington. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) urged Congress to act on legislation that would increase transparency at the agency and give it the authority to conduct its own trials to examine how safe drugs are once they enter the market. Grassley has played a central role in recent investigations of the FDA's role in the development of …

The Joint Council on the Accreditation of Hospital Organizations (JCAHO) is taking heat for a recent decision to change its policies on how it sanctions hospitals. The move comes despite last year's GAO report that found the organization often fails to publicly criticize hospitals with serious problems. Critics say the move is a step in the wrong direction, arguing the threshold for reporting problems involving patient safety should be lowered--not raised. Of course, hospitals often see …

HHS is continuing its drive to encourage technology adoption in the healthcare industry, according to an update by research group CCH Health Care. The group quotes from this month's GAO review of HHS progress on healthcare IT over the past year, noting that the department has awarded $42 million in contracts intended to develop new standards and test the practicality of large scale health information networks. Key accomplishments include the establishment of the American Health …

> Medicare officials said that a programming glitch in a Web-based tool that helps users chose among competing prescription drug plans has been fixed. Article

> CCHIT released the final draft of proposed certification criteria for ambulatory EHR systems. Web site

> A new study in the journal …