News From Around the Web
> Meridian Health Plan, a Detroit-based group of physician-owned and -operated health plans, has pulled out of New Hampshire's managed care program, Healthcare Payer News reported. Article
> Maryland-based CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to raise premium rates by 23 percent to 30 percent for individual plans next year under the federal healthcare law, according to filings released by the Maryland Insurance Administration. Website
> More hospitals see bundled payments as the wave of the future, according to The Wall Street Journal. The concept is expanding beyond heart surgeries and joint replacements to cancer care and chronic conditions. Article
Medical Imaging News
> Forty-four U.S. senators are asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to expand coverage of low-dose CT lung cancer screening. In a recent letter to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, the legislators--led by Dianne Feinstein--call low-dose CT scans an "effective tool" for catching lung cancer early. Article
> The American Society for Radiation Oncology has issued a "model policy" for proton beam therapy, recommending that certain treatments should be covered by Medicare and private insurers. Article
And Finally... Principal gets mariachi entourage. Article