About 27% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are Black, Latino or Asian, versus 17% of traditional Medicare enrollees, according to a report conducted by ATI Advisory and commissioned by the Better Medicare Alliance.
For breast cancer, 20.5% of patients received a screening in the year prior to being on Medicare, compared to 30.4% in the first year of being on Medicare, according to an Epic Research report. For colorectal cancer, screening rates jumped from 6% in the year before being on Medicare to 11% in the first year of being on Medicare.
The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act would expand Medicare coverage for obesity screenings, treatments and therapies like anti-obesity medications. The Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease came out in favor of the bill and asked for swift passage.
On average, Medicare households spent 15% of their total spending on health-related expenses in 2021, versus 7% for non-Medicare households, according to a new KFF report.
Over the past decade, a significant percentage of the country’s physicians have shifted from working in private practices (defined as those owned wholly by physicians) to working in bigger, health system-owned practices. The ability to negotiate higher payment rates with insurers when working at a larger practice is a crucial factor causing this trend, according to a new AMA analysis.
CMS recently revealed its proposals to raise reimbursement rates for hospital outpatient departments and cut payments for physicians. Next year, the agency is planning to decrease physicians’ pay by 1.25% and increase outpatient payment rates by 2.8%. Provider groups are unhappy with the news — AMA President Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld said the new physician fee schedule will be “almost biblical in its impact.”
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The average income of a traditional Medicare enrollee is $85,085, versus $76,720 for a Medicare Advantage enrollee, according to a whitepaper done in partnership between Harvard Medical School and software solutions company Inovalon.
In 2018, there were 41.5 high-risk medications per 1,000 beneficiaries for Medicare Advantage, compared to 56.9 high-risk medications per 1,000 beneficiaries for traditional Medicare, a new study found.
Lawsuits filed in opposition to the White House's drug pricing negotiation program are beginning to mount, but legal experts agree that the plaintiffs’ arguments probably won’t hold up during a court battle. However, these lawsuits still could delay when the government's ability to negotiate price goes into effect.
Twelve short years ago I was a single mother, pregnant and surviving off of food stamps where I relied on the support of the SNAP program. Now, I’ve been given the opportunity to build a platform where I can give a voice to those in similar positions that I once was in and advocate for their needs.
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
Medical schools and residency training programs push trainees away from primary care and make primary care seem less prestigious. Medicare is the largest payer of graduate medical education, so Medicare could require additional outpatient primary care training in residency to encourage Family and Internal Medicine trainees to enter outpatient primary care, where the need is critical.
A new KFF analysis showed that Medicare spending per person increased to $15,700 in 2022 from $5,800 in 2000, representing a 4.6% average annual growth.
Medicare is failing its beneficiaries by not treating obesity as a disease. Just like people with high blood pressure often need to take medications to avoid disease-related complications, people with obesity need access to all appropriate, evidence-based therapies to combat the disease.
Out of the $1 billion in Medicare payments to providers for psychotherapy services in the first year of Covid-19, $580 million were improper payments, an audit by the Office of Inspector General found. This includes $348 million for telehealth services.
Out of 59.82 million people with Medicare Part A and Part B in January 2023, 30.19 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, the Kaiser Family Foundation found in a recent analysis.
