The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday afternoon the creation of a new office to coordinate care for millions of individuals simultaneously enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The new healthcare reform law authorized a new office to oversee so-called "dual eligibles," which include some of the most expensive patient populations to care for. Dual eligibles - basically the low-income elderly - account for roughly 25 to 45 percent of spending in Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, but they make up less than 20 percent of enrollment for either program.

According to the CMS announcement, the new Federal Coordinated Health Care Office (CHCO) will focus on:

• Fostering overall improvements in the quality of healthcare and long-term services for individuals who are dually eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare;

• Simplifying processes for dual eligible individuals to access items and services available to them;

• Increasing dual eligible individuals’ understanding of and satisfaction with coverage under the Medicare and Medicaid programs;

• Eliminating regulatory conflicts between rules under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; and

• Improving coordination between the federal government and the states.

The CHCO will be led by Melanie Bella, who was previously senior vice president for policy and operations at the Center for Health Care Strategies.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was unable to account for about $8.2 million in government purchases in 2007, according to a new report on a previous audit that faulted the agency for sloppy record keeping.

The Health and Human Services Department's Office of Inspector General conducted its audit by tracking a random sample of 200 items purchased in fiscal 2007 by the CDC. It found the agency had either underestimated the true value of 29 items or failed to add them to its property database altogether. 

The audit was requested by Congress. It followed a 1995 audit that also was critical of the CDC's record keeping.

The association representing organ procurement organizations (OPOs) is building its national legislative and regulatory presence as it prepares to stave off regulation under the healthcare reform law while pushing back against state budget cuts.

The Virginia-based Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) announced Tuesday that it has hired Strategic Health Care to help with federal representation and education in the new year.

"Organ donation is a small component of our nation's health care system, and in an evolving health care environment, we must be proactive to ensure that donation is not adversely affected by government initiatives," AOPO President Jeffrey Orlowski said in a statement. "Unintended consequences could affect donor families and those waiting for a life-saving transplant."

More than 110,000 people await organ transplants in the U.S. The federally designated nonprofit organizations that coordinate organ and tissue donation have low operating margins, said Policy Manager Liz Hackett, and are worried that Democrats' healthcare reform law and state budget cuts could lead to a decrease in the number of organs and tissues available for transplants.

The new strategy comes as Arizona cut funding for the state Medicaid agency that pays for transplants for low-income patients, reversing the approval of organ transplants for 98 people who had previously been approved according to National Public Radio (NPR).

Hackett tells The Hill that Strategic Health Care was hired to help increase the organization’s presence and to help educate state and federal officials that "transplants are a cure, not a treatment" and are cost-effective in the long-run.

Strategic Health Care will also help AOPO to impress upon federal regulators that imposing further restrictions on transplant organizations will seriously disadvantage patients. While the new healthcare reform law does not directly cover transplants, Hackett said the organizations could be "pulled in unintentionally."

The law's "bundling" provision, for example, calls for Medicare to provide a single payment for a patient's care that would be divvied up among the different entities involved in the care: the hospital, physician specialists, and others such as organ procurement organizations. Hackett said that could potentially cut payments to OPOs that have limited resources and tight operating margins forcing them to cut back on services and programs that can increase the number of organs available to save lives.

Key parts of the new healthcare law will go into effect on Jan. 1, just before the Republican-controlled House returns to Washington. 

Federal regulators need another four weeks to review an inhaled insulin product to treat diabetes, the drug's manufacturer announced Tuesday morning.

MannKind Corp. is awaiting a Food and Drug Administration ruling on Afrezza, which would be the first-ever inhalable insulin drug.The inhaler device, which delivers insulin through single-dose cartridges, was rejected by the FDA in March, when the agency requested more information from MannKind.

According to the company, the FDA informed it on Monday night that more time is needed to review the company's new drug application. The company had been expecting a decision sometime this week.

Sarah Palin has come under fire, including from conservatives, for her attacks on Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign. 

Fifteen states were awarded $206 million in federal grants for expanding Medicaid enrollment of eligible children, the Medicare agency announced Monday afternoon.

The funding bonuses, included in the 2009 reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), require states to streamline their enrollment and renewal processes and significantly increase the number of children enrolled in Medicaid.

With $55 million, Alabama was the big winner, followed by Wisconsin ($23 million), Washington ($17.6 million), Oregon ($15 million) and Illinois ($15 million). In 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded $75 million in CHIP bonuses to 10 states.

States are required to adopt five of eight measures to simplify the enrollment process, and they are reimbursed according to the number of children enrolled and the costs of enrolling the children. As states grapple with budget deficits, the states receiving the bonuses went "above and beyond the call of duty," said Medicaid Director Cindy Mann.
 
The remaining 2010 bonus winners were: Colorado ($13.7 million), Ohio ($12.4 million), Maryland ($10.5 million), Michigan ($9.3 million), New Jersey ($8.8 million), New Mexico ($8.6 million), Iowa ($6.7 million), Alaska ($4.4 million), Louisiana ($3.6 million) and Kansas ($2.6 million).

Eight states that shared $72 million in 2009 received bonuses again this year. Those states include Alaska, Alabama, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.

The GOP changed House rules to make it easier to repeal healthcare; Dems think they now have a potent argument.

CNN/Opinion Research poll finds dropping support after a federal judge ruled the health insurance mandate is unconstitutional.