In nursing homes, an epidemic of poor dental hygiene

From the Well blog at the New York Times: Katherine Ford visited her father, Dean Piercy, a World War II veteran with dementia, at a nursing home in Roanoke, Va., for months before she noticed the dust on his electric toothbrush. His teeth, she found, had not been brushed recently, so she began doing it …

Data transparency at CMS

From the Health Affairs blog: Over time it has become very clear that health care today relies on sharing data to drive improvements in access and care delivery as well as control costs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has embraced the need for greater data transparency while recognizing the importance of appropriately …

Variation in Health Care Spending: Target Decision Making, Not Geography

New from the National Academies Press: Health care in the United States is more expensive than in other developed countries, costing $2.7 trillion in 2011, or 17.9 percent of the national gross domestic product. Increasing costs strain budgets at all levels of government and threaten the solvency of Medicare, the nation s largest health insurer. …

New HRSA briefs on rural health

From the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): Two new health briefs have been published focusing on rural health and Medicare. "Medicare Payments & Common Diagnoses. Review of 2009 Medicare Output Claims Data. Findings Brief #107" (ORPH00574) presents a summary profile of Medicare billing and reimbursement activity for independent and provider-based Rural Health Clinics (RHCs). It …

Nationwide Hospital Charges

On the heels of yesterday's post on U-M's analysis of its visualization activities, today's post also touches on the impacts of visualization, although on a much broader scale. The New York Times recently released an interactive data visualization map that tells you how much hospitals charge per procedure. You can search by location (state & zip code) …

Immigrants Contributed More To The Medicare Trust Fund Than They Took Out In 2002-09

From Health Affairs: In 2009 immigrants in the United States accounted for a net surplus of $13.8 billion paid into the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, while native-born Americans were responsible for depleting the fund of $30.9 billion. This finding from a study being released today as a Web First by Health Affairs, suggests that …

Medicare advantage costs often exceed traditional Medicare costs

From the Commonwealth Fund: Health plans participating in Medicare Advantage (MA), the private insurance option for Medicare beneficiaries, have long been paid considerably more to provide coverage of hospital and physician services than what the government spends to deliver the same benefits to enrollees in traditional Medicare. Under the Affordable Care Act, overpayments to these plans are …

Health Wonk Review for February

It's been a while since I've posted a Health Wonk Review--here's the latest, Waste, Warnings and the Future,  this month on healthinsurance.org.  Enjoy!

FAQ: Decoding The $716 billion in Medicare reductions

From Kaiser Health News: The structure and financing of Medicare, the federal health insurance program that serves seniors and the disabled, has become a defining issue in the presidential and congressional campaigns since GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney picked as his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey answers some frequently asked questions …

Healthcare Innovations Summit – Recap now available

On January 26, 2012, health delivery systems, physicians, innovators, policymakers, academics and venture capitalists gathered at the Care Innovations Summit in Washington, DC. More than 1,200 individuals participated in person and an additional 3,000 joined online. Hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI), and Health Affairs, …