The 21.2 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement officially went into effect Monday, March 1, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a guidance Friday that will delay its effects for two weeks, or until the U.S. Senate acts on a bill delaying the cut.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Act, 243-183, altering the way Medicare pays physicians and preventing a scheduled 21.2 percent rate decrease set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010.
The U.S. House of Representatives has released the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, its version of how to reform the current U.S. healthcare system. To support the bill's initiatives, it proposes a 5.4 percent tax on U.S. taxpayers earning more than $1 million; and a 1.5 percent tax on those who make more than $500,000, but less than $1 million.
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A study conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) found that within 24 of the 43 reporting states in the study, two large insurance payors had a combined market share of 70 percent or more, and that overall competition in the health insurance industry is decreasing.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is “determined to continue working” on changing the Medicare payment system and repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula after failing last week to get enough votes to force an up-or-down vote on S. 1776 (Medicare Physician Fairness Act).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a 21.5 percent rate reduction for the 2010 calendar year to more than one million physicians and non-physician practitioners who are paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
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Middle age introduces itself in many ways; one is atrial fibrillation (AF). My onset of AF seems to have coincided with a mountain bike accident in the woods of North Carolina that resulted in some cracked ribs.
The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.
There are cases presented to all physicians when we have to balance benefits of a particular treatment with concerns around safety for certain patients. In interventional cardiology, we see this dilemma with drug-eluting stents (DES). While this technology provides effective therapy for many patients with ischemia-inducing coronary lesions, there are certain patient groups that encounter problems for different reasons.
U.S. News & World Report and HealthGrades surveys that rank “Best Hospitals” according to their high-quality cardiovascular care do not create the most comprehensive list and may create confusion by excluding hospitals that provide the same quality of care, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.