Selected stories from the daily newsletter CQ HealthBeat from the week of July 12, 2010. Provided as a service under rights licensed by The Commonwealth Fund. The full-text version of this newsletter is available in the
Health Reform section of commonwealthfund.org.
In some respects, the health care overhaul law is getting a bad rap when critics in Congress say it fails to address rising health care costs. Read more »
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a final rule setting standards for the electronic health records of hospitals and doctors that eased some of the requirements medical providers had complained about in an earlier proposal. Read more »
Preventive care services for about 41 million people next year will not require cost-sharing such as co-pays, co-insurance or deductibles, under a rule announced last week by First Lady Michelle Obama and administration officials. Read more »
The House of Representatives passed legislation that would clarify a number of Medicare and Medicaid policies, but the debate gave Republicans a chance to once again criticize the recent health care overhaul. Read more »
Private insurance companies are concerned about federal rules that will force them to direct most premium money toward benefits, instead of other items such as profits or administrative costs. Now insurers say that an unlikely ally is helping to make their case that the rules could be overly burdensome. Read more »
Donald M. Berwick was sworn in as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Boston by Health and Human Services Regional Director Chris Hager, a CMS spokesman said. Read more »