Medicare Part D news from FierceHealthcare
News
WellPoint gets Medicare Advantage, Part D back
CMS has given WellPoint back permission to market Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D plans after a nine-month ban on accepting new enrollments. CMS had imposed the ban in January after receiving... Read more...
Extending Medicare drug payments pays
Extending prescription coverage for Medicare enrollees sounds like an expensive boondoggle to some. However, a new study suggests that the extra cost of such coverage was substantially offset on... Read more...
Medicare drug plan lower than expected
While the Medicare drug plan is going up a trifle--from $3 to $28--it's actually not growing as quickly as officials had feared. In fact, the 2009 figure is 37 percent lower than originally projected... Read more...
CMS makes Part D data available for patient-safety efforts
CMS has issued final regulations that will make Medicare Part D claims data available to the FDA and other agencies, as well as academic researchers, for use in patient-safety initiatives. The FDA... Read more...
UnitedHealth suffers financial setback
After years of allegations that management engaged in financial manipulations to feather their own nest, some might see this as a bit of karma. Having already missed its first quarter financial... Read more...
HHS: Medicare pharmacy pay lower than Medicaid
A new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General has given pharmacies ammunition in their fight for better reimbursement under the Medicare prescription drug benefit. According to the report,... Read more...
Medicare marketing, claims handling problems abound
Misbehavior and administrative problems are surprisingly common within Medicare contractors, according to a new review of federal audits by The New York Times. In particular, plans are having... Read more...
ALSO NOTED: Medicare changing hospital reimbursement; Bill would speed up Part D reimbursement; and much more...
> Brace yourself: it looks like Medicare is about to change the way it pays hospitals. Blog > On another Medicare note,... Read more...
Healthcare industry leads in campaign contributions
A new study released by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee suggests that the healthcare industry is taking a leading role in funding the campaigns of this season's crop of presidential hopefuls. The CNA/NNOC analysis concludes that healthcare industry players contributed $3.7 million to current candidates during the first quarter of 2007. It also notes that the industry--which it defines as including drug and insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, …
... Read more...ALSO NOTED: PA health reforms held up; FL hospital succeeds with "bloodless" surgery; and much more...
> A Pennsylvania health reform plan backed aggressively by Gov. Ed Rendell (D) may not pass this year. Article
> Following peers elsewhere, a Jacksonville, FL hospital has developed a bloodless medicine and surgery program aimed at patients who reject transfusions. …
