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.
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In 2010, growth in national health expenditures is projected to decelerate to 4.6 percent, down from 5.5 in 2009, due to a projected decline in Medicare spending growth as a result of a 21 percent cut to Medicare physician payment rates, according to a healthcare spending projection report issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), prepared by CMS's Office of the Actuary and published online in Health Affairs.
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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).