New York audit finds Medicaid for the dead (again) | (Albany, N.Y.) Times Union
An audit of the state Medicaid system by the state comptroller's office found $2.3 million in payments for dead patients, part of some $12.1 million in inappropriate payments made between April 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2015.
Amid bargaining, report criticizes staffing at Catholic Health Systems hospitals | Buffalo (N.Y.) News
Amid increasingly tense contract negotiations, a labor advocacy group will release a report Tuesday critical of Catholic Health Systems' staffing levels. The low staff levels at the system's hospitals have taken a physical and emotional toll on nurses and other employees and have at times left patients receiving delayed or substandard care, according to the Western New York Workers' Rights Board.
Johns Hopkins employees included in data breach | WMAR-TV Baltimore
A data breach could put some Johns Hopkins employees' information at risk. The breach happened at Newkirk Products, which issues health care identification cards for Johns Hopkins Hospital and University employees.
Michigan doctors not overwhelmed by Affordable Care Act, study shows | MichiganRadio.org
The Healthy Michigan Plan launched in April 2014. It opened the Medicaid rolls to hundreds of thousands of low-income people for the first time. And no one was quite sure what to expect. Now, two years down the road, there's enough data for experts to study and analyze.
Online marketplace offers cheaper CPAP machines without a prescription | Reuters Health
There is a large market for unauthorized online sales of secondhand continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, which treat obstructive sleep apnea, according to a new study. “We did not speak directly with sellers or buyers, so we can only speculate on why this market exists, but we suspect that sellers have CPAP machines they no longer use or no longer need, while buyers are unable or unwilling to pay for CPAP through usual methods,” said coauthor Dr. Ken M. Kunisaki of Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minnesota.
California's 'reference pricing' cutting costs for common procedures | New York Times
In 2011, the public employees' retirement system implemented a maximum it would pay for knee replacements and other elective procedures. If patients wanted to go to a provider that charged more, the patient paid the difference. The results were striking: Patients flocked to lower-priced providers, and some others cut their rates to compete.
Why the Zika travel warning in Florida is so narrow. And what it means for rest of U.S. | Washington Post
A one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami, marked by three streets and a highway, is a Zika hot zone that public health officials say pregnant women should avoid. Many people don't understand how those boundaries were picked as part of an unprecedented travel advisory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And they want to know why the advisory isn't broader.
