To say that Medicare is a labyrinth of legal jargon that's beyond the comprehension of the average American is an understatement. When it comes to Medicare and a Texas Medicare supplement, what you don't know can definitely hurt you. In fact, many people simply don't have the right information to make educated decisions - something that could come to haunt them down the road. Here are some common myths about Medicare, and some facts about finding a Medicare supplement in Texas.

Myth #1: Medicare automatically covers me after I retire.

Retirement and Medicare are unrelated. Unless you receive Medicare for a disability, you must be 65 years old in order to be eligible for Medicare benefits.

Myth #2: The government will automatically enroll me in Medicare.

You won't necessarily receive automatic enrollment; rather, it depends upon your work history. If you've worked 40 quarters in the United States, you'll be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A. If you started receiving Social Security benefits when you were 62, you'll automatically be enrolled in Part B, but have the option of declining the coverage if you're covered by, for example, a group health plan.

If you haven't worked 40 quarters, you have to enroll in Medicare through your local Social Security office. Similarly, if you aren't collecting Social Security benefits, you have to go to the Social Security office to enroll in Part B.

Myth #3: Medicare will cover all of my medical expenses.

In truth, Medicare Part A covers your room and board while you're in the hospital or in a skilled nursing facility. It doesn't cover any medical services. Plus, there's a $1,000 deductible for the length of your stay in the hospital, plus 60 days. In other words, if you spend a couple of days in the hospital in January, and have to go back in April, you'll have to pay $1,000 each time.

Medicare Part B partially covers services like doctors' fees, lab visits, costs associated with surgery, x-rays, and so forth. Typically, you have to pay a deductible each year, as well as 20 percent of your medical bills. Keep in mind that, if you receive care that is not covered by Medicare, you'll be responsible for 100 percent of the cost.

Myth #4: Medicare Parts C and D will fill in the gaps in my coverage.

Medicare Parts C and D are seemingly even more convoluted than Parts A and B. Part C is optional coverage offered by private insurance companies. In order to get Part C, you have to give up your coverage under Parts A and B. Part D is optional prescription drug coverage that has myriad variables, such as premiums, co-pays, coverage gaps, and co-insurance. You can choose which prescription drug plan best fits your needs.

Finding a Good Medicare Supplement

When you have gaps in your medical insurance, it's as though you're constantly standing on a precipice, never knowing if an illness or hospitalization is going to wipe out your life savings, force you to sell your home, or otherwise wreak havoc on your finances. With the right Medicare supplement in Texas, however, you can fill in the gaps and limit your medical expenses to your cost of Part B, Part D, and the supplement.

Fortunately, it's easy to find the best Texas Medicare supplement for your needs. While calling one insurance company after another and trying to compare apples to oranges can be a nightmare, you can easily go online to find Medicare supplement quotes. The best companies allow you to fill out your information online, and even have agents who can instantly provide you with pricing for the 10 leading companies in the state. This way, you can find the best company and rate for your supplemental plan.



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Technology has proven over time that there is no problem that cannot be overcome given the will to succeed, the time to develop the appropriate knowledge, and the inherent ability for the human mind to imagine. This astonishing component of the human existence has occurred once again in the area of medical treatment.

George Woods, a 73-year-old Canadian man, has received a revolutionary device that will inevitably change the way heart healthcare is handled all over the world. The device is called the Vision 3D and is about the size of a quarter. In order to monitor the heart, it has wires that extend to specific veins and also directly to the heart.

Mr. Woods has suffered from numerous heart attacks and two bypass surgeries. His doctor decided to give him the device because of his week heart and also the long distance that he has to travel to get to the hospital.

What is remarkably unique about the device is that it links to a transmitter about the size of a keyboard. This transmitter is able to download vital information about the patient allowing the doctor to determine what to do for the next visit, or if the patient needs to come in immediately. This unique property allows the patient to do periodic check-ups with the doctor from home.

The doctor is able to even fix very minor issues remotely as well. Medtronic is the company responsible for creating this revolutionary device. The device is not for everyone, as it is recommended for individual with only very serious heart conditions.

Experts anticipates that the device will reduce wait times, the number of hospital visits throughout the year, and will also open up space for very serious and urgent conditions that require extensive medical treatment.

However this milestone could bring about concern for what lies in the future. The ability to access physiological information about an individual remotely and possibly manipulate that physiology has some people worried. Researchers have discovered that these devices are capable of delivering deadly electric shocks to the heart, which means that it could be possible for individuals to commit murder from the click of a mouse.

Even with Medtronic current devices, malfunction has been a problem. These machines are entrusted with lives, and through technical error take them away. If big companies like Medtronic are going to play the game of medical treatment, they must be held accountable for the seriousness of mistakes made.



