Only about 9 percent of doctors use comprehensive electronic health record systems, according to a public–private study commissioned to establish a benchmark to measure U.S. progress toward adoption of the technology. Read more »
In the last speech of a tenure marked by a focus on improving the value of Medicare spending, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mark B. McClellan took stock of the recent proliferation of public–private efforts to develop quality-of-care measures—and promised much more to come. Those measures eventually might be as much a part of his legacy as his efforts in overseeing the implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, or so he hopes. Read more »
As Medicare officials detailed new tools to help beneficiaries enroll in the program's drug benefit, outside groups said Medicare pays private insurers too much to provide drug and health care coverage. They also challenged the accuracy of the answers private plans provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Read more »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will propose a regulation allowing researchers access to Medicare prescription drug data to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan called the data an "unprecedented resource" to help seniors get the most benefit from prescription drugs. Read more »
An improved economy, combined with the Medicare drug benefit, contributed to the lowest rate of Medicaid spending growth in a decade, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Read more »
Medicare officials' recent estimate of what beneficiaries would pay for drug coverage in 2007 is "misleading and disguises significant cost increases" for Part D coverage, according to a report released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.). Read more »