One year after a 12-year-old Medicaid beneficiary could not obtain dental care and died after tooth decay spread to his brain, witnesses told a House panel that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has done little to improve beneficiaries' access to dental services. Read more »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released two proposed rule changes that the agency said would give states "unprecedented flexibility" in designing their Medicaid programs. The changes would allow states to adjust their benefit package to more closely align with beneficiary needs and require increased cost-sharing requirements for enrollees, the agency said in a news release. Read more »
Medicare Advantage plans may see a 4.8 percent increase in their per capita growth percentage rates in 2009, Medicare officials said. Read more »
A new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that large variations across the United States in spending for the care of similar patients underscore the importance of identifying efficient methods of delivering treatment. The CBO is undertaking a high-profile analysis of rising health care costs and is giving geographic variation prime billing, which could lead Congress to give greater attention to the issue. Read more »
Medicare is launching a demonstration project that would provide payment incentives to physicians who use certified electronic health records to improve patient care. Read more »
Higher wages alone won't reverse the declining number of Americans with health insurance if employers aren't offering their workers coverage, according to a study by researchers at the Urban Institute published as a Web Exclusive by the journal Health Affairs. Read more »