Reform Rodeo

March 4, 2010 by Jordan Cohen · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Reform Rodeo

Photo by David Monniaux

1. The Final Push: Kaiser Health News compiles the latest news stories detailing the final push that is underway by Democrats and the White House to try and pass their comprehensive health reform plan.

2. Rep. Paul Ryan: Ezra Klein interviews Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin; the two discuss the economic impact of the Democrats’ health reform plan.

3. Abortion: Tim Jost does a yeoman’s job of laying out the differences between the House and Senate bills regarding abortion funding.

4. Health Summit Redux: Ewe Reinhardt discusses the lessons learned from the Health Summit.

5. Health IT: John Halamka covers the new HITECH-related NPRM that HHS recently released. The newest NPRM deals with the process of certifying EHR systems under the CMS’s incentive-based framework for meaningful EHR use.

6. Health IT Review: For those trying to catch up on health IT developments, Computerworld has a critical yet thorough account of the high speed push towards EHR adoption.

7. Isn’t That Nice: A feel good story about the The Oracle of Omaha and Dr. Atul Gawande.

Tags: Health Care Reform, Health Reform, House Bill, Obama Administration, Reform Rodeo, Senate Bill, The HITECH Act

Reform Rodeo

February 7, 2010 by Jordan Cohen · 1 Comment
Filed under: Health Reform, Reform Rodeo

Photo by David Monniaux

1a. Health Reform Post-Brown: Kaiser Health News Staff Writer Jenny Gold discusses the Democrats’ seemingly new strategy of focusing on repealing health insurers’ antitrust exemption.

2. Bending the Curve, Success Story: Maggie Mahar over at Health Beat has a wonderful overview of Maryland’s successful approach to reducing health care costs.

3. Comparative Effectiveness: Dr. Nortin Hadler offers a forceful and nuanced view on the role of comparative effectiveness research.

4. Medicare and Technology: The New England Journal of Medicine has an interesting piece on how Medicare determines which health-related technologies to reimburse.

5. Quack Attack: Over at Science-based Medicine, Dr. Steven Novella covers the retraction of Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 article that claimed to link autism with the mumps-measles-rubella (MMR) vaccine.

6. Neuro News: The New York Times reports on how new studies may question some bedside techniques used to diagnosis the degree of brain activity in severely brain-injured patients.

7. Bonus: For those interested in more health-related links, Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters hosts the current Health Wonk Review

