08.26.08

Study Examines Effect of Medicare Part-D “Doughnut Hole”

Posted in Uncategorized, Life Care Planning, Medicare Set-aside, Medical Case Management, Special Needs Trust, Workers' Compensation at 1:27 pm by admin

A Kaiser Family Foundation study recently shed light on Medicare Part D’s “doughnut hole” and its effect on beneficiaries.  The doughnut hole is a gap in drug coverage, beginning after a beneficiary reaches $2,400 of drug costs in a given year, and extends until that beneficiary’s drug costs reach $3,850.  During the doughnut hole, the beneficiary is responsible for 100% of drug costs. Read the rest of this entry »

08.14.08

Medicare May Remove SSNs from ID Cards

Posted in Uncategorized, Medicare Set-aside at 12:16 pm by admin

On July 24, 2008, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (TX) proposed new legislation (H.R. 6600) that would remove Medicare beneficiaries’ Social Security Numbers from their Medicare cards to protect against identity theft.  The legislation proposes that the SSN be removed from the cards entirely, or else coded or embedded so that they are not so easily accessible. Read the rest of this entry »

08.04.08

CMS Expands List of Non-Reimbursable Events

Posted in Uncategorized, Life Care Planning, Medicare Set-aside, Medical Case Management at 10:55 am by admin

In August 2007, we posted a blog addressing CMS’ proposed list of events where hospitals would not be reimbursed. The list includes “never-events,” events that CMS considers to be preventable and should not occur during the course of treatment. While CMS’ original proposed rule included eight events, the final rule expanded the list to eleven. Read the rest of this entry »