The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced November 29, 2011 that Medicare will cover screening and counseling to help reduce obesity. Medicare beneficiaries can receive these and other approved preventive services from primary care providers (including nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives) without any cost sharing.
On December 14, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services announced $218 million in funding to assist 26 hospital systems in reducing hospital readmissions and preventable medical errors.
Thirty-two organizations will participate in the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Model, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced December 19, 2011. The ACO initiative was created in the Affordable Care Act to improve quality and coordination of care for Medicare beneficiaries while decreasing costs, with patients assigned to ACOs on the basis of their primary care physician history.
Chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States as well as a major driver of increasing health care costs. The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD), a coalition of patient, provider, and community organizations, as well as experts in the field, has a goal of raising awareness of this problem.
In late November 2011, President Obama formally nominated Marilyn Tavenner, a nurse, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the key agency within the Department of Health and Human Services which administers and develops policy for Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
On December 20, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the details for the Independence at Home Demonstration application process. The demonstration project was created under the Affordable Care Act and seeks to increase the scope of in-home primary care services for chronically ill Medicare patients.
