Health insurers in several big cities will take some pain out of doctor visits this year — the financial kind. They'll offer free visits to primary care doctors in their networks. You read that right. Doctor visits without copays. Or coinsurance. And no expensive deductible to pay off first. Free. In Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and more than a dozen other markets, individuals seeking coverage from the insurance exchanges can choose health plans providing free doctor visits, an insurance benefit once considered unthinkable. The improvements are rolling out in a limited number of plans following reports that high copays and deductibles have discouraged many Americans who signed up for private coverage the past two years from using their new insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
A GOP-led effort to repeal the biggest parts of ObamaCare would cost about $42 billion less than previously expected, saving more than a half-trillion dollars over a decade, the congressional budget scorekeeper said Monday. Legislation to gut most of ObamaCare's mandates and taxes, known as Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, would reduce the deficit by $516 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill is expected to get a vote in the House this week, and it has already been approved by the Senate. President Obama has said he would veto the bill.
In hospitals, alarms on patient-monitoring devices create a cacophony of noise day and night—beeping, pinging and ringing so often that doctors and nurses ignore them, turn them off or just stop hearing them. Now, hospitals are adopting solutions to silence or eliminate unnecessary alarms, while ensuring that staffers don't miss alerts that could signal a life-threatening crisis. Smarter technology and more-precise monitoring practices are helping prevent false alarms, alert nurses to true emergencies, and identify deteriorating patients before an alarm signals a crisis. As many as 90% of alarms are false or don't require any immediate action, studies show. [Subscription Required]
As the nation's retail pharmacies move deeper into the business of providing healthcare services, they now want pharmacists to be paid by Medicare to immunize the nation's seniors. Under legislation that is gaining rare bipartisan support and momentum in the U.S. House and Senate, particularly for a Congressional health bill, pharmacists would be paid to administer vaccines under Medicare part B , which is the part of the health insurance program for elderly Americans designed to cover physician services and certain outpatient procedures. The pharmacies have formed a coalition known as "The Patient Access to Pharmacists' Care Coalition," to push for the legislation, known as the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas of Enhancement Act.
A study on doctors says Mississippi remains in last place when it comes to the number of doctors per capita but has seen a sizeable increase in student enrollment. The Clarion-Ledger reported Friday that the Association of American Medical Colleges study shows that medical and osteopathic student enrollment in Mississippi increased 137 percent over the last decade, compared 33 percent nationwide. The state has made a concerted effort in recent years to increase the number of doctors it trains. In 2005 the University of Mississippi's medical school increased enrollment, going from 100 students a year to 145.
When she first heard that California's new aid in-dying law was signed, Dr. Carin van Zyl was relieved to hear that assisted death would be an option for her if she ever needed it herself. But as a palliative care doctor at the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine, she's worried the law might lead people to consider lethal medications over other options that may better accommodate their wishes. "Patients feel as though their choices are between untreated suffering or physician-assisted suicide," she told NPR's Renee Montagne. "Palliative medicine, when it's applied skillfully and at the right time, often relieves most of the suffering that prompts people to ask for [death] in the first place," she says.