Amid your daily workload and the whir of summer, a couple birthdays may have slipped by you. I’m speaking of the 45th anniversaries of Medicare and Medicaid.
MedPAC idea could be bad for nursing homes
By
Liza Berger
May 27, 2009
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) recently introduced legislation that would make the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) part of the executive branch. The proposal is at once both logical and worrisome....
An unwelcome gift from MedPAC
By
Liza Berger
Dec 16, 2009
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! What has Santa brought you this year? The usual: A preliminary recommendation to freeze Medicare rates for the following year.
Bill protects nursing home market basket
By
Liza Berger
Sep 16, 2009
It’s not perfect, but the $856 billion, 10-year bill released today cuts nursing homes some slack. To be specific, the bill, which was released by the Senate Finance Committee, would not reduce the...
Healthcare to miss Kennedy
By
Liza Berger
Aug 26, 2009
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who died late Tuesday at 77, shepherded pivotal healthcare legislation through Congress. His best accomplishment may have been yet to come, according to the leader of a major...
Seniors take Medicare cuts seriously
By
Liza Berger
Aug 11, 2009
Lawmakers should have seen it coming. When they proposed cutting Medicare by the billions over the next decade they should have suspected that seniors would rise up to protest. And that’s exactly what...
What a year it was for nursing homes!
By
Liza Berger
Dec 29, 2010
It’s too bad that 2010 should end with a damning report about Medicare overbilling. It’s not exactly the best way for nursing home providers to greet the new year.
The road to the RUG-IV-related repeal
By
Liza Berger
Dec 10, 2010
Some good news—and just in time for the holidays. Nursing home providers can ring in 2011 knowing that residents will not be denied Medicare Part B outpatient therapy and the RUG-IV system won’t...
Congress slow to act on Medicaid funding
By
Liza Berger
Jul 22, 2010
It must be summer. How do I know? Congress is dragging its heels on an important piece of legislative business.
Healthcare flare-up on campaign trail
By
Liza Berger
May 19, 2008
Things are heating up on the campaign trail, and I guess we can be grateful that healthcare is emerging as a new source of political offensives. On Saturday, Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama (IL)...