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Indian orthopedic surgery hospitals provide very good treatment facilities to abroad patients for their arthroscopic shoulder treatment in India. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery is most advanced surgical technique available for the treatment of shoulder disorders. As the surgical technique is performed by most expert surgeons of India, the risk involved in the process is very less and the success rate of shoulder surgery in India is also very high. Thus many abroad patients are getting attracted to India for their treatment in India at low cost. The cost of treatment in Indian orthopedic surgery hospitals is very less as compared to the cost of treatment in abroad orthopedic surgery hospitals. Getting arthroscopic shoulder surgery done from Indian orthopedic surgery hospitals has become most adoptable option for abroad patients.

Arthroscopic shoulder surgery is a common orthopedic procedure that is used to diagnose and treat problems in joints. The most common type of arthroscopy is arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Other common arthroscopic surgeries include knee, elbow, wrist, ankle, and hip arthroscopy. Arthroscopic surgery is most commonly performed on the knee and shoulder joints. The reason the knee and shoulder are the most commonly arthroscoped joints is that they are large enough to manipulate the instruments around, and they are amenable to arthroscopic surgery treatments. In technical way, any joint can be arthroscoped. The most common arthroscopic procedures include repairing cartilage and meniscus problems in the knee, and removing inflammation and repairing rotator cuff tears in the shoulder. Shoulder arthroscopy is a surgical procedure for arthroscopic shoulder repair. With this procedure complete disorders of shoulder can be removed. Shoulder arthroscopy is performed through "portals". These are small incisions, generally about half of an inch to an inch long in the skin, are located over particular areas of the joint that the orthopedic surgeon will need to operate upon. Small plastic tubes, called "cannulas" are then inserted into the portals so that instruments can easily be placed in the shoulder joint. Shoulder arthroscopy itself involves inserting a specially designed video camera with a very bright fiber optic light source into the shoulder joint so that the important parts of the joint can be seen. Once the procedure is finished, the instruments, camera, and cannulas are removed, the wounds are closed with either suture or staples. Shoulder arthroscopy is an advanced surgical procedure for the correction of shoulder disorders and highly result oriented surgery. The success rate of shoulder arthroscopy is very high worldwide and the recovery time after the surgery is very less as compared to other surgical procedures as the surgical technique is most advanced.

Arthroscopic shoulder treatment in India is a very good option nowadays for those abroad patients seeking low cost shoulder arthroscopy. With arthroscopic shoulder treatment in India patients can get free from shoulder disorders at the most affordable price. The success rate of arthroscopic shoulder treatment in India is very high as the surgical procedure is performed by most expert arthroscopic surgeons of India. The surgical technique available for the treatment of shoulder disorders are most advanced thus the risk involved in the process is reduced and the recovery time required after the surgery is very less. The cost of treatment in Indian orthopedic surgery hospitals is very less as compared to the cost of arthroscopic shoulder surgery in abroad orthopedic surgery hospitals. Thus many abroad patients are getting attracted to India for their low cost treatment.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ravi_Jeswani

The current Medicare payment system is considered to be prospective, in that the amount paid to a hospital for a patient is fixed in advance and depends only on the diagnoses and major procedures reported at discharge. In reality, payments under this system have never been completely prospective, being influenced to some degree by what happens to an individual patient during a hospitalization. For example, higher payments are made on behalf of patients in whom clinically significant complications develop after admission than for those with the same diagnosis who have no such complications. There are also so-called outlier payments that partially compensate hospitals for the additional expenses incurred for very-high-cost cases. With regard to preventable complications, these retrospective features of the DRG payment system have harbored a perverse incentive: hospitals that improved patient safety and eliminated problems such as nosocomial infections saw their Medicare revenues, and sometimes their profits, reduced.

Believing that this counterproductive incentive should be eliminated, Congress instructed the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2005 to "select at least 2 conditions that are (a) high cost or high volume or both, (b) result in the assignment of a case to a DRG that has a higher payment when present as a secondary diagnosis, and (c) could reasonably have been prevented through the application of evidence-based guidelines." After issuing a proposed set of measures and considering comments from stakeholders and experts, CMS decided to disallow incremental payments associated with eleven secondary conditions that it sees as preventable complications of medical care. These conditions, if not present at the time of admission, will no longer be taken into account in calculating payments to hospitals after October1, 2008.

