Posted in
Medicare by info on July 24th, 2007
Representative Jerry Weller (Il.) sponsored an amendment to the 2008 Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3403) which, with the approval of almost 270 members of Congress, prohibits CMS from reducing Medicare payments to hospitals. The cuts were CMS’ way of recouping funds it believes it will overpay to hospitals in the future. In his blog, Representative Weller thanked his colleagues for voting for the amendment.
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Posted in
General Interest,
Laws and Legislation by info on July 22nd, 2007
In a recent blog post, Senator Mike Enzi spoke out about Senate Bill 625, otherwise known as the Family Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. In a nutshell, he is not a supporter of a bill that gives the public the perception that tobacco products have been reviewed and approved by the FDA. Although certain changes have been made to the language of the legislation, removing the FDA approval process and replacing it with merely an approval to be marketed, the bill still does not have the goal of getting people to stop smoking. Senator Enzi got it right when he said, “Tobacco is one of the biggest contributors to our nation’s growing health care crisis. We need to address this issue head on, not sign a peace treaty with the companies who perpetuate and profit from the crisis.” The bill is currently pending before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
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Posted in
Medicare by info on July 22nd, 2007
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported that more physicians are going to start turning away new patients covered by Medicare. Why? The physicians say they can’t afford to treat Medicare patients especially with the expected reimbursement cuts in 2008. According to the American Medical Association, the reimbursement problem is tied to the formula used to calculate payments. It is tied to the gross national product so when the economy slumps, so does the reimbursement to the physicians. The problem is that the cost of health care doesn’t follow suit.
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The federal litigation attack on not-for-profit hospitals might have ended in case dismissals but that didn’t mean that the IRS didn’t pick up on the tax-exempt status issue. In a recent news release, the IRS summarized its findings from a survey conducted in 2006 of almost 500 tax-exempt hospitals. In a nutshell, the IRS found that there is no consistent definition of “uncompensated care” across all hospitals and there is no consistency of how the uncompensated care is reported. One recommendation that came out of the report is that a form 990 specific to hospitals should be drafted.
You may remember that last summer Senator Chuck Grassley released findings from his own survey of 10 tax-exempt hospital systems and found similar results as the IRS. See the November 2006 blog entry which details his position that hospitals should adopt the Catholic Healthcare Association’s standard of reporting community benefit to develop some consistency.
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Do you remember 2 years or so ago hearing all about the illicit practices of not-for-profit hospitals and health systems for charging uninsured patients full price for their health care? One attorney, Richard Scruggs, led the charge in federal court on behalf of the class of uninsured victims to get the tax-exempt status of these not-for-profits revoked. Well, that really didn’t go anywhere but there was one hospital system that fell victim at the hands of a local authority who took matters into their own hands. Four years ago, Provena Covenant Medical Center in Illinois had their tax-exempt status revoked by the Champaign County Board of Review. After years of fighting the revocation, and paying over $6 million in taxes, the hospital has finally won. Modern Healthcare recently reported that a circuit court judge sided with the hospital to reinstate its property tax exemption. The county has not yet decided to appeal.
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Well at least that is President Bush’s way of dealing with the “frustrations” of the health care crisis. In a roundtable discussion with small business owners earlier this week, President Bush continued to try to sell people on the idea that through tax incentives, people will be able to get affordable health care coverage. He further stated that small business owners should be able to cross state lines to pool risk with other employers in other states in order to afford better insurance. Nothing really new or exciting came out of his discussion. We are still waiting on a solution.
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Posted in
General Interest,
Uninsured by info on July 19th, 2007
And that is exactly what a board member of Grady Hospital in Georgia did recently. Fed up with unpaid expenses for treating poor and uninsured residents of a nearby county, Bill Loughrey took a $4 million dollar bill to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners for payment. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Loughrey’s actions did not sit will with the Commissioner of Fulton County, the person who appointed him to the board, and Loughrey was replaced.
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Can you believe that another insurer has received citations by the California Department of Insurance for wrongfully cancelling members health insurance policies? The L.A. Times reports that BC Life & Health, owned by Wellpoint, cancelled 1,880 individual policies in 2004 and 2005. After a review of 83 sample cases, the CDI issued 49 citations against the insurer which could lead to fines of up to $10,000 a piece. Blue Cross of California has already been fined for improperly cancelling policies. Blue Shield of California, Aetna, Healthnet, and Cigna are currently being investigated by the CDI for improper cancellation of policies.
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Posted in
Healthcare Consumer Information by info on July 5th, 2007
Cell phones were always taboo in the medical industry: no cell phones in hospitals or in physicians offices. However, times are a changing. Researchers now see the benefits of wireless technology as a means of monitoring chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and asthma. Picture home-glucose meters hooked up to cell phones so daily readings can be sent immediately to the physicians’ offices. Results can be sent as a text message. This form of communication is not far off in the distance. Clinical trials of cell-phone monitoring technology are already undeway.
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Well maybe healthcare facilities aren’t quite taking the Domino’s approach but it is close. MSNBC recently reported on tactics health systems are taking to ease the pain of long waits in hospital emergency rooms. One hospital issued movie tickets to patients waiting over 30 minutes to see a doctor while another hospital gave away tickets to the local baseball game. One hospital in Illinois is promising no waiting at all. It seems that patients can skip the waiting room and go right up to a private room and be seen by a physician or a nurse.
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