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How can Medi-Cal swallow a 10% cut?Medi-Cal cuts force hard choice on small Inland pharmacies: Patients' health or business's
Riverside Press Enterprise - 07-18-2008 - California pharmacists are turning away some Medi-Cal patients whose prescriptions now cost more to fill than the state will cover. On July 1, the state implemented 10 percent across-the-board Medi-Cal payment cuts to most health care providers, including pharmacists, to save the state money and reduce its multibillion-dollar deficit. As a result, pharmacists started losing money on some Medi-Cal patients' prescriptions... "It's a no-win situation for everyone," said Gnanadev, who also is president-elect of the California Medical Association, the professional organization that represents doctors statewide. "It is a serious issue because people are not going to get the treatments their doctors prescribe."
Medicare to pay bonuses for e-prescribing
Washington Post - 07-22-2008 - Beginning in 2009, doctors can earn additional money from Medicare if they use electronic prescribing systems, U.S. health officials have announced. The bonus program will continue for four years, and is designed to streamline the prescription process and cut down on errors. In 2009 and 2010, Medicare will give doctors an additional 2% bonus on top of their fee for e-prescribing. In 2011 and 2012, the bonus will drop to 1%, and in 2013, the bonus will drop again to 0.5%, officials said.
Health officials back move away from handwritten doctors' prescriptions
Chicago Tribune (AP) - 07-21-2008 - Those hard-to-read scribbled prescriptions from doctors could soon become a rarity. Beginning Jan. 1, the federal government will boost Medicare's payments to doctors that send prescriptions electronically to a pharmacy rather than writing them out on paper and handing them to the patient. The widespread adoption of electronic prescribing is expected to save taxpayers as much as $156 million over the next five years and save lives, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Monday.
Doctors often unaware of defibrillator guidelines
New Orleans Times-Picayune - 07-22-2008 - Doctors at Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center contend that few patients who could benefit from implantable defibrillators are getting the devices because their family doctors might not know when to recommend them. Studies have shown that as many as 80% of patients satisfying current guidelines for having an ICD implanted are not getting them.
Trial for Vaccine Against H.I.V. Is Canceled
New York Times - 07-18-2008 - Plans for a large human trial of a promising government-developed H.I.V. vaccine in the United States were canceled Thursday because a top federal official said scientists realized that they did not know enough about how H.I.V. vaccines and the immune system interact. The decision is a major setback in an effort to develop an H.I.V. vaccine that began 24 years ago when government health officials promised a marketed vaccine by 1987. Health officials have long contended that such a vaccine would be their best weapon to control the AIDS pandemic.
House bill seeks to speed up adoption of health IT systems
American Medical News - 07-28-2008 - A new bill moving through the U.S. House of Representatives aims to speed development of a nationwide electronic health record infrastructure, but some critics say the measure lacks the necessary funding and patient-privacy protections. The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to vote on the $575 million legislation this summer. A subcommittee approved the measure by voice vote in late June.
A Locally Grown Diet With Fuss but No Muss
New York Times - 07-22-2008 - Call them the lazy locavores — city dwellers who insist on eating food grown close to home but have no inclination to get their hands dirty. Mr. Paque is typical of a new breed of business owner serving their needs.
Exiling the Happy Meal
Wall Street Journal - 07-22-2008 - Despite its health-crazy reputation, parts of Los Angeles are plagued by obesity rates that rival any city in America. Now, the city may join a growing roster of local governments aiming to put their residents on diets by cracking down on the fast-food industry.
Jan Perry, a Los Angeles city-council member, is spearheading legislation that would ban new fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and KFC from opening in a 32-square-mile chunk of the city, including her district. The targeted area is already home to some 400 fast-food restaurants, she says, possibly contributing to high obesity rates there -- 30% of adults, compared with about 21% in the rest of the city. Nationally, 25.6% of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Medicare Moves
To Limit Costs
In Drug Plans
Wall Street Journal - 07-22-2008 - Medicare is trying to curb an opaque industry practice that inflates what some older and disabled people pay for medicines under the federal insurance program's prescription-drug plan. Medicare Part D, introduced in 2006 to extend drug coverage to beneficiaries, is provided through private health-insurance companies. Many insurers in turn contract with so-called pharmacy-benefit managers to administer their plans. Among other functions, these PBMs negotiate lower drug prices with pharmacies. But some companies, under a practice allowed by Medicare, then charge a higher price to health insurers and, ultimately, the government.
