June/July 2001

Bush Mulls Medicare Rating System

Washington - The Bush administration is considering a plan to rate nursing homes, dialysis centers and other Medicare providers and make the information available to consumers. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Tommy Thompson said recently that any rating system would be part of the administration's proposal to overhaul Medicare.

"There are going to be a lot of changes," he said. "Ratings are something that we are considering."

Thomas Scully, the newly installed chief of the Medicare agency, said the Bush administration plans overhauls that include cracking down on fraudulent providers and beefing up the Internet and 800-phone service the agency uses to get health-care data to beneficiaries.

Currently, the government relies on data collected from private and government organizations that survey health plans and their customers. For example, consumers are asked whether their insurers return phone calls or help them in other ways.

Source: Associated Press

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