Here are 11 issues dealing with Medicare or Medicaid that occurred in the past week, starting with the most recent.
1. HCA Senior Vice President Vic Campbell spoke at an investor conference in New York earlier this week, and he said increasing the eligibility age of Medicare must be considered and enacted instead of cutting payments to hospitals.
2. CMS approved an Ohio proposal to better coordinate funding for dual eligibles.
3. Healthcare research firm SK&A released a report that showed 83.6 percent of medical providers accept Medicare, and 67 percent accept Medicaid, though a decline may be imminent.
4. Five major physician lobbying groups pushed Congress to avert the upcoming Medicare reimbursement cuts to physicians and repeal the sustainable growth rate altogether.
5. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi denounced lawmakers' proposals to raise the Medicare age from 65 to 67 in a USA Today op-ed.
6. Breaking from other Republican governors, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said he will support expanding Medicaid eligibility in his state.
7. A report from AHA TrendWatch showed as Medicare patients grow older and sicker, there is an increase in patient acuity and use of healthcare services.
8. The city of Phoenix approved an ordinance that would leverage a provider fee on the city's 11 hospitals. The money raised from the provider fee will be transferred to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, and the federal government will match the funds at a two-to-one ratio, generating more than $200 million to be dispersed back to hospitals.
9. A report from the Government Accountability Office revealed prepayment audits saved Medicare at least $1.76 billion in fiscal year 2010, but the savings could have been even greater if prepayment audits were more widely used.
10. HHS and CMS gave final approval for Kansas' new Medicaid program design, KanCare, which will go live Jan. 1, 2013.
11. HHS announced it will not consider phased-in or partial Medicaid expansions, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Instead, states will have to expand Medicaid fully to 133 percent of the federal poverty limit to receive 100 percent federal matching funds.
1. HCA Senior Vice President Vic Campbell spoke at an investor conference in New York earlier this week, and he said increasing the eligibility age of Medicare must be considered and enacted instead of cutting payments to hospitals.
2. CMS approved an Ohio proposal to better coordinate funding for dual eligibles.
3. Healthcare research firm SK&A released a report that showed 83.6 percent of medical providers accept Medicare, and 67 percent accept Medicaid, though a decline may be imminent.
4. Five major physician lobbying groups pushed Congress to avert the upcoming Medicare reimbursement cuts to physicians and repeal the sustainable growth rate altogether.
5. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi denounced lawmakers' proposals to raise the Medicare age from 65 to 67 in a USA Today op-ed.
6. Breaking from other Republican governors, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said he will support expanding Medicaid eligibility in his state.
7. A report from AHA TrendWatch showed as Medicare patients grow older and sicker, there is an increase in patient acuity and use of healthcare services.
8. The city of Phoenix approved an ordinance that would leverage a provider fee on the city's 11 hospitals. The money raised from the provider fee will be transferred to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid program, and the federal government will match the funds at a two-to-one ratio, generating more than $200 million to be dispersed back to hospitals.
9. A report from the Government Accountability Office revealed prepayment audits saved Medicare at least $1.76 billion in fiscal year 2010, but the savings could have been even greater if prepayment audits were more widely used.
10. HHS and CMS gave final approval for Kansas' new Medicaid program design, KanCare, which will go live Jan. 1, 2013.
11. HHS announced it will not consider phased-in or partial Medicaid expansions, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Instead, states will have to expand Medicaid fully to 133 percent of the federal poverty limit to receive 100 percent federal matching funds.
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