The eleven selected conditions include:

1. Foreign Object Retained After Surgery (750 cases nationally in 2007)
2. Air Embolism (57 cases)
3. Blood Incompatibility (24 cases)
4. Stage III and IV Pressure Ulcers (257,412 cases)
5. Falls and Trauma (193,566 cases)
6. Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (12,815 cases)
7. Vascular Catheter-Associate Infection (29,536 cases)
8. Surgical Site Infection-Mediastinitis after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (69cases)
9. Surgical site infections following elective procedures
10. Glycemic Control issues such as diabetic ketoacidosis, nonketotic hyperosmolar coma, diabetic coma, and hypoglycemic coma (16,060 cases)
11. Deep Vein Thrombosis / Pulmonary Embolism (140,010 cases)

While the new reimbursement rules present significant risk to hospitals and health systems, they also create great opportunity to develop world class quality management processes, infrastructure, and organization.

Significant Financial Impact

The new rule will result in hospitals seeing substantial reductions in payment for the care of individual patients with preventable complications. For example, if a patient were admitted to a Boston-area hospital with pneumonia and developed a urinary tract infection or bed sores during the hospitalization, the hospital would currently be paid $6,253.58, under DRG 89 ("pneumonia with complications"); under the new rule, if there were no other complications, the hospital would be paid only $3,705.38, under DRG 90 ("simple pneumonia"), a difference of $2,548.20 (a reduction of approximately 40%).

A study of the reimbursement impact on nosocomial urinary tract infections alone at one New York hospital was reported in AHIMA Perspectives online journal. The urinary tract remains a significant site for hospital-acquired infections, with 66 percent to 86 percent of UTIs being associated with urinary catheterization. The prevention of UTIs represents a potentially rich opportunity to reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. Analysis of w/CC vs. without CC DRG-pair reimbursement for patients having a secondary diagnosis of UTI, and under the assumption that the UTI was the reason for upcoding to the with complication DRG, resulted in the hospital receiving $4.5 million greater reimbursement due to the nosocomial infection. Three DRGs were randomly selected for detailed chart review, and within that subset it was determined that the nosocomial infection was the sole reason for about 15% of the higher DRG assignment. Extrapolation of this to the entire population resulted in an estimation that the hospital would have received $675,000 less in Medicare reimbursement for the UTI issue alone.

Vascular catheter associated infection represents another major area of risk for hospitals. A significant number of patients rely on vascular access devices, like PICC lines, to deliver needed medication. The line has to be placed and maintained in a specific manner, or it has a potential to cause a catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI.) CRBSI, along with ventilator-associated pneumonia (which CMS is considering adding to the selected conditions list for FY2009), are the two most costly infections to treat. Analysis in one Midwestern hospital identified that the average cost to treat a CRBSI was $91,000, whereas the average reimbursement was about $67,000; an operational loss of $24,000. As of Oct. 1, 2008, reimbursement will be zero. The CDC estimates 250,000 central line-associated infections occur in the United States annually, with an attributable mortality rate of 12 to 25 percent.

This reimbursement change represents the leading edge of a series of anticipated CMS reforms of provider payment, which include a shift toward pay for performance. Hospitals may therefore view the new policy as a harbinger of things to come and act in anticipation of more substantial reimbursement changes. Nine additional HACs are being considered for addition to the reimbursement exclusions in October, and 43 additional are being considered for implementation in FY 2010. Finally, as was observed with the DRG reimbursement system, private third party payers will be expected to adopt a similar approach.

Proactive Solutions

Just as advent of the Prospective Payment System revolutionized hospital Cost Management in the two decades ago, pay for performance will revolutionize hospital Quality Management over the next decade. To prepare your health system for this change in the game, we recommend you take the following steps:

* Assess your Health System Quality Management Readiness. Evaluate how your Health System stacks up in the five Critical Markers of quality management effectiveness: Strategy, Process, Infrastructure, Organization and Culture. Identify Gaps and corrective strategies.
* Estimate the impact on your Hospital or Health System. Using macro data analysis and chart sampling estimate your risk exposure by major diagnostic category and HAC.
* Identify the Gaps. Identify major problem areas and identify the required metrics, clinical and process improvements, available technology enablers, and organizational enhancements required to significantly reduce your risk exposure.
* Design the Fix. Assemble multidisciplinary process improvement teams to develop effective Present on Admission (POA) assessment processes, address the root cause of quality gaps leading to hospital acquired conditions, and to design innovative sustainable solutions.
* Implement the Fix. Test and refine the designed solutions in innovation labs and adopt a Quality Accelerator approach to integrating the solutions into the fabric of your health system.
* Measure the Results. Design and implement monitoring systems that measure the effectiveness of your efforts and provide closed loop feedback to ongoing quality management activity.

