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Experts Urge Revamping Of Long-Term Medicare Funding Mechanisms
Health policy experts see a major revamp of the long-term Medicare funding mechanisms as a critical part of health reform. Reuters reports that "Recent industry deals to accept lower costs for the Medicare health program are a first step in health care reform but more substantial payment changes will be needed to shore up the ailing system in the long-term and improve patient care. ... But some experts worry that much of the healthcare reform debate so far has focused on short-term cost cuts. Yet to be tackled is how to restructure incentives and payments to drive doctors, hospitals and others away from frequent, expensive treatments to more efficient, higher-quality care." Reuters reports on several efforts for long-term cost cutting: "One fundamental reform seen as badly needed is to link doctors" pay to improving their patients" health, rather than for each office visit, procedure or hospital admission. That approach would give providers one so-called "bundled" payment to cover a greater portion of a patient"s care. The U.S. healthcare overhaul should also boost payments for primary care. ... In the current system, specialists tend to take home the biggest payments."
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Melatonin - The Fountain Of Youth?
Melatonin can slow down the effects of aging. A team at laboratoire Arago in Banyuls sur Mer (CNRS / Universitç© Pierre et Marie Curie) has found that a treatment based on melatonin can delay the first signs of aging in a small mammal. These results appeared in the journal PLoS ONE on 15 June 2009.
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Upcoming Health IT Decisions Could Spell Success Or Failure
"An unprecedented effort to computerize the nation"s hospitals and physician offices could be the key to reducing crippling health care costs - or a giveaway to technology vendors whose sales will be subsidized by taxpayers," the Dallas Morning News reports. The $45 billion, stimulus-funded effort in question could help reduce costs by cutting into the country"s $37.6 billion in medical errors each year, for instance. But, if requirements for providers seeking stimulus funding are too strict, the program could turn into "a bonanza for software vendors."
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Wall Street Journal Examines Patients' Confusion Over Coverage Of Preventive Exams

As employers increasingly offer no-cost preventive care as a means of controlling health costs, some people under such plans are being charged for services not deemed preventive by the insurer, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 72% of large employers in 2009 cover 100% of preventive care -- such as physicals, colonoscopies or mammograms -- for employees, an increase from 55% of large companies in 2008. The Journal reports that the charges often result from billing errors or from a physician"s office being unaware of an insurer"s procedures. Charges that are the result of billing errors often can be reversed. However, others -- such as a test or treatment not being defined by the insurer as preventive -- force some patients to "wage a protracted battle" to get the charges reversed, according to the Journal. When unexpected charges appear on patients" bills, physicians and employers often receive complaints but they have little control over how insurers classify treatments. The Journal reports that patients can prevent being charged for preventive services by checking with their insurer before seeking care; asking for specific, covered screenings and treatments at physicians" offices; reviewing explanation of benefits forms supplied by insurers; asking supervisors at insurers to review disputed claims; and seeking help from employees in company human re departments (Wilde Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 5/21). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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