AMA News – Feb. 4, 2009. Experts warn of antitrust scrutiny but say the settlements signal the FTC’s support of arrangements that can benefit patient care. Read Full Article
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) on Tuesday withdrew his nomination as HHS secretary, citing the disclosure of his recent payments of back taxes and interest, the Washington Post‘s “44” reports (Kornblut/Kane, “44,” Washington Post, 2/3). In a statement, Daschle said he did not want to be “a distraction. […]
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. “Blog Watch” offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts. Click title to read more… The American Prospect‘s Ezra Klein discusses a new coalition of single-payer advocates and observes, “My sense of the single-payer movement, having watched and interacted with them for some time, is that they think, not […]
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday reversed a 2007 decision by a lower court that would have required HHS to release Medicare claims data under the federal Freedom of Information Act, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/2). Click […]
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday said Aetna will pay $5.1 million to settle charges that it underpaid thousands of members and physicians for out-of-network medical costs, the New York Daily News reports (Blain, New York Daily News, 2/3). The allegations involve reimbursements for 73,000 claims […]
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. The almost $900 billion economic stimulus package the Senate will begin to debate this week “faces a treacherous path,” as both Republicans and Democrats seek to change some provisions related to health care and other areas, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Coile, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/2). According to the New […]
kaisernetwork.org – Feb. 4, 2009. Private health insurers that operate plans under the Medicare prescription drug benefit have overcharged beneficiaries and the program by several billion dollars since the program began in 2006, but CMS remains unaware of the total impact of the practice because of a failure to perform required audits, according to a […]
Lawrence Journal World, KS – Feb. 4, 2009. “More than $17 million was recovered last year by the Kansas Attorney General’s office in a crackdown on Medicaid fraud. That is four times the amount of … “ Kansas Medicaid crackdown nets $17M in recoveries Bizjournals.comKansas AG Reports Big Year for Medicaid Recoveries WIBWMedicaid recoveries total more than […]
HFMA News – Feb. 3, 2009. The American College of Physicians has issued its “State of the Nation’s Health Care” report and recommendations for 2009. The report concludes that the state of the nation?s health care is poor and calls upon President Obama and the 111th Congress “to take immediate, sustained and dramatic” steps for […]