Content about United States Department of Health and Human Services

BALTIMORE — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday formally established the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

Established by the Affordable Care Act, the Innovation Center is charged with finding new ways of delivering health care and paying healthcare providers in an effort to save money for Medicare and Medicaid while improving the quality of care. CMS also announced the launch of new demonstration projects that will support efforts to better coordinate care and improve health outcomes for patients.

WASHINGTON The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday expanded Medicare coverage of evidence-based tobacco-cessation counseling, removing a barrier to treatment for all tobacco users covered by Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced.

WASHINGTON The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday awarded $10 million to 10 national nonprofit organizations to support public health efforts to reduce tobacco use and reduce obesity through increased physical activity and improved nutrition.

These competitive awards are part of the HHS Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative, a prevention and wellness initiative funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

WASHINGTON The expansion of Medicaid under the new health-reform law significantly will increase the number of people covered by the program and will markedly reduce the uninsured in states across the country, with the federal government picking up the overwhelming majority of the cost, according to a state-by-state analysis released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.