Quick Hits: Top News Stories of the Month

Financial Status of Medicare Serious: Trustees

In their annual report, the Medicare trustees announced on March 25 that both the Medicare hospital trust fund and the supplementary medical insurance trust fund expenditures are growing faster than the rest of the economy. Expenditures were $482

New CDC Report Shows Increase in Uninsured

From January 2007 to September 2007, the number of Americans uninsured at the time of the National Health Interview Survey was 48.7 million (14.7 percent) for people of all ages, according to a report released March 27 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-up from 48.6 million a year earlier.

More Medicaid Enrollees Could Get Home Care Under New Rule: CMS

Medicaid beneficiaries who were previously limited to receiving care in an institutional setting may now be given the option to receive that care in their homes and communities, under a proposed rule announced April é by CMS.

Sharp Increase in Employers' Health Costs; Kaiser

Employers who provide health care to their workers saw their costs climb to an average of $2.59 per hour in 2005-nearly a full dollar higher than the cost just six years earlier, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study examining employers' payroll and healthcare costs.

Enrollment in Consumer-Driven Plans Sees only Slight Rise; Survey

Enrollment in consumer-driven and highdeductible health plans increased in 2007, but still makes up a small segment of the overall insurance market, according to the third Employee Benefit Research Institute/ Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care survey released March 18.

Patient Satisfaction Has Steadily Increased Since 2003: Report

Patient satisfaction with the inpatient hospital experience has, for the most part, increased since 2003, with the most significant gains between April and October last year, according to the 2008 Hospital Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care, released March 18 by Press Ganey Associates, Inc. In January 2003, the patient satisfaction rating was 88.4 percent; by October 2007, it had risen to 84.7 percent.

Demands on Nurses Grow as Hospital QI Activities Increase: Study

Hospitals face growing tensions and tradeoffs when allocating nurses between the competing priorities of direct patient care and quality improvement efforts, according to a study released March 20 by the Center for Studying Health System Change.