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Senate Confirms Former Nurse to Run Medicare

Posted on 05/16/2013 by | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Medicare | PoliticsBy Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A former intensive care nurse with a businesslike approach to a politically divisive public policy area won Senate approval May 15 to run Medicare and other major health insurance programs. By an overwhelming 91-7 vote, the Senate confirmed Marilyn Tavenner to oversee Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and coverage for the uninsured under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Together, the programs under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services …

New Website to Post Payments to Doctors From Health Industry

Posted on 04/23/2013 by | Health | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal Health | PoliticsBy Ankita Rao, Kaiser Health News Blog For the first time, the government will make information about financial relationships between doctors, teaching hospitals and drug manufacturers publicly available. To comply with a provision in the Affordable Care Act, drug and device manufacturers, along with group purchasing organizations, will have to disclose all of their payments and other compensation to physicians and teaching hospitals. Those who don’t comply could be fined. The information will be gathered beginning in August and disclosed by Sept. 30, …

Medicare Paid $5.1 Billion for Substandard Nursing Home Care

Posted on 03/1/2013 by | General News | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthBy Garance Burke of The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found. The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to meet federal quality of care rules in 2009, in some cases resulting in …