Tag Archives for Medicare
Generic Vicodin Top Medicare Drug in 2013
An article this past Sunday brought to light startling data: The most widely prescribed drug to Medicare D beneficiaries in 2013 was a generic version of the powerful prescription pain killer Vicodin. Underscoring how at ease physicians are writing prescriptions…
Tags: Health Care, Healthcare, Long Term Care, Medicare, prescription drugs
CMS Misses Fraud Prevention Deadline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMA) were required to submit a report to Congress on October 1st reviewing their fraud prevention system (FPS), yet the report has still not been submitted. On October 15th, two Senate Finance Committee…
Tags: CMS, Fraud, Medicaid, Medicare
Hospitals Penalized by Medicare For Excess Readmissions
The 2010 Health Care Law, in an effort to force improvements in hospital quality, has authorized penalties for hospitals based on readmission rates. Starting in October 2012, more than 2,000 hospitals will be penalized by the government because many of…
Tags: 2010 Health Care Law, Hospital Readmissions, Hospitals, Medicare
Collaboration is the Key to Success for Long Term Care Facilities
Despite government threats of financial penalties, hospitals have made little headway in improving rates of preventable readmissions, according to recent Medicare data. More than 20% of Medicare patients return to the hospital within a month of discharge and despite policy…
Tags: Business, health care, health care facilities, Hospitals, Long Term Care, LTCAdministrator.com, Medicare, nursing homes
Stop Treating The MRI
The baby boomers have entered the orthopedic surgery stage, bringing the overall statistics of orthopedic surgery in America to a new level! In 2009 Americans ages 45 to 64 had approximately 116,000 hip replacements, and 97,000 knee replacements between 2004…
Tags: Aging, baby boomers, health care, knee replacement, Medical News, Medicare, MRI, New England Journal of Medicine, orthopedic surgery, seniors
Hire a Manager for your Depression!
Is your holiday season this year going to be merry? According to an article published by The Wall Street Journal the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that, “close to 8% of people 50 and older are report current…
Tags: depression, doctors, Families, health care, Medicare, seniors
Patients Well Aware Are Well Prepared
If you’re going in for elective surgery of any kind, make sure to do your homework well in advance, so you’re not in for a nasty shock later on. You will be needing lots of assistance to get you through…
Tags: elective surgery, health care, Home Care, home health aide, insurance, Medicare, nurse, patients, recovery
Too Old and Too Sick for Treatment?
My visceral reaction to the latest report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which avers that aggressive care for dying patients is often futile- is nausea. Their findings: Even though a large percentage of Medicare cancer patients represent poor prognoses, health…
Tags: cancer, Center for Health Policy Research, chemotherapy, Dartmouth Atlas Project, Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, David Goodman, Death Panels, disease, doctors, feeding tubes, health care facilities, hospice, intensive care, intubation, Medicare, oncology, Palliative care, patients, Sarah Palin
Too Many “Oops!” for Older Hospitalized Patients
“Could it have been prevented?”, the concerned family member asks , and, in way too many instances, the answer is “yes!” A report from the Department of Health and Human Services reports that 14% of hospitalized Medicare patients suffered harms deemed “clearly or…
Tags: CMS, Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, hospital, Medicare, medication, OIG, patients, respiratory infection, suicide
Heart Failure Patients Choosing Alternative Venues for End-of-Life Care
An ever increasing number of patients with heart failure are choosing hospice care for the last few months of their lives. End of life costs have progressively gone up for this population, however the trend towards hospice and other palliative…
Tags: acute care hospital, Americans, Canadians, heart failure, hospice, Medicare, palliative, patients
