PHARMACIST STEVE

CMS finalizes 2025 Medicare Advantage rule: 11 key updates https://www.beckerspayer.com/policy-updates/cms-finalizes-2025-medicare-advantage-rule-11-key-updates.html CMS issued its final 2025 Medicare Advantage and Part D rule April 4, setting new standards around marketing, broker payments, and prior authorization. Here are 11 things to know about CMS’ final rule:  CMS set a fixed amount that agents and brokers can be compensated […]

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Hospitals Cash In on a Private Equity-Backed Trend: Concierge Physician Care https://www.medpagetoday.com/hospitalbasedmedicine/generalhospitalpractice/109518 Pricey membership fees for easier access to doctors becoming more common Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000 or more for easier access to their doctors. It’s a trend that […]

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The War on Drugs Is Also a War on Pain Patients https://www.cato.org/blog/war-drugs-also-war-pain-patients In a March 22 opinion column in the New York Times entitled “The DEA Needs to Stay Out of Medicine,” Vanderbilt University Medical Center associate professor of anesthesiology and pain management Shravani Durbhakula, MD, documents powerfully how patients suffering from severe pain—many of them […]

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Be cautious in signing up for Medicare-c (Advantage) prgms,  These programs are provided by FOR PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES. An increasing number of large healthcare corporations are canceling their contracts with Medicare-C programs. Patients in these programs may find themselves having to change primary healthcare providers, hospitals, and other providers that they have a relationship with. […]

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