The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a proposal to increase payment rates to home health agencies 3.1 percent in 2007. To obtain the payment increase, which would bring $460 million in added payments next year, agencies must submit data on the quality of care they provide. Agencies that fail to submit the data would receive an increase of only 1.1 percent. Read more »
Two disparate bills aimed at expanding the number of Americans with health care insurance were introduced, one by Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., and another by a bipartisan group led by Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis. Stark's "AmeriCare Health Care Act" calls for universal health care coverage for all Americans while the bipartisan plan calls for approval of state grants to create pilot programs around the country. Read more »
Unmoved by skeptical questioning from House lawmakers, the head of the Medicare program said that the moment has arrived for widespread adoption of quality measures of physician care. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mark B. McClellan repeatedly rebuffed suggestions by Democrats at a House hearing that measures aren't well-developed enough across the physician sector to permit their use to be tied to physician payments. Read more »
Most seniors enrolled in a Medicare drug plan are satisfied with their plans, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of the 1,585 seniors age 65 and older who took part in the survey, 623 were enrolled in a Medicare Part D drug plan. And while eight out of 10 seniors were satisfied with their plan and three out of four would sign up for the same plan again, almost two of 10 said they had a "major problem" using the plan. Read more »
Under fire from the Senate Finance Committee, Quality Improvement Organizations—which contract to improve care to Medicare beneficiaries—have begun the delicate task of building support for legislation that would widen their role. At a Hill briefing, the organizations sought to educate congressional aides on their various projects and demonstrate that their efforts are truly improving care quality. Read more »
To get out of a swamp you've got to start walking, and if nothing else, House lawmakers mired in the issue of overhauling Medicare physician payment spent a few hours pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down. Getting out of the muck may seem impossible—the Medicare payment formula has cuts of about five percent per year lined up for nine years. But replacing them with a modest yearly payment increase that reflects the rising expense of delivering physician care would cost the federal government $218 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Read more »