Medicare Open Enrollment began October 15 and ends December 7, 2021. Many of my family members are covered by Medicare, and like a lot of you, they are confused by all of the options Medicare offers. The mail they get with plan information overwhelms them. They...
The new normal is emerging with the passing of each wave of Covid-19 spikes. This new scenario is one where employers are having difficulty finding employees, high rates of employee and administrative burnout, and maintaining health care practices are becoming more...
Healthcare is a major focus of President Biden’s proposed $6 trillion budget for Fiscal Year 2022. The funding request includes a 23.4% increase in the Department of Health and Human Services’ budget, raising it to 133.7 billion. Numerous other agencies and programs...
COVID cases and deaths are declining across the US, leading more states to open back up. But experts fear that COVID clusters, like those in North Carolina and Hawaii will occur, especially in rural counties where vaccination rates are lower (38.9%) than in urban...
In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the rise in the number of HIV-reported cases among people who inject drugs. In this blog, we’ll look at how the increase in substance abuse could lead to the further spread of HIV and the impact of intravenous drug use on overall...
There has been a substantial increase in the number of individuals signing up for health insurance when compared to the previous years. Over 528,000 Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act from the start of the 2021 Special...
The CDC estimated that at the end of 2018, 1.2 million Americans were living with HIV; 186,500 of those cases were a result of intravenous drug use (HIV Surveillance Report, 2020). This is a growing trend, as 2,492 newly diagnosed HIV cases were reported among people...
As if 2020 has not been stressful enough, now scammers are using the COVID-19 pandemic to prey on Medicare and Medicaid recipients by promising free care to their patients in order to gain their personal and health information, including their dates of birth, social...
As hospitals face decreasing Medicare reimbursement, enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans continues to rise. As part of the ACA, hospitals face reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates for excessive readmission, non-participation in reporting of quality data, and...
Hospitals across the country, face reductions in disproportionate share payments--commonly called DSH payments--over the course of the Affordable Care Act implementation. Beginning in 1985, COBRA legislation created payments that have compensated hospitals for...
