The White House announced new Medicare drug prices for 10 medicines popular with beneficiaries. It's the first time the federal program has negotiated lower prices with the pharmaceutical industry.
The new rules mean 4 out of 5 nursing homes will need more aides and nurses. Unions hailed the change, but advocates say it's not enough care, while nursing home owners say it's an "impossible task."
Most Medicare enrollees have two or more chronic conditions, making them eligible for a program that rewards physicians for doing more to manage their care. But not many doctors have joined.
A report from the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general finds a dire shortage of mental health care providers in Medicaid and Medicare, which together serve some 40% of Americans.
The lawsuit suggests that Pathways to Coverage should get a pass to operate longer than its intended end date next September. But an error in Georgia’s approach makes that complicated.
Just 18 facilities were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals so far. Advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are needed to widen the reach and keep health care in rural communities.
The Biden administration is cracking down on deceptive or misleading Medicare Advantage and drug plan sales tactics. And it's counting on beneficiaries to help catch offenders.
Medicare and Medicaid are mandatory spending programs and that keeps them relatively safe in the early days of the shutdown, but 42% of the Department of Health's staff will be furloughed.
By converting to a Rural Emergency Hospital, existing rural hospitals commit to changing their model of care, with a focus on emergency medicine, in exchange for subsidies from the federal government.
Emanuel Medical Center in rural Georgia racks up more than $350,000 a month in losses providing health care for low-income and uninsured patients. But a new state funding proposal could significantly reduce those deficits, not just for the 66-bed Swainsboro facility, but for most rural hospitals in the state.
Depending on where they lived, demands for repayment can drain the assets that a patient on Medicaid leaves behind after they die. Iowa aggressively collects "clawback" funds.
The federal agency that oversees Medicaid suggested Idaho wasn't trying hard enough to reach beneficiaries before letting their coverage lapse. Consumer advocates fear that could happen again.
Drugmakers will be required to pay Medicare back for price increases that outpace inflation. The industry is expected to put up a fight over implementation.
Even the savviest Medicare drug plan shoppers can get a shock when they fill prescriptions: That great deal on medications in fall is no bargain after prices go up as much as 8% by winter.
