Weekly News Wrap-Up (March 8 - March 12)

Democrats Pare Differences Over Health OverHaul (The Associated Press, March 12, 2010)
President Barack Obama is postponing his long-scheduled Asian trip for a few days to make a final push for passage of historic legislation reinventing the health care system.

Obama Targets Medicare, Medicaid Waste (McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and Assisted Living, March 12, 2010)
President Obama on Wednesday instructed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to increase their use of “Payment Recapture Audits” to reduce the amount of improper Medicare, Medicaid and other similar payments.

Shift Long-Term Care Payment Responsibility From Medicaid to Medicare, Research Group Suggests (McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and Assisted Living, March 8, 2010)
In order to better coordinate care for nursing home residents who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, responsibility for long-term care nursing facility services should be shifted from Medicaid to Medicare, suggests a recently released policy brief from research group Mathematica.