Medicare

Drug Overdose Deaths; Tracking Opioid Prescribers

Kristin Gourlay — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:03:36 +0000

Opioids are narcotic painkillers, and they include popular drugs with brand names like OxyContin, Vicodin, and Demerol. Heroin is another. And while the former have eased the pain of many, all of these drugs are potential killers. They're incredibly addictive. And prescription drug overdose deaths, according to what many health care providers and experts tell me, have reached epidemic status in Rhode Island.

New Hospital Price Data Helps, But What About Quality?

Kristin Gourlay — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:08:29 +0000

You may have heard news yesterday that the federal government has released a greater level of detail on the prices hospitals charge for a list of common procedures and how widely those prices vary - not only from state to state but within states, and even within the same city. The data comes from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (or CMS), from 3000 hospitals nationwide.

What it meant: health care in the State of the Union

Kristin Gourlay — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:10:57 +0000

In last night's State of the Union address, President Barack Obama mentioned health care five times (by my count). One, later in the address, referred to making sure military veterans get the mental health care they need. The other mentions had to do with Medicare: as the nation ages, it's the biggest contributor to our nation's deficit.

Here's what he said:

Paying for graduate medical education: what experts say

Kristin Gourlay — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This morning, you might have heard the next in our Future Docs series, which looks at a projected doctor shortage and how graduate medical education funding could staunch or deepen that shortage.

Sen. Whitehouse: spare Medicare, reform the system

Kristin Gourlay — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:40:11 +0000

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) published an op-ed on Politico Tuesday urging President Obama not to agree to any Medicare cuts in the fiscal cliff negotiations. The reason: reforming the health care system, including the way we deliver and pay for health care, will add up to all the savings we need.

Whitehouse writes:

Primary Care and Graduate Medical Education Funding: A New Model?

Kristin Gourlay — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:29:17 +0000

A new study in the journal Academic Medicine provides one of the first looks at a program created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to train more primary care doctors. It’s a pretty different model than the traditional one, where the government, through Medicare, makes payments to teaching hospitals to help fund graduate medical education (like a residency program for doctors-in-training).

Graduate Medical Education Funding Showdown?

Kristin Gourlay — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:00:00 +0000

The Association of American Medical Colleges has launched a new ad campaign, running in newspapers near the sites of upcoming presidential debates, calling for an increase in funding for graduate medical education. The group is trying to draw attention to what it sees as a crisis in the making: the current limit on the number of federally funded residency programs could, it says, lead to doctor shortages. It's just the latest in a series of movements on the GME front.

Medicare + Social Security loom large in CD1 race between Cicilline and Doherty

Ian Donnis — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:45:40 +0000

As part of his effort to separate himself from congressional Republicans, Brendan Doherty held a news conference outside Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket this morning. He offered what his campaign calls, via news release, an “ironclad pledge”:

KHN breaks down Medicare cuts

Kristin Gourlay — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Confused by that number you keep hearing from the candidates in connection with Medicare – $716 billion dollars? Who’s cutting what? Which side is right? Kaiser Health News‘ Mary Agnes Carey cuts through the campaign clutter for you with an excellent FAQ.

Sorting through recent Medicare buzz

Kristin Gourlay — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:00:00 +0000

There’s a lot of buzz about Medicare, the nation’s health insurance program for seniors and the disabled, right now. I wonder how Rhode Island’s Medicare recipients are reading all of this. Confusion? Concern? Here are some of the stories I’ve been following and my best effort at sorting fact from fiction: