What's Changing
Congress has acted to delay the new competitive bidding program that started on July 1, 2008.
What You Need to Know
You now can continue to get your Medicare-covered equipment and supplies from any Medicare-approved supplier. If you changed your supplier when this new program started, you can continue to use the new supplier, or choose another supplier.
Medicare is continuing to make sure you can get the supplies and services you need. We will post more information about the new program in the future.
For the most up-to-date list of all Medicare-approved suppliers in your area, visit Find Suppliers of Medical Equipment in Your Area.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
This tool provides you with information on how well the hospitals care for all their adult patients with certain conditions or procedures. This information will help you compare the quality of care hospitals provide as the measures show how often hospitals provide some of the care that is recommended for patients being treated for a heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia, or patients having surgery. This tool also displays the Survey of Patients’ Hospital Experiences, using data collected from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey. Information on inpatient hospital payment information and the number of Medicare patients treated (volume) for certain illnesses are also displayed.
Medicare & You contains important information about what's new, health plans, prescription drug plans, and rights and protections to help people with Medicare review their coverage options and prepare to enroll in a new plan if they choose. It is available in both English and Spanish.
Each fall, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mails a geographic-specific version to all households of people with Medicare. In 2008, there are 59 geographic-specific versions with drug and health plan comparison charts for particular states or regions.
HealthDay - FRIDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- The cancer-fighting pill Iressa
works as well as chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for lung cancer,
researchers report.
HealthDay - FRIDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Two popular medications for
treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not cause
genetic damage linked to an increased risk for developing cancer, a new
study says.
HealthDay - FRIDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Belgian researchers have
discovered that some cancer cells use lactic acid instead of sugar for
food, and this might lead to new treatments that starve and kill these
cells.
HealthDay - FRIDAY, Nov. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Latina women are almost six
times more likely than white women to report great dissatisfaction and
regret about their choice of breast cancer treatment, a new report
says.
HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- New research on mice
suggests inhibiting a protein that allows certain tumor cells to refuel
may prove to be key to cancer-fighting treatments.
HealthDay - THURSDAY, Nov. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Colorectal cancer screening
detects 40 percent of cancers and should be carefully planned to be more
effective, say Finnish Cancer Registry researchers.
AP - Some advanced lung cancer patients already treated with chemotherapy might be able to skip some of the bad side effects of another series of chemo by taking a pill instead, a study suggests. An international study showed patients on Iressa, an expensive, newer targeted treatment, survived about as long as those on another course of chemotherapy.
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