Employers are not backing away from offering health insurance to workers, according to a new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a business-focused research group. But companies do want workers to take more responsibility for their health care costs, something that will be hard for employees to swallow, experts told employers gathered at an EBRI-sponsored forum. Read more »
A coalition of consumer and health care groups joined forces to support legislation that would require Medicare physicians to issue prescriptions electronically by 2011 or face financial penalties. Read more »
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) wrapped up its two-day meeting by debating draft recommendations to Congress to boost payments in 2009 to physicians by 1.2 percent, to dialysis facilities by one percent, and to keep home health payments that year at 2008 levels. Read more »
Patients' rights have improved drastically in the two decades after Reagan-era legislation overhauled a shoddy nursing home system, but staffing shortages, lags in technology, and a lack of transparency are preventing further progress, panelists concluded at a briefing sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform. Read more »
Many doctors have trouble living up to their own professional standards, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, performed by David Blumenthal and Eric Campbell of Massachusetts General Hospital, surveyed 1,600 doctors across a range of specialties and found widespread agreement among doctors on a range of ethical standards, but considerable disparities in how well they live up to those ideals. Read more »
Prospects for a breakthrough agreement on expanding a popular children's health insurance program look bleak, and lawmakers now expect Congress to pass a long-term extension of the program instead. Read more »