OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Dems have high hopes for Medicare clash

Regulatory revamp: The Obama administration is reviewing hundreds of regulations to make sure they don’t needlessly burden business. These include Health and Human Services regulations on physician reporting requirements and duplicative documentation of blood-type information at transplant hospitals. Healthwatch’s Julian Pecquet has the story.

Fight over Medicaid rights: Thirty Senate Democrats wrote to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting she tell state Medicaid directors they must cover family planning clinics that provide abortion services. The letter comes as several states are considering or have passed legislation aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood.

“Legislation like the bill passed by the Indiana legislature to exclude such Medicaid providers stands in direct opposition to longstanding Congressional intent, and create [sic] serious access concerns for both patients and providers,” the letter states. “The restrictions threatened by state legislatures blatantly contradict the spirit and letter of well-established and long accepted law. These principles have been backed repeatedly over many years — truly bipartisan support. We write not to ask support for new law, but for vigorous, prompt enforcement of existing law.”

Electronic Health Records: The Medicare agency proposed regulations regarding the Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program and announced that the first $75 million in incentive payments have been made to healthcare providers who have adopted EHRs.

AMA weighs in: The American Medical Association says proposed rules for forming accountable care organizations need a more lenient policy on antitrust violations. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are jointly addressing concerns that participating in ACOs — large, integrated healthcare networks — could put doctors and other providers at risk for antitrust violations. But the AMA said the two agencies need to go further. The comments are here.

Dead beneficiaries: Medicare has spent $3.61 million on drug benefits for deceased seniors, says a new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.

The benefits of youth: Some 600,000 young adults have taken advantage of a healthcare reform provision allowing them to stay on their parents’ insurance policies, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund. Healthwatch’s Sam Baker has more.

Deflated hopes: Prescription drugs probably wouldn’t get much cheaper under Democratic proposals to restrict TV ads and other marketing directly to patients, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Read the Healthwatch story.

Rip off: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the profits reaped by the pharmaceutical industry under Medicare’s prescription drug benefit are “a rip-off of the taxpayer.” Read The Hill’s story.

Reading list:

Liberals and the insurance industry fought over premiums during a live health chat moderated by the Hartford Courant.

The chat came as insurance critics voiced outraged at California Blue Shield CEO Bruce Bodaken’s $4.6 million salary, reported by the Los Angeles Times.

America’s growing waistline correlates to its increasingly sedentary workplaces, writes The New York Times.

Patients who talk to their doctors about end-of-life options experience better quality of life and rarely die in an intensive care unit or on a ventilator, says a New England Journal of Medicine study. 

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney supports Vermont’s right to experiment with a single-payer system.

What you might have missed on Healthwatch: 

Medical device-makers are gunning for the trade deal with South Korea.

Bipartisan duo introduces autism bill. 

Comments / complaints / suggestions? Please let us know:

Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-stage.thehill.com / 202-628-8527

Sam Baker: sbaker@digital-stage.thehill.com / 202-628-8351

Follow us on Twitter @hillhealthwatch