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What We're Reading: Home Health Aide Dues; Kentucky Medicaid Rules; Monsanto Cancer Case
A proposed rule from CMS would end the practice of home health aides paid directly by Medicaid having their union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks; the Trump administration says it has found a way around a federal judge’s June ruling stopping a Kentucky plan from introducing work requirements on those receiving Medicaid and will continue to allow states to put the restrictions in place; a California jury found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a school groundskeeper who said the company’s weedkillers, including Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
CMS Seeks to End Direct Collection of Union Dues for Some Home Health Aides
A proposed rule from CMS would end the practice of home health aides paid directly by Medicaid having their union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks, although it doesn’t name the fees explicitly, Kaiser Health News reported. Blocking these direct Medicaid payments means the workers are far less likely to pay dues, diminishing the union’s potential influence. The proposed rule would be likely to impact workers who don’t work in a single centralized office or don’t have a credit card or a bank account. The directive would overturn an Obama administration policy to ease the collection of union dues and pay for other fees, such as health benefits, and could take effect by the end of this year.
Trump Administration Thinks It Can Allow Medicaid Work Requirements to Continue
The Trump administration says it has found a way around a federal judge’s June ruling stopping a Kentucky plan from introducing work requirements on those receiving Medicaid and will continue to allow states to put the restrictions in place, The New York Times reported. Administration officials said they could sidestep the ruling by providing a better explanation of the rationale for work requirements. The officials have a narrow reading of judge’s decision, saying he faulted them for failing to follow proper procedure.
Monsanto Found Liable in California Man's Cancer
A California jury found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a school groundskeeper who said the company’s weedkillers, including Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Reuters reported. The company was ordered to pay $289 million in damages. The case of Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging that Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer. Monsanto, a unit of the German conglomerate Bayer following a $62.5 billion acquisition, faces more than 5000 similar lawsuits across the United States. Monsanto said it would appeal the verdict.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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