Tag: Health IT

Reporters Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating have opened Post readers’ eyes to the fact that Medicare pays for physician services -; a $69.6 billion item in 2012 -; according to an arcane and little-known price list, over which doctors themselves exercise considerable and less-than-totally-transparent influence (7/24). From: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130726/Viewpoints-Doctors-sway-over-Medicare-pay3b-hospital-rankings-not-all-they-seem3b-legal-immigrants-health-needs-overlooked.aspx

How do you spend $48 million in unbudgeted taxpayer money without getting an OK from elected lawmakers? In the District of Columbia, there’s pretty much only one way, and that’s the way Mayor Vincent C. Gray is proposing to settle a high-stakes dispute with D.C. Chartered Health Plan. Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro confirmed Wednesday that…

Federal officials remind Florida lawmakers that it is not too late to opt into the program, while in Virginia, Politico reports the issue could be decided by this fall’s gubernatorial election. Also, an Arizona push to get the issue on the ballot in November may fail because of paperwork errors and the Michigan Senate considers…

Also in the news, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is positioning himself to be the lead sponsor of legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. Meanwhile, the nursing home industry is stepping up its lobbying efforts to protect its Medicare funding. From: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130726/Two-GOP-senators-push-to-choke-off-IRS-health-law-implementation-funds.aspx