Medicare Beneficiaries With Wanderlust Are Encouraged To Make Sure Their Coverage Travels, Too

It appears likely that vaccinated seniors will be ready to hit the road but CNBC offers the caution that before travelling, they should check the specifics of their insurance regarding emergency and routine care. Meanwhile, in a separate story, Becker's reports a rise in people waiting until they are eligible for Medicare seeking medical care.

CNBC: Retirees Ready To Hit The Road Should Check Their Medicare Coverage Retired, vaccinated and ready to hit the road? Don’t forget to check whether your Medicare plan will travel with you. While coverage when you’re away from home depends partly on where you’re headed, it also hinges on the specifics of your coverage. Whether the care you receive is routine or emergency also can play a part. (O'Brien, 4/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: Patients Delay Care Until Medicare-Eligible, Study On Cancer Diagnoses Suggests A rise in the number of cancer diagnoses seen among those turning 65 indicates patients may be delaying medical care until they are insured through Medicare, according to research published March 29 in Cancer. Using a national database, researchers from Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine analyzed hundreds of thousands of lung, breast, colon and prostate cancer diagnoses between 2004-16 among patients aged 61-69. (Carbajal, 4/1)

In other Medicare news —

Modern Healthcare: MedPAC Calls For Fewer Pay Models, Cutting Medicare Advantage Spending The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, at its meeting on Thursday, approved several Medicare policy recommendations that will appear in its June report to Congress. The congressional advisory panel will recommend that CMS simplify its approach to alternative payment models. Commissioners approved an updated version of the recommendation presented by MedPAC's staff at last month's meeting. (Brady, 4/1)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Las Vegas Hospital Told To Refund Over $26M For Medicare Billing Errors  A federal audit has concluded that Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center of Las Vegas improperly billed Medicare for more than $23.6 million in services and called on it to refund the money. Sunrise Hospital will appeal the decision by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, triggering a process that could take “several years,” CEO Todd Sklamberg said Thursday. (Dylan, 4/1)

Meanwhile, on the topic of nursing homes and covid infection rates —

CIDRAP: Varying Risk Factors For Nursing Home COVID Infection, Death Revealed Risk factors for COVID-19 infection in US nursing homes were related to county and facility rather than resident characteristics, while risk of hospitalization and death was linked to both facility and resident factors in a nationwide study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston studied coronavirus infections, hospitalizations, and deaths among 482,323 residents at 15,038 nursing homes from Apr 1 to Sep 30, 2020. The virus infected 28.4% of residents, of whom 21.3% were hospitalized, and 19.2% died within 30 days. (4/1)

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