Fewer U.S. patients are traveling abroad for non-emergency medical procedures, such as hip replacements or cosmetic surgery, because of the recession. From 2007 to 2009, the number of Americans traveling abroad for elective medical procedures is expected to have fallen as much as 13.6%, according to a report by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Rising transportation costs and decreased consumer incomes and savings probably contributed to the fall in medical tourism, the report says.
An insurance contract dispute could mean that thousands of people won't be able to use Atlanta-based Grady Hospital for medical treatment in a few weeks. Grady Health System, which runs the hospital, will no longer participate in the Peach State Health Plan Network. Officials said while the contract between the state and Grady ends, patients can continue to receive services at Grady Hospital until the end of the year. Officials said they've been in talks for months, but no agreement was reached.
New Medicare rules designed to reduce waste and fraud in medical-equipment reimbursements are driving some home-oxygen suppliers out of business and leaving patients scrambling to find new providers. The new payment rules, effective Jan. 1, affect the more than one million people who rely on Medicare to pay for oxygen services, which relieve the symptoms of conditions, such as emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Under the new rules, Medicare pays suppliers at the prevailing rate—an average of $200 a month, paid 80% by Medicare, 20% by patients—for the first three years after a patient begins coverage. Suppliers are then required to continue providing oxygen services to patients for an additional two years, but at a sharply reduced payment rate. After that, patients are entitled to receive new equipment, and Medicare will resume paying suppliers at the higher rate.
In the campaign to broaden support for the overhaul of American healthcare, few arguments have packed as much rhetorical punch as the there-but-for-the-grace-of-God notion that average families, through no fault of their own, are going bankrupt because of medical debt. The health reform legislation moving through Congress would attack the problem in numerous ways.
It has been a tough 10 years for corporate America, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the nation's biggest healthcare firms. Examine the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and you'll find, on average, those companies will end the decade with slightly lower profits. But the healthcare companies in the index have been anything but the norm. Data compiled by MarketWatch show that the 52 healthcare companies in the index are about to close out the decade with average profits that nearly tripled. That level of money-making seems unlikely to change soon, even if lawmakers pass the legislation that's working its way through Congress. Experts say there aren't many reform proposals that would take a significant bite out of healthcare profits.
A group of part-time community college instructors filed a lawsuit against the commonwealth of Massachusetts, saying that hundreds of adjunct faculty in the state's public higher education system are unfairly denied healthcare coverage. The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of five instructors, follows nearly a decade of unsuccessful wrangling with state legislators to get an adjunct health insurance bill enacted into law. It also comes as schools, particularly community colleges, are increasingly turning to adjuncts amid burgeoning enrollment.