While the Obama administration is encouraging uninsured Americans to enroll in health coverage on the new online insurance marketplaces, federal officials are planning a campaign to persuade millions of seniors to please stay away — don't call and don't sign up. "We want to reassure Medicare beneficiaries that they are already covered, their benefits are not changing and the marketplace doesn't require them to do anything," said Michele Patrick, Medicare's deputy director for communications. To reinforce the message, the 2014 Medicare & You handbook — the 100-plus-page guide that will be sent to 52 million Medicare beneficiaries next month.
The hospital in Boscobel lost $2.7 million from 2009 to 2011. The hospitals in Prairie du Chien, Viroqua and Waupun made $8 million to $14.5 million those years, with operating margins above the national average. All of those hospitals are among 42 rural hospitals in Wisconsin that could lose special Medicare payments under a proposal this month by a federal fiscal watchdog agency. A more limited proposal by the Obama administration would affect eight of the state's 58 designated rural hospitals. The broader proposal, by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General, would strip special payment status from two-thirds of the nation's 1,328 critical access hospitals — those not considered to be in remote areas, including the 42 hospitals in Wisconsin.
Most Americans believe residents -- doctors in training who work at teaching hospitals -- put in far fewer hours than they actually do, a new survey has found. And people also told the pollsters they would want to know if the doctor treating them has been on the job for 24 hours so they could ask for a different caregiver. Dr. Charles Czeisler of Brigham and Women's Hospital and his colleagues report today on a telephone survey that asked people how many hours they thought resident physicians worked in a single shift and over the course of a week.
Gov. Terry Branstad filed a waiver request with federal officials on Friday, seeking expedited approval for a statewide program to expand access to health care for thousands of lower-income Iowans. "Our plan passed with bipartisan support and is designed to increase access, drive personal health ownership, and reform our health care delivery program to pay for quality, not quantity, of health care delivered," Branstad said in a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Kathleen Sebelius. The legislation approved by Iowa lawmakers in May creates a new public health care program for individuals earning up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level and fully subsidizes the purchase of private insurance for those making up to 138 percent.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, acknowledged Sunday that his push to defund Obamacare - even if it means shutting down the federal government in the process - still lacks the votes to succeed in the Senate. "We do not have the votes right now," he said on CNN. "We need 41 Republicans in the Senate or we need 218 Republicans in the House." And to reach that threshold, Cruz admitted, it will take a "grassroots tsunami" pushing legislators to stand strong against the health-care reform law, come what may.
Nashville-based Community Health Systems is partnering with the Cleveland Clinic to buy up the majority of Akron General Health System in Summit County, marking the latest in a wave of hospital mergers and acquisitions that are changing the Northeast Ohio healthcare landscape. A relationship established earlier this year between CHS and the Clinic laid the groundwork for the Akron General deal, announced today through a non-binding letter of intent. CHS will be the majority owner of Akron General if it is finalized. The CHS-Clinic partnership, announced in March, was designed to expand the Clinic's national reach and improve efficiency among the more than 130 hospitals that CHS operates nationwide.