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The Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration program began in March 2005 and ran until March 2008. The RAC program will be a permanent program and expand nationwide no later than Jan. 1, 2010.
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The ability to see that a patient was experiencing atrial flutter during a therapist's visit and arrange for an immediate visit to his doctor's office made it possible for the staff at BeyondFaith Homecare and Rehab in Lubbock, TX, to help a patient avoid a trip to the emergency department.
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One-third of the estimated 177,504 emergency department visits by elderly patients for adverse drug events were caused by warfarin, insulin, and digoxin in 2004 and 2005, says a new study.
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An analysis of decades of drug approvals, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides the first scientific evidence supporting complaints that medications approved on deadline by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are more likely to cause safety problems than drugs approved prior to a deadline date.
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With more than $370 million in overpayments identified in fiscal year 2007 by auditors in the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) demonstration project, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designated the project a success and is making plans to expand the program beyond the three states in the demonstration project.
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As health insurance costs escalate and employers reduce coverage for employees, raise deductibles, or stop providing health insurance altogether, hospitals are providing care for an increasing number of patients who have no means to pay.
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When patients are medically ready to leave the acute care hospital and have no coverage for post-acute care, it's a "no-brainer" for the hospital to pay to move the patient to a lower level of care, says Jay Cayner, director of social patient and family services at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
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Two Duke University Medical Center researchers tackle the question "Is it ethical to conduct clinical trials with patients in a hospice environment?" in the Feb. 4, 2008, "Professional Issues" section of the American Medical News web site.
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This phase II placebo-controlled trial showed a dramatic benefit from rituximab in preventing clinical relapses, as well as new MRI lesions, in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
