Some Medical Practices Move To Monthly Membership Fees For Patients
These new plans cut out insurance policies and offer unlimited access to doctors and nurse practitioners for a modest, set fee.
Health Industry
3,641 - 3,660 of 3,871 Results
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Younger, Disabled Medicare Beneficiaries Have Trouble Getting Supplementary Insurance
Federal law does not guarantee beneficiaries under the age of 65 the right to buy Medigap coverage and even when they do qualify for a plan, it is often prohibitively expensive.
By Susan Jaffe -
Opinion Column
Fixing America’s Health Care Reimbursement System
Addressing the current system by which physician payment is determined is a challenge that demands attention beyond the physician community. It will take the influence of businesses and patient advocates who bear the brunt of the nation's skyrocketing health care costs.
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Ariz. Medicaid Cuts Spur Debate Over Impact On Providers
Doctors and hospitals raise concerns that reducing eligibility may spur ER crowding and premium increases, but experience in Missouri shows less dire consequences.
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Helping Patients Understand Their Medical Treatment
Consumers are increasingly expected to manage their complex regimens but that is especially challenging for those who don't have the ability to comprehend health information.
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Insurance Trade-Off: Reducing Premiums By Eliminating Expensive Doctors, Hospitals
Some insurers are offering consumers a hefty break if they pay more out-of-pocket when they use certain high-cost providers in their network or are cutting the providers from the coverage.
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Regulators Penalize Some Maryland Hospitals For Complication Rates
A Maryland program to curb hospital infection rates is showing signs of success, but nine hospitals still fell short last year and were penalized a total of $2.1 million.
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When Care Is Split Between Medicare And Medicaid: KHN Interview With Melanie Bella
Melanie Bella heads the new federal office that seeks to help people whose coverage is often fragmented because they qualify for both programs and to save the government money by streamlining that coverage.
By Joanne Kenen -
States Pushing Managed Long-Term Care For Elderly And Disabled Medicaid Patients
Some patient advocates, as well as the nursing home industry, object to using managed care for such vulnerable patients, but health plans say they can provide quality services while holding down costs.
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How Group Health Is Holding Costs Down: A KHN Interview With CEO Scott Armstrong
One of the lesser-known provisions of the new health law calls for federal loans to help fund health cooperatives. Scott Armstrong, the CEO of Group Health, says that co-ops can improve patient care and contain costs.
By Bara Vaida -
Opinion Column
The Politics Of Scarcity
The nation's leaders must slog through the complexities and ideologies of the current political landscape in order to craft solutions that will shore up the American safety net and protect its weakest citizens.
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Some Doctors Dispute Benefits Of Early Diagnosis
Dartmouth researchers argue that ordering screenings for people with no symptoms too often leads to costly treatment for people who would likely never have gotten sick.
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Blumenthal To Leave Obama’s Health IT Office
Harvard researcher paved the way for a $27 billion effort to push doctors and hospitals into the digital age.
By Christopher Weaver and Phil Galewitz -
Should Infertility Treatment Be Considered Essential?
Currently, policies provide only skimpy coverage for these services, which are often expensive. But this is an issue that regulators are wrestling with as they determine what conditions should be included in plans under the health law.
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Opinion Column
Quit The RUC
Abandoning and replacing the American Medical Association's Relative Value Scale Update Committee -- a panel that offers recommendations to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on physician reimbursement policy -- would be an important first step toward re-stabilizing the nation's primary care physician supply the U.S. health system.
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Insurer and Hospital System: Why Can’t We Be Friends?
In North Carolina's Research Triangle, two forces so often at odds -- a major health care system and the region's dominant insurer -- announced that they would work together in the interest of better, cheaper medicine.
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Hospitals Try New Approaches To Curb Emergency Department Crowding
Officials are shaking up procedures with some hospitals abandoning traditional ER beds and cubicles, shifting patients more quickly to medical units and taking over underused hospital space.
By Joanne Kenen -
Primary Care A Compelling Mission For Harvard Medical School Student
As part of an occasional series, First Person, Ishani Ganguli writes that medical school students like her have the opportunity to help the health care system by choosing to become primary care physicians.
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Digital Divide Threatens Health Care
In a story from The Center For Public Integrity, experts worry low-income clinics cannot afford the electronic health records that others can and will fall behind as a result, potentially missing the Obama administration's goal of going digital in the next five years.
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Insurers Clash With Hospitals And Doctors Over ACO Rules
Powerful interests that are supposed to create and run the health law's new accountable care organizations are fighting over what the rules governing ACOs should say.
By Jordan Rau