July 29, 2010: CMS solicits proposals for Medicare Imaging Demonstration project
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it is soliciting proposals for participation in a Medicare Imaging Demonstration (MID) authorized by section 135(b) of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act...
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July 29, 2010: Dendreon’s Provenge Questioned in NEJM
The ability of Dendreon’s(DNDN) Provenge to prolong the survival of prostate cancer patients without having any measurable effect on the tumor is called “surprising” and “hard to understand” in an editorial published Wednesday...
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July 29, 2010: End-Of-Life Savings: The ‘Fool’s Gold’ Of Reform?
Just over 1 in 4 dollars spent by the Medicare program last year was spent on someone who was in their last year of their life.
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July 29, 2010: Letting Go
Sara Thomas Monopoli was pregnant with her first child when her doctors learned that she was going to die.
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July 29, 2010: AMERICA’S NEW HEALTH CARE SYSTEM REVEALED
Four months after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously declared “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it,” a congressional panel has released the first chart illustrating the 2,801 page health care law President Obama signed...
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July 29, 2010: What Congress Might Do to Defuse Tax Time Bomb
President George W. Bush left behind a ticking time bomb that is set for Dec. 31, 2010.
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July 28, 2010: COA Issues Practice Impact Report
The Community Oncology Alliance has developed a tracking database on the adverse impact of Medicare reimbursement on community oncology practices. The database was initially compiled from private and public sources. Included in this report are a table...
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July 28, 2010: Cancer Community Dances for Cancer Care
Before fighting for cancer care on Capitol Hill, the community danced for everyone battling cancer.
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July 28, 2010: Aetna posts higher 2Q profit up 42 percent
Health insurer Aetna Inc. said late Tuesday its second-quarter profit rose 42 percent, as the percentage of premiums the company spent on medical care fell versus a year ago.
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July 28, 2010: Emergency fund to pay for ‘too expensive’ cancer drugs
Cancer patients denied new treatments because they are too expensive will now be able to appeal to a £50m government fund to pay for their drugs – a move that experts said would “overturn” key recommendations by the NHS watchdog, the National...
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July 28, 2010: Bonuses won’t balance Medicare cuts: docs
Incentives for primary-care doctors under Medicare’s proposed physician fee schedule for 2011 won’t be enough to offset larger reimbursement woes, members of the industry say.
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July 28, 2010: Britain’s National Health Service, Praised by Obama’s Medicare Chief, To Undergo Cost-Cutting Overhaul
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), which rations basic health care services to control costs, will undergo major budget cuts and restructuring ostensibly to make the government-run system less bureaucratic and more decentralized, according to...
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July 27, 2010: New Health Official Faces Hostility in Senate
Unlike many other health policy experts, Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the new chief of Medicare and Medicaid, has extensive real world experience.
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July 27, 2010: MONEY & POLITICS: Aetna, Humana, Other Insurers Mull New Group to Influence November Races
Five of the nation’s largest health insurers are in serious discussions about creating a new nonprofit group and bankrolling it to the tune of about $20 million to influence tight congressional races and boost the image of their industry.
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July 27, 2010: New Medicare Rules May Curb Use of Anemia Drugs for Dialysis
Yet more restrictions in the use of anemia drugs are on the way.
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July 27, 2010: Poll shows majority of seniors are bewildered by new healthcare reform law
The majority of the nation’s seniors have little understanding of what the Democrats’ newly enacted healthcare law actually does, according to poll results released Monday.
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July 27, 2010: UNC Lineberger News Release
Men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer are offered multiple treatment options.
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July 27, 2010: Berwick’s First Reimbursement Challenge
New CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, has not yet been on the job a month, and he’s already finding himself in the middle of one of those reimbursement tugs-of-war that seem to define modern healthcare.
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June 26, 2010: Thousands of British cancer patients denied vital drugs
The medicines have been proven to prolong the lives of people suffering from a variety of cancers, but patients in Britain are made to wait before they are prescribed despite their ready availability elsewhere in Europe.
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June 26, 2010: Health Reform: Weighing Up the Employer Mandate
Of all the aspects of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that critics fiercely object to, few generate more ire than the mandates.
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June 26, 2010: Ark. surgeon general says state needs more doctors
Arkansas’ surgeon general told lawmakers Wednesday that he’s worried the state won’t have enough medical providers to care for the thousands of newly insured covered under the federal health care overhaul.
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June 26, 2010: Why Health-Insurance Premiums Rise While Insurers Sit on Piles of Cash
Not-for-profit Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are maintaining cash reserves that are more than three times what states require while continuing to raise health-insurance premiums by double-digit amounts, according to a Consumers Union report.
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July 22, 2010: New Report by Consumers Union: Nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Plans Built Up Huge Surpluses, Yet Seek Huge Rate Increases
In the past decade, nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) health insurers set aside billions of dollars in surplus – essentially retained profits – even as they raised premiums for consumers by as high as 20 percent annually, according to a...
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July 22, 2010: Meaningful Use Compliance Top Healthcare Executive Priority
With healthcare reform, meaningful use compliance, upcoming changes in medical coding, and a list of other challenges, healthcare providers have a lot on their plates.
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July 22, 2010: Detroit court hears first challenge to health care reform
The first legal challenge to the historic health care reform bill passed earlier this year to be heard in court is not the one filed by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and more than a dozen other state AGs, it’s one filed by the Ann Arbor-based Thomas...
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