NIH Launches Research on Health Disparities in Disadvantaged Communities
The National Institutes of Health is launching a new Transdisciplinary Collaboratives Centers for Health Disparities Research on Chronic Disease Prevention program that seeks to respond to ...the need for more robust, ecological approaches to address chronic diseases among racial and [...]
Who’s Still Uninsured?
Hispanics. Young people between the ages of 19 and 34. Men. Low-income people, especially those living in states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs. People in the South – again, especially those living in states that have not expanded [...]
Medicare Continues to Grapple With Socio-Economic Risk Adjustment
The question of whether Medicare should consider the socio-economic status of the patients hospitals serve when it judges the effectiveness and quality of care hospitals provide continues to stir discussion and debate in the health care community. The issue arose [...]
CMS Proposes Medicaid DSH Rule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed a new rule that would clarify the basis for eligible hospitals’ Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments (Medicaid DSH). Individual hospitals’ Medicaid DSH payments are based on their uncompensated care costs and [...]
Docs Less Likely to Participate in ACOs in Disadvantaged Communities
A new study has found that physicians who practice in areas with higher proportions of low-income, uninsured, less-educated, disabled, and African-American residents are less likely than others to participate in accountable care organizations. If ACOs ultimately are found to improve [...]
Medicare Readmissions Penalties Rise
Medicare will impose more than $500 million in penalties in FY 2017 on hospitals that readmit too many Medicare patients within 30 days of their discharge from the hospital. The penalties, part of Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program, represent a [...]
CMS Urges Improvements in Care for Physically, Mentally Disabled
New guidance issued by the Centers for Medicaid Services outlines how states can make better use of home care in serving physically and mentally disabled Medicaid beneficiaries. Those steps include establishing open registries of home care workers; establishing qualifications for [...]
Feds Announce Process for Phasing Out Medicaid Pass-Through Payments
A number of states supplement the Medicaid revenue of high-volume Medicaid hospitals – and draw down additional federal Medicaid matching funds – by making special pass-through payments through Medicaid managed care organizations. Such payments are often used to distribute the [...]
Access to Primary Care Better for Medicaid Patients in Private Plans
Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in commercial, marketplace health plans have better access to appointments for primary care services than those enrolled in traditional state Medicaid programs. Or so concludes a study conducted by the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. According [...]
Report: Uncompensated Care Payments Insufficiently Aligned With Uncompensated Costs
Some of the payments Medicare makes to hospitals to help them with their uncompensated care costs are not well-aligned with actual hospital uncompensated care costs, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has concluded. In a new report based on FY 2013 [...]
