Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Prescription Drug Access Disparities Among Working-Age Americans
A December Issue Brief from the Center for Studying Health System Change - "Working-age African Americans and Latinos are much more likely than white Americans to report they cannot afford all of their prescription drugs, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). In 2001, nearly one in five blacks and one in six Latinos 18 to 64 years old did not purchase all of their prescriptions because of cost, compared with slightly more than one in 10 whites. Cost-related prescription drug access problems are considerably higher for people with chronic conditions,1 particularly African Americans. Regardless of race or ethnicity, uninsured working-age people with chronic conditions are at particular risk for not being able to afford all of their prescriptions, with about half reporting cost-related prescription access problems. Increased patient cost sharing for prescription drugs will likely increase prescription drug access disparities for insured African Americans and Latinos, especially those with chronic conditions."  
  

Payments Go Under a Microscope
Washington Post story on "the growing concern among private and government health insurers about the accuracy of physicians' claims and the system for calculating reimbursements. The largest insurer of all, the federal government, recently estimated that the Medicare program overpaid doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers by $11.6 billion in 2002, according to an audit of 128,000 claims. The audit found many providers submitted insufficient documentation (45 percent), billed for medically unnecessary services (22 percent) and used incorrect codes to describe patient visits (12 percent). A larger audit is planned this year."  
  

Consolidation likely for county mental health, addiction service plans (Oregon)
Story in the News-Review - "In an effort to cut costs and fuse administrative services, a state agency is mandating change at the Douglas County Health & Social Services Department. Officials from the organization will conduct four meetings across the county to share and gather information from the public about consolidation of mental health, prevention, addiction treatment and problem gambling services plans. The Oregon Department of Human Services Office of Health is requiring counties submit one plan that covers all services instead of individual plans, as it had previously done. The new planning framework will include the health department's mental health division, ADAPT, Commission on Children and Families and the Department of Human Services..."