November 21st 2024
Despite significant progress in expanding health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, millions of Americans still face critical gaps in access to and affordability of health care.
Urban Safety Net Hospitals Fair Poorly on Patient Surveys, Study Finds
May 20th 2015The article, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, found that large urban hospitals that serve as a safety net for patients with lower socioeconomic status, are at a disadvantage due to factors outside of their control.
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Expert Calls for Improved Home Care Options for Those With Debilitating Diseases
May 18th 2015Karen Davis, director of Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care at Johns Hopkins University, says increasing resources available for home treatments and services and support for family caregivers of the elderly and those with debilitating diseases might work to reduce reliance on costly nursing homes for those afflicted.
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Observation Encounters and Subsequent Nursing Facility Stays
Only 1.2% of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries who received hospital-based observation services in 2010 were discharged to an SNF not covered by Medicare.
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Study Evaluates Intervention to Reduce ER Visits by Low Income and Medicaid Patients
May 6th 2015A study conducted at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, published in the journal Health Affairs, evaluated the results of an intervention to connect low-income uninsured and Medicaid patients to a reliable source of primary healthcare.
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Pioneer ACOs Reduce Spending by $385 Million in 2 Years
May 5th 2015The Pioneer ACO Model successfully reported smaller increases in total Medicare expenditures and reductions in health service utilization, for savings of approximately $385 million during the first 2 years compared with general Medicare fee-for-service.
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AJMC's ACO Coalition Explores the New Rules of Patient Engagement
May 4th 2015As accountable care organizations work to deliver population health, patient satisfaction, and cost savings, the need to engage patients as partners in their own healthcare has never been more essential. The ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, an initiative of The American Journal of Managed Care, gathered this week at the historic Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California, to explore ways to make patients the starting points of healthcare, not just its recipients.
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Hospital Use of Skilled Nursing Facilities Linked to Mortality, Spending
May 4th 2015Patients at hospitals with high rates of skilled nursing facility discharge usually have poorer outcomes and higher downstream spending, according to researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt University.
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ADA, AMA, and YMCA Praise Introduction of Medicare Diabetes Prevention Act
April 30th 2015Today's call for Medicare to cover the Diabetes Prevention Program is part of a broader effort by advocacy groups and the AMA to identify those with prediabetes and intervene before people develop full-blown diabetes.
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Medigap Remains Valuable for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
April 28th 2015Medigap, the Medicare supplement coverage that helps fee-for-service beneficiaries fill gaps in their benefits, continues to be important for low-income beneficiaries and especially those living in rural areas, according to America's Health Insurance Plans.
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Diverse Faculty Joins AJMC as ACO Coalition Heads West
April 24th 2015The ACO and Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, an initiative of The American Journal of Managed Care, will host its first meeting on the West Coast April 30-May 1, 2015, at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California. An outstanding group of faculty will take part as this multistakeholder group meets for the first time since the announcement of the ACO "Next Generation" initiative.
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CMS Wasted $250 Million With Outdated Drug Pricing Estimates
April 24th 2015CMS wasted nearly $251 million in taxpayer dollars on infusion drugs in just 18 months by using outdated drug pricing estimates, which drove up the cost of prescription injectable drugs for an aging baby boomer population.
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Dr Patti Forest Outlines Challenges of CMS' Oncology Care Model
April 23rd 2015One of the challenges providers will face in the new Oncology Care Model that CMS announced earlier this year is measuring quality and meeting quality standards under, according to Patti Forest, MD, MBA, senior medical director of network quality and performance at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
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