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Recession, flu increase U.S. health spending in 2009 02/04/2010
National spending for health care is projected to grow 5.7% in 2009 to $2.5 trillion, or 17.3% of gross domestic product, according to a report released today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Contributing to the increase are a 9.9% increase in Medicaid spending associated with the recession, an expected increase in the take-up rate for COBRA coverage, and treatment for the H1N1 flu. Medicare spending growth is projected to slow to 8.1% in 2009 from 8.6% in 2008, partly due to slower growth in hospital spending. In 2010, health care spending growth is expected to slow to 3.9%, 4.7% if Congress eliminates a scheduled 21.3% cut in Medicare payment rates for physicians. By 2019, national health spending is expected to reach $4.5 trillion and 19.3% of GDP. The public share of health care spending is expected to rise to 52% by 2019 from 47% in 2008.
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HHS: 2.6 million more children served by CHIP, Medicaid in 2009 02/04/2010
An estimated 2.6 million previously uninsured children have been served by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program since the CHIP Reauthorization Act was signed into law last February, the Department of Health and Human Services reported today. On the one-year anniversary, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a five-year campaign to challenge federal officials, governors, mayors, community organizations, tribal leaders and faith-based organizations to enroll the nearly 5 million children eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but not yet enrolled. As part of the challenge, HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will encourage state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (formerly the food stamp program) to work with their state Medicaid and CHIP programs to share data and identify potentially eligible children.
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CMS: Only physician fee schedule services require advanced imaging accreditation 02/04/2010
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is reassuring hospitals that they do not have to become accredited to furnish the technical component of advanced diagnostic imaging services. Some hospitals began to query CMS about the issue after the agency published a Jan. 26 notice approving three organizations to accredit suppliers of the technical component of advanced diagnostic imaging services under the Medicare physician fee schedule. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 requires these suppliers to become accredited by a designated accreditation organization by Jan. 1, 2012. The requirement does not apply to advanced imaging services paid under Medicare's hospital inpatient and outpatient prospective payment systems.
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IL Supreme Court rules state's liability reform law unconstitutional 02/04/2010
The Illinois Supreme Court today struck down the state's 2005 medical liability reform law, declaring its cap on non-economic damages unconstitutional. "The Illinois Hospital Association is disappointed that the Illinois Supreme Court has struck down critically needed medical liability reforms that were improving health care access throughout the state and restoring predictability to our broken medical liability system," said IHA President Maryjane Wurth, commenting on the court's ruling in the case (Lebron v. Gottlieb). "…This decision and its dire repercussions for the health care delivery system highlight the critical need for the President and Congress to embrace serious and meaningful medical liability reform as part of health care reform." In 2008, the AHA joined the IHA in filing an amicus brief urging the court to uphold the constitutionality of the state law.
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