Medicare News

Medicare Advantage Reform: Detaching Pay from Performance
Medicare Advantage (MA) is the "private option" within Medicare. Private health insurers are paid a fixed monthly fee to provide at least the same minimum health benefits to their enrollees as "traditional" fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare, but they also have the ability to offer coordinated care, disease management, phone consultations, and other services that have the ...
Clipboard: Patients enlisted to fight Medicare fraud using easier-to-read bills
Medicare is revamping its billing formats to make it easier for seniors to spot and report fraudulent charges, Susan Jaffe reports for the Washington Post and Kaiser Health News. The new format goes online Saturday and will be rolled out in paper bills next year. It highlights a $1,000 reward for significant tips.
Medicare changes threaten hospitals
[Editors note: The congressional delegation has concerns about Medicare payments. An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the issue was with Medicaid payments. Medicare previously paid back small rural hospitals for taxes the hospita...
Dueling letters on $275 million Medicare windfall for Mass. hospitals
A group of state hospital associations from around the country last month asked the Obama administration to take a closer look at a provision of the Affordable Care Act that will land Massachusetts hospitals an extra $275 million or more in yearly Medicare reimbursements. The letter prompted Senator John Kerry and others in the Massachusetts congressional delegation to respond Tuesday, calling ...
Medicare cheaters are soaking the taxpayers
Last year, the federal budget took a hit of $60 billion due to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse, according to the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. This month, federal officials charged more than 100 health-care providers with Medicare fraud as a result of unrelated scams in seven major cities. Federal raids uncovered $452 million worth of false Medicare claims for ...
Conservatives Want Multimillionaire Seniors Off Medicare Handouts
Multimillionaire seniors are getting too much in government subsidies for their Medicare coverage, according to a report from the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Study: Pay-for-performance did not reduce deaths in Medicare pilot program
A large Medicare pilot program that paid hospitals more if they consistently hit certain quality targets did not reduce the number of patients who died within 30 days of admission to the hospital, a study published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine found. The results are “sobering,” the study authors wrote, given that the program served as a model for a major national ...
Romney Medicare Plan Draws Stark Contrast With Obama’s
Mitt Romney says President Obama has no workable plan to prevent Medicare from going bankrupt, and that he is offering “a dramatic change in perspective and philosophy.”
Some Can Switch Medicare Advantage Plans Mid-Year
I am not happy with my Medicare Advantage plan. Can I switch plans in the middle of the year, or do I have to wait until open enrollment for next year's plans? In most cases, you
Rosetta Genomics Achieves Major Commercial Milestone by Obtaining Medicare Coverage of miRview mets2 Assay
PHILADELPHIA, PA and REHOVOT, ISRAEL-- - Rosetta Genomics Ltd. , a leading developer and provider of microRNA-based molecular diagnostic tests, today announced that Novitas, the designated Medicare Administrative ...