Posts Tagged “Medicaid”
ShowHide 3rd Party PapersKaiser Family Foundation: Coordinating Coverage and Care in Medicaid and Health Insurance Exchanges
American Enterprise Institute: Overspending on Multi-Source Drugs in Medicaid
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Dual Eligible Data
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The segment of the population which is elderly and poor, thus often eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid coverage, is often not in good health and has very high expenses. The travails of this population and how Medicare might be able to control spending for this group are explored in a new Kaiser Foundation Report.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medicaid, Medicare
2012 Potpourri XIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, April 13, 2012
Our latest Potpourri features the comparative cost of cancer care in the US and elsewhere, the effect of genomics on spending, international practice guidelines, state Medicaid waivers, unintended consequences from patient satisfaction efforts and county health rankings.
Tags: Comparative Effectiveness, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Medicaid, Medical Care, Pay For Performance
2012 Potpourri X
by Kevin Roche on Sunday, March 25, 2012
Spring is in the air but take a few minutes to refresh with our latest Potpourri, which includes the Congressional Budget Office’s latest health reform projections, ER use by those with Medicaid or private insurance coverage, the effect of selective outcomes reporting in research, an AonHewitt survey of employers on exchange use, another CBO report on employer incentives for use of TriCare and physician costs to comply with quality mandates.
Tags: Care Management, Comparative Effectiveness, Consumers, Employers, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance Exchanges, Medicaid, Physicians
2012 Potpourri VII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, February 24, 2012
Our latest Potpourri, a week late and we apologize, covers virtual coaching, the integration of drug and medical benefit management, how doctors chose to handle their own end-of-life care, Medicaid and ER visits, and malpractice and orthopedics.
Tags: Drugs, End-of-Life Care, Health Care Costs, HIT, Hospital, Malpractice, Medicaid, Physicians, Telemedicine, Wellness and Prevention
CMS’ Latest Foray Into Drug Pricing
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, February 9, 2012
CMS has issued its latest proposal rule on Medicaid drug pricing and rebates. The proposal doesn’t clear up all areas of uncertainty and will add administrative costs for manufacturers. It will also likely influence the continued shift in how payers reimburse pharmacies.
Tags: Drugs, Health Care Costs, Medicaid
2012 Potpourri III
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 20, 2012
Winter is getting long and tedious by now, but our Potpourri offers a welcome respite, with refreshing tidbits on hospital uncompensated care, teledermatology, Medicaid controls of antipsychotic use, Medicare cuts to osteoporosis testing payments, the relationship between primary care access and mortality risk, and where the United States will find cost-savings.
Tags: Drugs, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Hospital, Medicaid, Medicare, Telemedicine
2012 Potpourri I
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 6, 2012
Welcome to 2012, when you can once again expect a series of high-quality Potpourris from our immense data bank! Our initial foray includes the Independence at Home CMS demo, discharge summaries and hospital readmissions, CMS’ quality measures for Medicaid patients, private equity fundraising, medical homes and cost savings for Medicaid patients and the effect of poor discharge summaries on nursing home patients.
Tags: Care Management, Financings, Health Care Quality, HomeCare, Hospital, Medicaid, medical home, Medicare, Readmissions
Health Spending by State
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, December 27, 2011
How much does health spending per person vary across the fifty states and does that variance occur equally in the commercially insured population, Medicaid eligibles and Medicare beneficiaries? These and other questions are answered in research published in the Medicare and Medicaid Research Review.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medicaid, Medicare
Medicaid Pharmacy Trends
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, October 27, 2011
As Medicaid enrollment continues to grow, and will likely surge in 2014, states are looking for ways to control costs. Pharmacy spending has been an area of focus and a new Kaiser report discusses how states are handling prescription drug issues.
Care Coordination for the Dual Eligible Population
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Medicare/Medicaid dual eligibles are relatively poor, elderly or disabled persons who have very high health spending. A report from America’s Health Insurance Plans discusses how care coordination programs can achieve significant savings for the programs and better health outcomes for the patients.
