Category: Medicare

Pharmacy-Made Pain Creams Flagged On Fears Of Medicare Fraud And Risk

Inspector general identifies possible problems in nearly 23 percent of pharmacies that bill Medicare for blended creams, gels and lotions.

Pharmacy-Made Pain Creams Flagged On Fears Of Medicare Fraud And Risk

Inspector general identifies possible problems in nearly 23 percent of pharmacies that bill Medicare for blended creams, gels and lotions.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Let’s Talk Politics

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call talk about health care’s emergence as a possible voting issue in the coming midterm elections. Plus, Rovner interviews KHN’s Emmarie Huetteman about July’s “Bill of the Month”: a transgender woman’s “bait-and-switch” $92,000 surgical bill.

Some Doctors, Patients Balk At Medicare’s ‘Flat Fee’ Payment Proposal

The Trump administration says its plan to overhaul the way Medicare pays doctors will save physicians time and paperwork. But critics worry the changes will hurt patients’ care and doctors’ income.

Missed Visits, Uncontrolled Pain And Fraud: Report Says Hospice Lacks Oversight

A new government watchdog report outlines vulnerabilities in Medicare’s $17 billion hospice program, pointing to inadequate services, inappropriate billing and outright fraud.

Medicare Reconsiders Paying For Seniors’ Spine Operations At Surgery Centers

After a USA Today Network-Kaiser Health News investigation, Medicare announced last week that it is re-evaluating whether these procedures “pose a significant safety risk” to patients.

No Gaps In Understanding: Here’s Your Primer On Medigap Coverage

Seniors often don’t realize that private insurers are required to offer Medigap policies, or supplemental insurance, only when people first sign up for Medicare.

Medicare’s historic proposal to change how it pays physicians

The word “historic” is often used by PR professionals to hype something that is, well, pretty run-of-the-mill.  They figure that no one is going to read a news release that announces “[Name of organization] proposes small change that really won’t make much of a difference.”  The problem is that when something is done that really […]

Tennessee-Based Pain Management Group To Close Clinics Amid Financial Turmoil

The CEO of Comprehensive Pain Specialists was indicted in April. Now the group is closing clinics across several states.

Searching for Savings in Medicare Drug Price Negotiations

In response to higher drug spending growth and heightened attention to drug prices, some policymakers have proposed allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. This issue brief provides a short history of this proposal, describes va…