October 18th, 2010 by Shadowfax in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACO, Elliot Fisher, Emergency Medicine, Fee-For-Service System, General Medicine, Health Affairs, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Quality, Healthcare reform, Independent Practice Associations, Integrated Delivery Systems, Multispecialty Group Practices, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Physician-Hospital Organizations, PPACA, Virtual Physician Organizations
No Comments »
Those of you who’ve read this blog for any length of time know that I have been a pretty strong advocate for healthcare reform. This has been primarily motivated by my passion for universal coverage, but also with my frustration with the cost of the current healthcare system, the generally crummy outcomes, and the overall level of fragmentation in the whole affair.
Even today, I had to repeat blood tests on a cancer patient who came to the ER. He had had blood tests at the cancer center ACROSS THE STREET before presenting, but, so sorry, our computers don’t talk to theirs and it’s after 5pm now, so forget about getting those results.
So it’s with a mixture of enthusiasm and dread that I consider the coming onslaught of accountable care organizations (ACOs). What are ACOs? They’re the buzzword of the day, that’s for sure. Everybody knows they’re the next big thing. They’re coming. We’ll all be in an ACO by next Tuesday for sure. It’ll be nirvana. Right? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
October 18th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Apolitical, Cardiovascular Risk, Coke, Dr. John Mandrola, Food Stamps, Government Safety Nets, Government-Dependent, Government-Sponsored, Health of Americans, Heart Attacks, Michael Bloomberg, New York City, NYC, Obesity-Fostering, Public Health, Public Smoking Ban, Soft Drinks, State-Supported, Trans Fats Ban, U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, Wall Street Journal, Wellness Promotion
No Comments »
You can be for freedom. You can be for smaller government that intrudes less. You can be for lower taxes. You can be for most anything, but if you’re interested in improving the sagging health of American citizens, get on Michael Bloomberg’s wheel.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, NYC mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bar city residents from using food stamps to buy sugary soft drinks. It turns out that last year $135 million in food stamp money was used for the consumption of these obesity-fostering beverages in NYC alone.
Mr Bloomberg is morphing into a real-world public health super star. Previously, he was a pioneer in banning smoking in restaurants and bars. They said it could not be done, or that it wouldn’t work. Well, the naysayers were dead wrong. Now public smoking bans our commonplace and, backed by objective data, are accepted as having prevented thousands of heart attacks. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
October 18th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: ACP Advocate, American College Of Physicians, Bob Doherty, comparative effectiveness research, Health Affairs, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare reform, Less-Effective Care, Less-Effective Treatments, Medicare, Medicare Payment Fix, Medicare Reimbursement, Medicare's Agnosticism, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, PPACA, Rationed Care, Wall Street Journal Health Blog
No Comments »
From its inception, Medicare has been agnostic about the effectiveness of different treatments when it sets payment rates. Once a treatment is found to be “reasonable and necessary,” Medicare establishes a payment rate that takes into account complexity and other “inputs” that go into delivering the service. But it is prohibited by law from varying payments based on how well an intervention works.
This would change under a “dynamic pricing” approach proposed by two experts in this month’s issue of Health Affairs. The article itself is available only to Health Affairs subscribers, but the Wall Street Journal health blog has a good summary.
The researchers propose that Medicare pay more for therapies with “superior” results and the same for two therapies with comparable effectiveness. A new service without any evidence on its relative effectiveness would be reimbursed in the usual way for the first three years, during which research would be conducted on its comparative effectiveness. If such research found that the service was less effective than other interventions, Medicare would have the authority to reduce payments. If it was found to be more effective, Medicare could pay more than for other available interventions. The WSJ blog gives an example of how this would work. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
October 17th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: 20-Year-Old Embryo, Amendment 62, Assisted Reproductive Technology, Biological Development, Birth Control Pills, Colorado, Cryopreserved Embryo Birth, Dr. Peggy Polaneczky, Embryo Cryopreservation, Human Being, In Vitro Fertilization, IUD, Personhood Rights Bill, Reproductive Health, The Blog That Ate Manhattan
No Comments »
There appears to be a new record for a cryopreserved embryo birth. From NPR:
In 1990 a couple underwent In Vitro Fertilization. They eventually had a healthy baby. They also, as is common, had a number of microscopic embryos that hadn’t been implanted, but were viable. They decided to anonymously donate them. Now, one of those embryos has produced a little boy, 20 years after being created.
In other embryo-related news, Colorado has another personhood rights bill (Amendment 62) on the ballot for November:
As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the term “person” shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.
So here’s my question: Under the proposed Colorado amendment, would this kid be legal to drink on his first birthday? I’m just sayin’…
Seriously, Colorado — just say “no” to Amendment 62. Its proponents plan to use it to try and outlaw birth control pills and IUDs.
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
October 15th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Aetna, BCS Insurance, Cigna, Dr. Wes Fisher, Emergency Physicians Monthly, EP Monthly, General Medicine, GruntDoc, Health Insurance Companies, Health Insurance Coverage, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Law, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Premiums, Healthcare reform, Insurance Industry, Obamacare, Un-Insurance Reform, WesMusings
No Comments »
Who doesn’t need insurance reform? Why, the insurers like Aetna, Cigna, and BCS Insurance, that’s who! From Emergency Physicians Monthly:
By threatening to raise health care premiums by 200 percent or threatening to drop coverage altogether, the companies got the Department of Health and Human Services to cave. Now the companies have our government’s blessing to continue offering “insurance” to their employees that is capped at a few thousand dollars per year instead of the $750,000 required in the health care law.
Perhaps GruntDoc said it best:
“I am not an Obamacare fan, and would like it repealed, with smaller, more focused Bipartisan fixes, but if the government is going to pass something then roll over this easily to special interests… it’s already worse than useless.”
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
