health policy report
MA may limit Boston metro hospital expansion
Now here's something you don't see every day. Rather than simply letting market forces prevail, Massachusetts health authorities proposed this week to protect suburban hospitals from competitive... Read more...
Competitive DME bidding could save CMS $1B
A new CMS analysis suggests that its new competitive bidding program for Medicare DME suppliers might save $1 billion in 2009 alone. Right now, CMS pays for DME under a listed price, but under the... Read more...
Bill would make pharmas, device makers disclose gifts
A measure that would force pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers to disclose gifts valued at more than $25 seems to be gathering momentum. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Pete Stark... Read more...
Senators plan bill countering pharma detailing tactics
Across the country, on an ad-hoc basis, isolated programs already have sprung up to counter tactics used by pharma sales reps to sell drugs. Now, Senators are considering a bill that would offer... Read more...
Freeze proposed on Medicare audit program
A federal legislator has proposed legislation that would place a one-year national freeze on Medicare's recovery audit program, which has drawn criticism from many observers for the way it rewards... Read more...
Who will pay for DTC pharma ad oversight?
Right now, there's a little-watched debate underway on the Hill which could have a meaningful influence on the growth of direct-to-consumer pharma advertising. The question is whether Congress should... Read more...
Study: Insured patients get earlier cancer diagnosis
A new study by the American Cancer Society has concluded that uninsured U.S. residents and Medicaid patients are more likely than the privately insured to be diagnosed with late-stage cancer, echoing... Read more...
AMA booted from Senate Medicare talks
The American Medical Association has lost a major lobbying round. The Senate Finance Committee has banned the group from discussions on an upcoming legislative package that would halt a 10 percent... Read more...
ACP asks for relaxed marijuana laws
No less a mainstream group than The American College of Physicians has issued a call to the federal government to relax its ban on medical marijuana use and foster research into the drug's... Read more...
Trend: Hospitals improving informed consent process
Increasingly, U.S. hospitals have begun to improve their process for obtaining informed consent from patients, in part due to research concluding that most patients don't read consent forms (or... Read more...
