The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the names of 54 nursing home facilities it rates among the nation's "poorest performers" in terms of quality of care. The release is intended to "promote more rapid and substantial improvement in the quality of care in identified nursing homes and end the pattern of repeated cycles of non-compliance" with quality standards, said acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems. Read more »
Few employers in Massachusetts are likely to stop offering health benefits to their employees because of the state's new law subsidizing an individual's purchase of health care coverage, a new survey suggests. Read more »
As the Senate Finance Committee assembles legislation that is expected to reduce Medicare reimbursements to some health care providers to help stop a scheduled 10 percent cut in Medicare physician payments, groups are applying pressure to make sure that their reimbursements remain untouched. Read more »
Despite medical advances that have enabled doctors to unclog fat from arteries and prescribe tumor-killing medications and radiation, public health officials are hoping the future of health care will be focused on preventing the nation's most expensive and deadly diseases from ever happening in the first place. Read more »
States and child advocates are pressing Congress to abandon its troubled efforts to reauthorize children's health insurance and instead focus on a short-term extension, out of concern money is running short. Read more »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a series of options to Capitol Hill to change Medicare hospital payment so that it is based on the quality of care a facility delivers. Read more »