"Powerful New Tool" For AIDS Is Reported In Science
...at the earliest time. We anticipate that potential beneficiaries will include AIDS, cancer, osteoporosis, heart patients and others." "The implications of the technology's capability to quickly and accurately monitor the status and progress of this disease in real time are significant", said Joseph Adlerstein, P...Forum Urges Medicare Reform To Emphasize Health Promotion
...e to pay for more expensive medical procedures for beneficiaries who become sick." Dr. Stone, who presently...tant to consider secondary prevention for Medicare beneficiaries who are chronically disabled. Maintenance rehabilitation, for example, can help improve functioning ......s. This studyfound a similar benefit for Medicare beneficiaries 65 years old or older. Patients in the study receiving beta-blocker therapy at the time of dischargehad a 14 percent lower risk of death at one year after discharge. The study also showed the influence of the hospital as an appropriatesetti...Reduced Heart Disease Risk In Middle Age Lowers Eventual Medicare Costs
...inistration(HCFA) charges for services to Medicare beneficiaries were used to estimateaverage annual health care costs (adjusted for age and inflation) for allconditions, cardiovascular conditions and cancer. Costs were compared over an11-year period for men and women with favorable risk factors vs. those withunfa...Low "Health Literacy" Increases Hospitalizations
...gs have broad implications for millions ofMedicare beneficiaries and the Medicare program itself, citing the 1993 NationalAdult Literacy Survey that classified 44 percent of adults aged 65 and older asfunctionally illiterate. "There were approximately 16 million functionally illiterate Medicarebeneficiarie...For-profit hospital ownership means higher costs, Dartmouth-VA study finds
...status, they note. Comparing spending for Medicare beneficiaries over a six-year period, theDartmouth researchers found that per capita spending was greater and rose fasterin areas where for-profit hospitals predominated. Furthermore, spending inareas where hospitals converted to for-profit ownership grew faster ...Claims-based measurement shows many Medicare patients do not receive necessary care
...n from inpatient and outpatient claims of Medicare beneficiaries detects substantial underuse of necessary care, wh...om 345,253 randomly selected elderly U.S. Medicare beneficiaries in 1994-1996. "When we applied the system to Medicare claims data, our results suggested that under...Welfare to work does not improve mental health
...s to the children, who are intended to be the real beneficiaries of income support. "Evaluating the consequences of welfare reform on children should not preclude studying the effects that these regulations will have on the mothers' well-being," Kneipp said. "Obviously, more research needs to be done." In ...Surprising findings on Medicaid kids and the ER
...Medicaid claims data from 2000, when most Medicaid beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care plans. Two companion studies, led by pediatric emergency medicine specialist Rachel M. Stanley, M.D., were based on interviews with 422 adults who accompanied children on visits to 13 Michigan ERs for low-urgency complai...First quarter 2002 prescription drug spending: Higher again, but rate of increase drops
... coverage for Medicaid recipients and for Medicare beneficiaries receiving drug coverage through Medicare Plus Choice plans, data from these two groups are excluded from the study. The resulting samples of 3 million members in each of the years 2000 and 2001 consist of about two-thirds non-managed care commercial...Mad hatters, seafood jubilees, & Pfiesteria Files
...y summer, residents of Mobile Bay, Alabama are the beneficiaries of a seafood "jubilee." Certain conditions bring crabs, flounder and other bottom-dwelling creatures to the water's surface in a phenomenon called a "jubilee." The result is an abundance of seafood that is easy to catch and enjoy. "Jubilees" may ...Retiree drug costs will remain steep under house plan, Emory study shows
...ed constitute a major shock. Indeed, many Medicare beneficiaries who incur high drug expenses may expect that the H...be the case. Indeed, nearly 50 percent of Medicare beneficiaries will still face annual out-of-pocket liabilities that average over $2,750 per year." The Senate is c...Medicare+Choice bills may stop exodus of plans, but are not likely to expand enrollment in HMOs
...with Medicare coverage only, raising the number of beneficiaries with no coverage for drugs and other supplemental services to 6.5 million from 5 million. The authors analyze M+C payment rates and likely enrollment through 2005 under four different policy options. President Bush's M+C proposal would yield a stabl...Disabled seniors formerly on SSDI hit hardest by drug costs
... formerly on SSDI are poorer than Medicare's other beneficiaries and have fewer opportunities for private prescript...of the Medicare population in 1998. Disabled aged beneficiaries spent almost $1300 on drugs that year. Between 1995 and 1998 prescription spending among all Medicar...Survey: Medicare gets higher marks from enrollees than private insurance
BETHESDA, MD-Elderly Medicare beneficiaries are 2.7 times more likely than enrollees in employ...tion, access, and security experienced by Medicare beneficiaries mean that would-be Medicare reformers need to be cautious if they want to make the program more like...Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions 99 times more likely to be hospitalized
Medicare beneficiaries with four or more chronic conditions such as asthm...s. "Our research shows that 82 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition, 65 percent have multiple chronic conditions and account for 95 ...Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet Nov. 19, 2002
...). Researchers took data on 12,038 female Medicare beneficiaries who were at least 69 years old and received a new diagnosis of breast cancer between 1995 and 1996. They found that, in general, women 75 years or older had larger tumors at diagnosis and were less likely to have had screening mammography than 69-74 ...Competition among Medicare health plans not a cure-all
...expanding the program to rural areas, and offering beneficiaries more benefits and choices. Program enrollment was ...tors to support private plans or competition; that beneficiaries don't have an incentive to change plans unless there are better benefits; and that market instabilit...Government regulations contribute to medical debt of uninsured and underinsured
...eral law prohibits providers from billing Medicare beneficiaries at a different rate from other patients, which pro...ent fees, and the efforts to collect from Medicare beneficiaries must be the same as efforts to collect from non-Medicare patients. Hospitals may be uncertain about ...Trends in private Medicare+Choice plans provide warnings for Medicare debate
...s debates Medicare proposals that would shift more beneficiaries into private insurance plans, legislators may firs...ontract with managed care plans. Only 13% of rural beneficiaries have an option of joining a Medicare+Choice plan. Lesson #2: Premiums and benefits vary greatly b...