How Needle-Exchange Programs Work

Needle exchange programs have been able to reduce the spread of of HIV/AIDS among drug users. The Federal government bans funding of these programs even though they've been proven effective. Learn how these programs work in this short video from the Wall Street Journal.



Do you think that the Federal government should support these programs? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

New rating system fo nursing homes

A new five star rating system for nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid is now in use. An algorithm rates the composite value of the nursing home by judging health inspection results, nurse staffing data, and quality measures. Over 15,800 nursing homes have been evaluated. Read more here at Emax Health.

Personal Health Records pilot launching in Arizona and Utah

According to Exam Health, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services will be launching a new pilot program in Arizona and Uta called "Medicare Choice Personal Health Records." This program, new to Medicare beneficiaries, will regularly update existing health records with Medicare claims. For more on the program, read here.

Report Finds People Living on Unemployment Benefits Can't Afford COBRA

ABC's Lisa Stark reported today that most unemployed individuals and families are unable to afford the COBRA coverage for health insurance. COBRA allows laid-off workers to continue with their employee-provided health insurance. Many times this health insurance is far too costly to continue as making housing and food payments come first in the family budget. According to the article, Families USA found that workers nationwide would have to spend an average of 30 percent of their unemployment check to pay for insurance coverage for an individual, and an astonishing 84 percent of their unemployment check for health insurance for a family.

What do you think can be done to reduce the cost of this coverage? Will Daschle's appointment foster in a new wave of health insurance reform? Share your thoughts.

Daschle & Gupta: U.S. Healthcare Dream Team?

Pia Sawhney's article on The Huffington Post discusses how our health care may or may not be saved by Tom Daschle and newly appointed Surgeon General Dr. Sanjay Gupta. With President-Elect Obama's Universal Healthcare on the table, many are wondering just how much influence these new appointees with have on United States Healthcare. Read what she has to say and form your own thoughts. We'd love to hear your comments and suggestions for the state of health care in the U.S. please post here!

Health officials propose new rules for PET scans

PET scans, which can be used to help determine a course of treatment for cancer patients, may soon be allowed to be used more often. Currently PET scans are covered; however, patients and doctors must enroll in a special registry. The new proposal would allow for patients to undergo one treatment without having to enroll. Breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma will, however, not be covered by this new proposal. Read more here.

New York hospitals accused of Medicare fraud

According to Fierce Health Care, seven New York hospitals have been accused of Medicare fraud. In total the fraud amounts to $50 million as a result of paying kickbacks to get more patients into treatment programs.

One of the hospitals is accused of paying people to search homeless shelters for patients to stay three days in detox. Worse still, the seven hospitals involved were part of a government treatment program, but they didn't have a state license as required.

U.S. Healthcare Spending Slows

With the rocky economy, more individuals and families are spending less on healthcare coverage and costs. The LATimes covers this stating that, the mild slowdown -- due in part to less growth in drug spending -- was a rare bit of good news as Washington policymakers begin to debate how to reshape the nation's healthcare system, a top priority of congressional Democrats and the new administration.

So good news may come out of this minor slow down. What areas of healthcare do you think are slowing the most?

Do you think we'll see a rise in healthcare in 2009? We'd like to hear your thoughts.

PHR Now Available to Arizona and Utah Seniors

PHR, Personal Health Records are now available to Arizona and Utah seniors under a pilot program through Medicare. This program would allow seniors to have an outside organization (one of four) to keep their health records electronically. This program will likely reduce confusion over care and will help hospitals better serve the individual.

Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, stated in a press release, "This pilot is a major step forward for Medicare. It will provide information and tools that will empower consumers to manage their health better. Importantly, the pilot provides beneficiaries with a choice of products to meet their individual needs."

The outside organizations chosen to start the program are

• Google Health
• HealthTrio
• NoMoreClipboard.com
• PassportMD

For more information please click here.

Medicare News: California and Florida Medical Suppliers Cut Off

According to Bloomberg News, nearly 1,139 Californian and Floridian suppliers lost their billing privileges because of suspected or found fraudulent activity. These areas are a particularly prone to fraud as the prevalence of Medicare participants is higher due to an increased population of senior citizens.

Because of this rise in fraud, Medicare has started to initiatives to combat the fraud. Read here for more information on this angle.

So good news and bad news to get us started for 2009. Let's hope that the fraudulent claims and those behind such claims will be swiftly put away before they take more money from a program that serves our greatest population.