The Obama administration will team up with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies in an effort to combat health care fraud, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ controversial efforts to curb the health care costs of the nation’s poorest seniors may not be the last word on reform, a top CMS official told a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ efforts to provide care for dually eligible beneficiaries should be scrapped, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a public letter.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked three ZPIC contractors to explain themselves. In letters dated and made public on Friday, the committee leaders ask the contractors to provide them information that includes the number of investigations undertaken since 2007 and the policies and procedures used by the contractors for initiating fraud investigations.

The money will be funneled to the states’ Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) over the next three years, Sebelius said. States will also compete to be selected for an “accelerated” move to single-entry-point models, “which provide one-on-one options counseling to streamline the intake and eligibility determination process for consumers,” HHS said in announcing the grants. About eight states are expected to be selected for the single-entry accelerations, the department said.

If the nation’s current laws stay in place, CBO found, “spending on the major federal health care programs alone would grow from more than 5 percent of GDP today to almost 10 percent in 2037 and would continue to increase thereafter,” the summary said. “Altogether, the aging of the population and the rising cost of health care would cause spending on the major health care programs and Social Security to grow from more than 10 percent of the GDP today to almost 16 percent” 25 years from now.

A proposal from House and Senate Republican leadership to fund an extension of low-interest student loans by lowering the Medicaid provider assessment (also known as a provider tax) threshold was abandoned this week, much to the relief of long term care advocates.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld President Obama’s individual mandate, defining it as a “tax” and giving the president a narrow, but decisive victory in the protracted battle over the nation’s health care system.

The federal government can’t cancel a state’s Medicaid funding just because it opts out of President Obama’s health care regime, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee has called for a review of the private companies used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to root out waste and corruption.

The Obama administration will team up with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies in an effort to combat health care fraud, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ controversial efforts to curb the health care costs of the nation’s poorest seniors may not be the last word on reform, a top CMS official told a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ efforts to provide care for dually eligible beneficiaries should be scrapped, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) told Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in a public letter.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked three ZPIC contractors to explain themselves. In letters dated and made public on Friday, the committee leaders ask the contractors to provide them information that includes the number of investigations undertaken since 2007 and the policies and procedures used by the contractors for initiating fraud investigations.

The money will be funneled to the states’ Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) over the next three years, Sebelius said. States will also compete to be selected for an “accelerated” move to single-entry-point models, “which provide one-on-one options counseling to streamline the intake and eligibility determination process for consumers,” HHS said in announcing the grants. About eight states are expected to be selected for the single-entry accelerations, the department said.

If the nation’s current laws stay in place, CBO found, “spending on the major federal health care programs alone would grow from more than 5 percent of GDP today to almost 10 percent in 2037 and would continue to increase thereafter,” the summary said. “Altogether, the aging of the population and the rising cost of health care would cause spending on the major health care programs and Social Security to grow from more than 10 percent of the GDP today to almost 16 percent” 25 years from now.

A proposal from House and Senate Republican leadership to fund an extension of low-interest student loans by lowering the Medicaid provider assessment (also known as a provider tax) threshold was abandoned this week, much to the relief of long term care advocates.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld President Obama’s individual mandate, defining it as a “tax” and giving the president a narrow, but decisive victory in the protracted battle over the nation’s health care system.

The federal government can’t cancel a state’s Medicaid funding just because it opts out of President Obama’s health care regime, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee has called for a review of the private companies used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to root out waste and corruption.