Tags: Care Management, Chronic Disease, Health Care Costs, Medicaid, Medicare
Medicaid Managed Care
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, September 22, 2011
A Kaiser Family Foundation report surveys state managed care Medicaid programs, finding a surge in utilization of health plans and addition of eligibility categories to the plans. A great variety of features are used in different states, but the trend toward more managed care is clear.
Tags: Government, Health Care Costs, Health Care Reform, Medicaid
2011 Potpourri XXIX
by Kevin Roche on Friday, July 29, 2011
Our current Potpourri contains nuggets on use of robotic surgery for prostate cancer, the effect of mandated rebates in Medicare Part D on patient costs, FDA guidance on device modifications, state Medicaid EHR incentive programs, patient understanding of trial data, and use of FQHC’s by Medicaid enrollees.
Tags: Devices, Drugs, EHRs, FDA, HIT, HITECH, Medicaid, Medical Care, Medicare
National Variations in Medicaid Spending
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, July 27, 2011
A lot of the work on geographic variation in spending has been done on the Medicare population. New research published in Health Affairs examines variation in Medicaid spending for the disabled population and finds significant differences based on both volume and unit prices.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medicaid
2011 Potpourri XXVIII
by Kevin Roche on Friday, July 22, 2011
The dog days of summer bring yet another scorching hot Potpourri with a smorgasbord of data, including metabias in randomized clinical trials, the practice of defensive medicine, the status of HIEs, retail pharmacy drug costs and pricing and spending on medical devices.
Tags: Comparative Effectiveness, Devices, Drugs, HIT, Malpractice, Meaningful Use, Medicaid, Medicare, Physicians
2011 Potpourri XXV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, June 24, 2011
Summer waxes but no heat-induced torpor can stop us from producing our Potpourri of health snapshots, including the health care and health care coverage of young adults; malpractice incidence; Massachusetts health spending; online provider ratings; access to specialty care for children in public programs and options for dealing with the SGR mess.
Tags: Access, Consumers, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, Malpractice, Medicaid, Medicare, Physicians
More Data Available from CMS
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, June 9, 2011
CMS has proposed a rule to implement a PPACA provision allowing access to extracts of provider-level Medicare data to evaluate performance, primarily on quality measures. This is a good first step, but just a first step in being able to completely profile physician practice patterns.
Tags: Comparative Effectiveness, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Medicaid, Medicare, Providers
GAO Reports on CHIPs Programs
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, April 14, 2011
Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Programs provide coverage for a very substantial portion of the nation’s children. The GAO issues a report on the adequacy of some aspects of the care they receive.
Tags: Care Management, Government, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, Medicaid
2011 Potpourri IV
by Kevin Roche on Friday, January 21, 2011
On we go into the New Year, already on our fourth Potpourri, this one rich with information on state Medicaid program issues; what makes for a successful wellness program; what makes for a well-run hospital; pushing back on too much medical care; the value of colonoscopy and walking faster to live longer.
Tags: Elder Care, Hospital, Medicaid, Physicians, Wellness and Prevention
New Year Potpourri or 20ll Potpourri I
by Kevin Roche on Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011 to all of you, a prosperity which undoubtedly will be aided by the insights from our Potpourris, which this week include physicians’ use of patient satisfaction data, drugs for children, Medicaid quality measures, health reform provisions taking effect in 2011 and the FDA’s rate of drug approval in 2010.
Tags: Drugs, FDA, Health Care Quality, Health Care Reform, HIT, Medicaid, Medicare, Physicians
CMS’ IT Systems
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, December 29, 2010
CMS released the initial report on its plan to modernize its computer systems, which understandably could cause trepidation among the millions of beneficiaries and providers who will be affected. The vision is solid, but will the execution be there?