When healthcare quality is high, everything else follows. Patients are delighted. Physicians and employees are happy, efficient and effective. Market share rises. Margins increase. Your organization grows and thrives.

Scott Hodson is a Principal in Maverick Healthcare Consulting.



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Access to proper health care has become a major problem in the contemporary America. Millions of people, insured or uninsured, are facing escalating medication costs. This pathetic condition affects not only the health of the individuals' but also the economy and quality of the life. A drastic rise in the health care premiums over the past decade has made health insurance not affordable for many families and has resulted in the increase of the percentage of the people who are uninsured. The number of people who are uninsured has mounted to over 47 millions in the past few years. Overall, in simpler terms, we can say that the reason why people are uninsured is because they cannot afford it.

Many people, today, are in a kind of a situation where one medical emergency can bring in financial ruin and this is mainly because of the expensive health care costs and the prescriptive medicines which take a largest share of their pocket. This situation calls for grave measures that have to be taken in providing affordable health care to everyone. In fact, it is not only the responsibility of the government but is the duty of everyone right from organizations to individuals to work together in making health care affordable to everyone.

With a motive of making health care affordable to all, some companies started offering plans that allows one save up to 80% on the medical bills. Providing huge discounts on the bills will definitely reduce the burden on the individuals.



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Health is concerned with the well-being of an individual and is imperative for all of us. It gives an incisive picture of the physical, mental, and social status of one's self. Good health is a key to enduring success which reflects the status of the mind as well. To maintain a good health everyone has to take good nutritious food, do regular exercise and have a positive learning and mental attitude which can reduce the chances of falling ill. Lethargic and lassitude life style can bring in health problems. To be fit and agile everyone needs to work hard in whichever way possible.

Apart from all these, positive thinking also plays a major role in maintaining our health. One needs to maintain an optimistic approach of things and get rid of pessimism which can bring in all the good things in life. These simple changes in your life style can improve your health and make you feel strong and physically fit. Ignoring all this measures would put you in a state where you can lose your health, mental peace, and the hard earned money.

As everyone is aware of the fact that the medical costs in America are escalating more than the inflation rate which makes most of the Americans lose access to quality health care. Most of the people are uninsured or under-insured which makes the situation even worse. Still, Americans have a choice to dodge the costs of health care which comes in the form of discount plans. These plans are best judged to be an alternative to the traditional insurance plans. Discount plans usually offer huge discounts of up to 80% on the medical bills which allows one to save considerable amount of money. Discount plans also offer a lot of other benefits which provide access to complete health care for Americans. More information on these discount plans can be had by visiting http://www.health-dental-discount-plans.com



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Health care costs are an issue that every business faces-from the smallest nonprofit to the corner family-owned drug store to major corporations. A new trend is taking shape in which employers take the initiative in encouraging employees to "own" their health. Part of this strategy involves recognizing that insurance alone cannot create a healthy workforce. Employees must be encouraged to take ownership of the aspects of their health that can be impacted by their own actions.

So more and more employers are adopting innovative strategies to advise and encourage their employees to make healthy choices in life:

1) By creating intranet systems that inform employees about their health plans while providing individualized fitness and wellness advice;
2) Providing links to health information on the Web;
3) Making gym facilities and nutrition information available to employees;
4) Creating employee newsletters that deal with health issues;
5) Holding health workshops and fairs;
6) Incentivizing healthy choices among employees, such as good diet and exercise, regular medical checkups, and yearly screening.

Companies continue searching for working strategies in these areas. One Detroit-based holding company, adopting the last-named strategy above, recently embarked on an innovative program which it calls the Million Minute Challenge.

Many people know how easy it is to make resolutions about exercise-and how hard it may be to keep them. Hard-working, competitive American employees, who pour their energy into their jobs, know that career and personal demands can make it hard to dedicate the time to exercise. Still, it is important to get the doctor-recommended thirty minutes of physical activity per day. For all types of workers, including those white collar workers who may spend hours in front of a computer, sitting at a desk, taking a half-an-hour to rejuvenate may have great impacts on physical health and energy levels.

With the Million Minute Challenge, one of the foundational principles of modern business is used to encourage employees to make that sometimes-hard, healthy decision: competition. Divisions of the company are being positioned against each other, with those divisions whose employees log the highest number of hours of exercise being eligible for prizes. Individuals who log heroically high number of hours will also be awarded. Over a nearly six-month period (twenty-four weeks), working with a base of two thousand employees nationwide, the company has set the ambitious goal of logging a million total hours of exercise. No particular sport is mandated: you can walk, swim, cycle, run, lift weights ... Each company site will have a log book, where the minutes of exercise are written by each individual employee on an honor system.


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