Medicare news from FierceHealthFinance
News
IRS will honor medical resident FICA refund claims before April 1, 2005
Medical residents are excepted from FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) taxes based on the student exception for tax periods ending before April 1, 2005, when new regulations became effective,... Read more...
States want federal government to pay for 'dual eligibles'
In an attempt to reduce healthcare costs for states, New York Gov. David Paterson is gathering support for a plan that would shift the responsibility of costs for the elderly poor strictly to the... Read more...
Florida shares RAC battle stories
Wondering what it will be like to bear the full force of the Recovery Audit Contractor program? Florida hospital execs can tell you; they've already been with the program for three years as part of... Read more...
Unpaid hospital bills stacked up in 2008
By Emily Paulsen and Dan Bowman Uncompensated care totaled $36.4 billion on 2008, an increase of 7.1 percent from 2007, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association. However, the... Read more...
Moody's: Urban hospitals face downgrades if Medicare funding is cut
One of the big fears hospitals face under reform is that Medicare rates will drop to even lower levels, worsening an already-difficult situation. That prospect also worries analysts at Moody's... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Federal budget head says reform won't add to deficit
White House budget director Peter Orszag is denying that the healthcare reform effort will add to the deficit, telling a recent Wall Street Journal conference that next year's budget will help to... Read more...
Bill would let Medicare delay payments when fraud, waste suspected
Right now, Medicare is in the business of paying claims whether it likes them or not. In fact, as current federal law is written, CMS must pay Medicare claims promptly even if officials think fraud... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Senate bill's failure threatens Medicare physician payment reform
Physicians had pinned their hopes on a clause in the Senate reform bill that would have repealed the existing Medicare payment system, essentially freezing pay rates for a decade. With the defeat of... Read more...
Physician profiling could save Medicare dollars, CMS says
CMS may join the ranks of the private insurance industry by using a "profiling" method to monitor physician use of Medicare resources. Docs whose patients overuse Medicare resources needlessly could... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Dems' reform bill pegged at $871
So, House Democratic leaders have a health reform bill in hand this week, and it looks like the cost would be ab out $871 billion. The measure would include a public option plan paying at rates tied... Read more...