Christmas Potpourri
by Kevin Roche on Friday, December 24, 2010
A very happy and relaxing Christmas Eve and Day to all our readers. To aid in the pursuit of that happiness and relaxation we offer up our scraps of enlightenment, this week covering EHR impact on productivity, e-prescribing systems, health insurance rate reviews, not-for-profit hospital executive compensation, Oregon’s state health plan and use of placebos to improve health.
Tags: Consumers, Drugs, Health Care Costs, Health Insurance, HIT, Hospital, Meaningful Use, Medicaid, Physicians
2010 Potpourri XLI
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, November 13, 2010
The holidays approach, the Potpourri rolls on, this week unveiling information on potential savings for Medicare and Medicaid dual eligibles; EHR use’s effect on physician revenue; likely physician reaction to the SGR cuts, if implemented; characteristics of California health plan enrollees; CBO’s view of the impact of the reform law on drug prices and a health plan allowing nurse practitioners to be primary care providers.
Tags: Consumer Directed Health, Drugs, HIT, Medicaid, Medicare, Physicians, Providers
Medicaid Health Plan Administrative Costs
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The reform debate and its aftermath focused a lot of attention on health plans’ administrative expenses, particularly whether they were devoting too much of total premium to profits. A new report looks at expense trends for Medicaid managed care plans.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medicaid
2010 Potpourri XXXIII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, September 11, 2010
Fall is a lovely time of year and what could be better than relaxing with a Potpourri, featuring health insurance increases, the true costs of EHRs, hospital pay-for-performance programs and quality, the impact of social networks on health behavior, and unenrolled Medicaid-eligible children.
Tags: Consumers, Government, Health Care Costs, Health Care Quality, HIT, Hospital, Medicaid, Pay For Performance, Workplace
Medicaid’s Use of Generic Drugs
by Kevin Roche on Thursday, September 2, 2010
Medicaid programs, and other third-party payers, can save a lot of money by requiring use of generics when available. Some state laws, however, can significantly inhibit generic use, according to new research in Health Affairs.
Tags: Drugs, Government, Medicaid, Regulation
Emergency Room Use
by Kevin Roche on Tuesday, August 24, 2010
A study discusses trends in the use of emergency rooms. Medicaid beneficiaries are the vast majority of the increase in utilization, which may reflect poor access to primary care or inappropriate health care seeking behavior.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Hospital, Medicaid, Medical Care
2010 Potpourri XXVII
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, July 31, 2010
A lot of great items in this week’s potpourri, covering the acquisition of HealthGrades, what encourages men to get screenings, potential cheating on pay-for-performance schemes, the problems of a multi-payer system, improving heart failure care, Canada’s experience with EHRs and autonomous robot surgery.
Tags: HIT, M&A, Medicaid, Medical Care, Pay For Performance, Payor, Wellness and Prevention
2010 Potpourri XX
by Kevin Roche on Saturday, June 5, 2010
More health care nuggets for the weekend, including personalized medicine, health reform, health insurance premiums, telemedicine, and community health centers.
Tags: Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, HIT, Medicaid, Medical Care, Personalized Medicine, Telemedicine
UnitedHealth Group’s Suggestions for Medicaid Savings
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The new health law greatly expands Medicaid and government spending. Figuring out how to keep that spending from breaking state budgets will be difficult. A large national health plan company provides suggestions on how to control Medicaid costs.
Tags: Health Care Costs, Medicaid
Medicaid Recipients With Chronic Disease
by Kevin Roche on Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Center for Health Care Strategies release an updated report on Medicaid enrollees with chronic disease, reaffirming how a relatively few patients account for well over half the total program spending.
Tags: Chronic Disease, Government, Medicaid, Medical Care
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Medicaid will continue to be the solution of last resort for people who require nursing home care.
CBO Outlines ‘Key Features’ Of Ryan Budget Proposal: ‘Substantial’ Changes To Medicare, Medicaid