Tags: Health Care Reform, Health Policy Community, Health Reform, Reform Rodeo

Kaiser
The Commowealth Fund
- Rethinking the Management of Foundation Endowments
  As the implications of the 2008–09 financial crisis for the world economy and markets have become clearer, many foundation executives and investment committees are reassessing their approach to endowment management.
- 100 Percent of Primary Care Doctors in Denmark Use Electronic Medical Records
  All primary care doctors in Denmark use electronic medical records and 98 percent have the ability to electronically manage patient care—including ordering prescriptions, drafting notes about patient visits, and sending appointment reminders. In addition, almost all medical communication between primary care doctors, specialists, and hospitals is electroni […]
- Widespread Adoption of Information Technology in Primary Care Physician Offices in Denmark: A Case Study
  Denmark is one of the world's leading countries in the use of health care technology. Virtually all Danish primary care physicians have electronic medical records with full clinical functionality.
- Measurement Framework: Evaluating Efficiency Across Patient-Focused Episodes of Care
  This consensus report lays the groundwork for a measurement framework that evaluates efficiency, and ultimately value, across patient-focused episodes of care. This framework will help key stakeholders move toward a high-performing healthcare system that is patient-centered, focused on quality, mindful of costs, and vigilant against waste.
- The Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project: Supporting Mental Health Treatment in Primary Care
  Massachusetts has successfully demonstrated the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project, a program that provides timely telephonic psychiatric and clinical guidance to primary care providers treating children with mental health problems. This study looks into the development and implementation of the project.
RWJF Health Reform News
- Millions Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care
  The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes will help determine the fate of President Obama’s top domestic priority.
- State Lawmakers Try to Head Off Health Bill
  In a backlash against President Obama's health care legislation that stretches from Virginia to California, lawmakers in more than two-thirds of the states are scrambling to undercut the bill before it even passes Congress.
- GOP to Use Amendments as Tactic
  Capitol Hill Republicans are crafting hundreds of amendments in hopes of tripping up the health care overhaul if Democrats scrape up the votes needed to resuscitate the long-stalled measure by week's end.
- Undecided Democrats Hold Power Over Health Bill
  After all the presidential speeches and high-level negotiations, the fate of President Obama's health care legislation now rests with a handful of House Democrats whose names few will recognize outside their districts.
- Homestretch Scramble for House Votes
  Barack Obama faces the stiffest test of his first-term agenda — and a defining moment in his presidency — as Democratic Party leaders mount a fevered campaign this week to round up votes for a historic health care bill.
NY Times Health Policy
- Millions Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care
  Advertising takes aim at about 40 House Democrats who will help determine the fate of the health care bill.
- Economic View: Managed Care: Get Used to It
  Like it or not, more cost control looks likely to flourish in any health plan, Tyler Cowen says.
- Senate Parliamentarian in a Starring Role as Health Care Bill Referee
  As the health care drama enters its final act, Alan S. Frumin, the Senate parliamentarian, is in a starring role.
- As Health Vote Awaits, Future of a Presidency Waits, Too
  Win or lose on health care, President Obama will face a vastly different political landscape after the fate of his plan is decided.
- Pelosi Predicts a Health Bill Within 10 Days
  The White House and Congressional leaders put Democrats on notice that they would push ahead next week toward climactic votes on health care legislation.
WaPo Health
- Project to get transplant organs from ER patients raises ethics questions
  In the hope of expanding a controversial form of organ donation into emergency rooms around the United States, a federally funded project has begun trying to obtain kidneys, livers and possibly other body parts from car-accident victims, heart-attack fatalities and other urgent-care patients.
- A few setbacks and changes in routine to lose 10 pounds
  Me Minus 10 got off to a rocky start two weeks ago: No sooner had I pledged to lose 10 pounds than I got, first, a GI-tract malady and then a wicked head cold (both now resolved). Neither helped me mentally or physically. Nor did learning, upon purchase of a new scale, that I have 12, not 10 poun...
- On health-care reform, Republicans target Democrats' division over reconciliation
  As Republicans work to prevent a health-care bill from reaching President Obama, they are scrambling to exploit divisions between Democrats in the House and the Senate.
- Book review: Susan Okie reviews "We've Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication," by Judith Warner
  Instead of an epidemic of over-treatment, Warner describes an epidemic of under-treatment of children with mental illness.
- A patient's death prompts a doctor to assess 'Do Not Resuscitate' orders
  The emergency department is always noisy, but sudden screams from a staffer still get attention. The triage nurse is yelling, "Not breathing, had vitals at triage and just croaked," as she runs toward us pushing a wheelchair. In it, a pale, thin man is slumped over and looking gray. I'm the atten...
Boston Globe Health Blog
- Patient satisfaction and saying 'no'
  Rating your doctor in a patient satisfaction survey is increasingly common follow-up to an office visit or hospital stay. Studies link higher scores to a lower likelihood of malpractice suits and some doctors' compensation is tied to how well their...
- In case you missed it
  In the Sunday GlobeWith mixed feelings, surgeons in training at Massachusetts General Hospital have cut back to 80-hour weeks after a national accrediting agency put their program on probation for violating patient-protection rules that limit trainees' work hours.Una S. Ryan,...
- Today's health and science
  In G HealthOur negative perceptions of our elders may have adverse effects on our own long-term health, according to a growing body of research.Which beverages are the worst for teeth?Matthew K. Nock is driven by one striking fact: More people...
LA Times Health Blog
- A new genetic test for autism is a big improvement but still has a long way to go
  For a reality check on how much scientists know about the genetics of autism, consider a study being published in Monday’s edition of the journal Pediatrics. The study reports that a kind of genetic testing method known as a chromosomal...
- Skin transplants help patients with vitiligo
  Transplants of healthy skin cells from elsewhere on the body can alleviate the signs of vitiligo, a disfiguring loss of color in the skin, researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit reported Tuesday at a Miami meeting of the American...
- Drugs in pre-diabetics do little to slow progression to diabetes or to heart disease, study finds
  A combination of drugs that researchers hoped would delay progression to diabetes and/or heart disease in people with impaired glucose tolerance provided little benefit, researchers reported Sunday at an Atlanta meeting of the American College of Cardiology. The findings were...
Health Affairs Blog
- Three Cheers For Individual Health Insurance
  The most significant and most radical change to the health care system that President Obama is proposing is to virtually eliminate the market for individual insurance and replace it with a highly-regulated health insurance exchange. But why would anyone want to do that? One reason is the persistent myth that the market for individual insurance is [...]
- Rising Individual Market Premiums: Two Competing Narratives
  Anthem Blue Cross of California, the largest health insurance company in California, recently announced plans to increase insurance premiums by as much as 39 percent for people insured in their non-group health insurance plans. This dramatic and unprecedented premium increase has received substantial media attention as well as scrutiny and ire from policymak […]
- Gregg: Use Medicare Cuts To Plug Budget Gap
  Democratic proposals to cut Medicare spending are good policy, said New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, at a Health Affairs Media Breakfast this morning. The problem, according to Gregg, is that Democrats want to use the money saved to fund new benefits under health reform legislation, rather than [...]
- Radiation Hazards Illustrate Need For Industry-Wide Safety Response
  Editor’s Note: In addition to Peter Pronovost (photo and biography above), authors of this post include Julius Pham, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Sara Singer, Assistant Professor, Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, Massachusetts General Hospital; Jerod Loeb […]
- Shock Me, Tube Me, Line Me: An ER Doc Reassesses DNRs
  In “Shock Me, Tube Me, Line Me,” a Narrative Matters essay in the February 2010 issue of Health Affairs, emergency physician Boris Veysman sets forth his own version of an advance directive and challenges common perceptions about care at the end of life. An excerpted version of Veysman’s essay appears in today’s Washington Post Health [...]
Tags
CEO Compensation Chronic Conditions CMS Cost Control Drug & Device Drug and Device Elderly Electronic Medical Records EMR FDA Fraud and Abuse Government Agencies Governmental Reports Health Care Health Care Reform Health IT Health Law Health Policy Community Health Reform HHS Hospital Finances Industry Sources Lobbyist Max Baucus Medicaid Medical Device Medical Journals Medicare National Newspapers & Media Obama Obama Administration Pharma Physician Compensation Prescription Drugs preventive care Private Insurance Proposed Legislation Public Option Public Plan Quality Improvement Seton Hall Law State Initiatives Think Tanks Tim Greaney Uninsured
Meta

HEALTH REFORM WATCH

Reform Rodeo

Reform Rodeo

Recent Posts

Best of Blogosphere

Best of Journals

Best of Magazines

Best of Newspapers

Blogs of Note

Health Reform Plans

News Sources

Resources

Scholarship

Wordpress

Categories

Kaiser

The Commowealth Fund

RWJF Health Reform News

NY Times Health Policy

WaPo Health

Boston Globe Health Blog

LA Times Health Blog

Health Affairs Blog

Meta