Here are nine issues dealing with Medicare or Medicaid that occurred in the past week, starting with the most recent.
1. Protecting Medicare and implementing online health insurance marketplaces were among Americans' top priorities in a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health.
2. Medicare Recovery Auditors, also known as recovery audit contractors, set a new record for most overpayments collected in a quarter, as they recouped $744.8 million from hospitals and other providers in the first quarter of the federal government's 2013 fiscal year.
3. A bill temporarily halting the nation's $16.4 billion debt ceiling through mid-May passed the House 285-144, but automatic cuts to Medicare and other programs are still scheduled to take effect March 1.
4. Maryland found it may lose more than $1 billion in Medicare payments by losing its eligibility for a waiver that grants it full reimbursement from CMS, rather than the discounted rates all 49 other states receive unless the state can suppress its healthcare cost growth.
5. A Kaiser Family Foundation report showed many states have increased Medicaid access and eligibility over the past year, though a few have added restrictions to eligibility.
6. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that reversed and remanded a circuit court ruling that hospitals could appeal decisions by the Provider Reimbursement Review Board that are up to 25 years old. A group of 18 hospitals challenged their Medicare disproportionate share adjustments for 1987 through 1994.
7. A study found the number of all-cause 30-day rehospitalizations and all-cause hospitalizations decreased more in communities where quality improvement initiatives were led by Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations than in communities without these initiatives.
8. Hospital executives are on board with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to impose a provider fee to expand the state's Medicaid program.
9. President Barack Obama gave airtime to the need to reform healthcare entitlements in his second inaugural address Monday, but he defended their existence and pushed back on calls to make drastic cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
1. Protecting Medicare and implementing online health insurance marketplaces were among Americans' top priorities in a recent poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health.
2. Medicare Recovery Auditors, also known as recovery audit contractors, set a new record for most overpayments collected in a quarter, as they recouped $744.8 million from hospitals and other providers in the first quarter of the federal government's 2013 fiscal year.
3. A bill temporarily halting the nation's $16.4 billion debt ceiling through mid-May passed the House 285-144, but automatic cuts to Medicare and other programs are still scheduled to take effect March 1.
4. Maryland found it may lose more than $1 billion in Medicare payments by losing its eligibility for a waiver that grants it full reimbursement from CMS, rather than the discounted rates all 49 other states receive unless the state can suppress its healthcare cost growth.
5. A Kaiser Family Foundation report showed many states have increased Medicaid access and eligibility over the past year, though a few have added restrictions to eligibility.
6. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that reversed and remanded a circuit court ruling that hospitals could appeal decisions by the Provider Reimbursement Review Board that are up to 25 years old. A group of 18 hospitals challenged their Medicare disproportionate share adjustments for 1987 through 1994.
7. A study found the number of all-cause 30-day rehospitalizations and all-cause hospitalizations decreased more in communities where quality improvement initiatives were led by Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations than in communities without these initiatives.
8. Hospital executives are on board with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's plan to impose a provider fee to expand the state's Medicaid program.
9. President Barack Obama gave airtime to the need to reform healthcare entitlements in his second inaugural address Monday, but he defended their existence and pushed back on calls to make drastic cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
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