Subscribe

Health Policy

A survey of patients with cancer and caregivers about the benefits they would like Medicare to cover in their last 6 months of life uncovered large gaps with the benefits that Medicare currently offers.
San Diego, CA—Tobacco researchers and regulators lauded progress in tobacco control, but they emphasized that the health burden of tobacco use continues, reflecting the expanding list of diseases caused or exacerbated by tobacco.
In passing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, Congress had as one of its central goals the creation of new, innovative ways of paying for and delivering healthcare services. With this goal in mind, the ACA established the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which is tasked with developing new payment and service delivery models to “demo” and, if successful, to eventually roll out nationwide.
In recent years, an increasing number of drug shortages have threatened public health by reducing—if not eliminating—patient access to critical pharmaceuticals.
As the clocked ticked down to midnight on March 31, many Americans rushed to enroll in health in­surance plans made available to them through the Afford­able Care Act (ACA). Ap­proxi­mately 4.2 million people had selected a Market-place plan as of March 1, 2014, less than half of the 8.8 million who have been deemed eligible, and 60% of the 7 million people the Congress­ional Budget Office projected for this timeframe.
As medical practices planned for International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 and the im-­plementation of new diagnostic codes on October 1, 2014, practice administrators took steps to ensure that physicians and staff would be prepared.

The Affordable Care Act extends and simplifies Medicaid eligi­bility beginning January 1, 2014, by replacing Medicaid’s previous multiple categorical groupings and limitations with one simplified overarching rule: all individuals aged <65 years with incomes less than 138% of the federal poverty level ($15,415 for an individual or $26,344 for a family of 3 in 2012) who meet citizenship/lawful US status and state residency requirements are entitled to Medicaid benefits.

The US Supreme Court’s ruling on June 13 in the case of the Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics will have significant implications for the future of cancer testing, molecular diagnostics, and treatment.

Mr Margulies is an Associate, Foley Hoag, LLP, and Mr Slotnik is a Partner, Health Policy Strategies, LLC, Washington, DC

US oncologists and radiologists are waiting to see whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will reconsider its proposal to limit the use of and reimbursement for fluorodeoxy­glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scan after initial anti­cancer therapy to 1 scan in patients with solid tumors (with the exception of patients with prostate cancer, who will not be reimbursed for any FDG-PET scans).

Page 2 of 6
Results 11 - 20 of 53
  • Rheumatology Practice Management
  • American Health & Drug Benefits
  • Value-Based Cancer Care
  • Value-Based Care in Myeloma
  • Value-Based Care in Neurology