By Amanda Patanow on
1/24/2010
On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters handed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat to Republican Scott Brown in what was widely seen as a slap against the Democrats' effort to draft new health care laws. The House and Senate have passed separate health care measures with only a single GOP vote -- Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana.
Hatch, the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, says Americans have rejected the Democrats' health care bill.
Read More »
|
By Amanda Patanow on
1/17/2010
Since 2004, a Miami psychiatrist has prescribed almost 14 million pills to Medicaid patients at a cost to taxpayers of $43 million, a state agency says.
Fernando Mendez-Villamil would have had to issue 4,000 prescriptions a month, or 1,000 a week, to keep up that pace, according to the report released this week by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Altogether in the six years from 2004-09, he issued nearly 285,000 prescriptions, the AHCA report showed.
Read More »
|
By Amanda Patanow on
1/10/2010
With nearly 500 arrests in four cities, and more than $1 billion in fraudulent claims identified in less than two years, federal officials have announced that the highly successful Medicare Fraud Strike Force will expand to Brooklyn, Tampa, and Baton Rouge.
Read More »
|
By Amanda Patanow on
1/10/2010
Dr. Steven Rosenberg is a patient man.
But after waiting more than two years for Humana insurance to reimburse his West Palm Beach dermatology practice for roughly $120,000 worth of unpaid claims, he'd had enough.
Read More »
|
By Amanda Patanow on
1/3/2010
The following list of 25 Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria for eligible providers was taken from the proposed rule: "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program."
Read More »
|
By Amanda Patanow on
1/3/2010
The stimulus bill that Congress passed back in February said docs and hospitals that make “meaningful use” of electronic medical records would get big bonus payments from Medicare and Medicaid. The bill laid out a few basics about meaningful use — reporting quality measures, sharing information electronically — but didn’t get into much detail.
The feds released plenty of details late last week, in this 556-page proposed rule that lays out what doctors (a.k.a. “eligible professionals”) and hospitals will have to do to qualify for the money.
Read More »
|