proposals

Despite the fact that little was said about plans to promote Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) during the State of the Union, the administration still plans to announce a series of proposals designed to make the accounts more attractive to consumers. Article

The State of the Union address included a brief mention of the administration's plans to make health savings accounts (HSAs) more attractive to consumers and promote IT in healthcare but avoided a major policy announcement some observers had been predicting. Instead the headline announcement came in energy policy. Observers who had predicted the president to launch a defense of the much-criticized Medicare Part D program were also proven wrong. Expect some attempts to push legislation on …

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Bush administration plans to make healthcare "the major focus" of its domestic agenda in 2006. A series of significant policy announcements are expected which could be addressed during the State of the Union address in early February. Specifics are not yet available, but a broad outline of what is being planned is becoming clear. Among the market-friendly proposals the administration is said to be considering are tax credits for those who …

An article in the Los Angeles Times looks at the information gap that prevents patients from effective comparison shopping when making their healthcare choices. The most onerous catch-22 of the consumer-driven healthcare plan movement is well known by those who follow the industry: In order to make more informed decisions, customers need better access to information. For the most part, that information just isn't there. That has led to a number of well-publicized efforts to …

The Senate approved a bill that would authorize the first cuts to Medicare and Medicaid in nearly a decade. The proposed changes, which passed by a 52-47 vote, would be far less sweeping than those included in a similar bill scheduled to go before the House next week. The House bill would cut Medicaid spending by $9.5 billion, endorsing a strategy which raises co-pays for program recipients and allows states to enact tighter curbs on programs similar to recent proposals in South Carolina …

A federal commission delivered its suggestions for trimming spending on Medicaid by as much as $10 billion this year to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday. Proposals include tighter limits on asset transfers by nursing home and long-term care patients and a suggestion that the program could save billions by allowing states to increase co-pays charged to Medicaid recipients. Under the current system, copays are capped by law at $3. The panel recommended steering patients toward …

Despite the inherent logic of assigning every American a personal patient identification code to help manage their electronic medical record information, it is unlikely to happen, Government Computer Week reports. Newer proposals lean towards a decentralized approach to managing the data. Current thinking favors either a probabilistic approach, similar to that used by some search engines, or a record locator model, which would rely on indexes to organize detailed information on the location of patient records. Story

The National Governors Association released a set of proposals yesterday designed to help Congress curb Medicaid spending. Many, but not all of the suggestions from the bipartisan group are expected to find support among lawmakers. The group's proposals include giving states the authority to set premiums, deductibles and co-payments for Medicaid participants, and tighter rules governing spending on nursing homes. The Governors also say they want federal backing for pool purchases of both …

Millions of dollars worth of prescription drugs go unused every year. Federal regulators strongly discourage their redistribution. But what if those wasted drugs could somehow be safely returned to the market? Both consumers and employers could stand to save a bundle. Currently, only Nebraska allows consumers to recycle their prescriptions, and then only if they are still in unbroken tamper-proof packaging. A number of proposals seek to promote recycling plans.

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The Illinois Nurses Association is suing Cook Country over a new 20-hour limit on voluntary overtime. The dispute arose after local lawmakers objected to overtime bonuses paid out to union nurses under an existing contract. According to records, more than 50 county employees clocked more than $50,000 each in overtime last year. Three nurses earned more than $100,000 each in payments. Meanwhile, Illinois lawmakers are working to come up with ways to help ease that state's nursing shortage. …