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Ohio Medicaid managed to keep optional services off the table throughout the recession, despite having a "fundamentally changed" economy in the state, according to Medicaid director John McCarthy.
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The benefits of e-prescribing to patient care are often touted, but the reality is that physician practices often find some features cumbersome and unreliable, according to a new study from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) in Washington, DC.
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Several million middle class people making up to $64,000 will potentially be eligible for Medicaid in 2014, according to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
For over 20 years, tax law has generally excluded a portion of Social Security benefits from income for federal tax purposes, notes Chris Stenrud, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will spend nearly $425,000 over two years on a study to identify barriers to Medicaid providers meeting electronic health records (EHR) "meaningful use" criteria. Focus groups of eligible Medicaid providers will be established, including providers that have adopted an EHR, providers that have not adopted an EHR, and a dental focus group.
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Many of the current fiscal challenges faced by states appear similar at first glance, says Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors in Washington, DC, but they are never truly the same. "States are all in very different positions," he says. "The block grant issue is an interesting one."
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While many cost-cutting measures being proposed by states to save money in their Medicaid programs require a waiver, this is not necessarily the case with emergency department copays as states already have some flexibility to do this, notes Joan Alker, co-executive director at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families and a research associate professor at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute.
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Illinois Medicaid anticipates a $1.2 billion loss to general revenue funds and related funds in the coming fiscal year, due to the loss of enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP), according to the state's Medicaid administrator, Theresa Eagleson.
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Family planning waivers have allowed Medicaid programs in 28 states to benefit from the 90% federal matching rate for people who would not otherwise be eligible for those services, notes E. Kathleen Adams, PhD, professor of health policy and management at Emory School of Public Health in Atlanta.
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Massachusetts' new court-ordered mental health screening and intervention program led to 220,000 more children being given screenings, and 14,000 more children being identified as behaviorally and emotionally at risk, according to a recent study.
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Effective communication is critical to the successful delivery of healthcare services. The Joint Commission supports a number of efforts to improve communication between healthcare professionals and patients.
