February 28th, 2010 by DavidHarlow in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Health Reform Law, Hospitals, Massachusetts, Paul Levy, Price Variation
No Comments »
The Massachusetts health reform law, Part II – enacted in 2008 – laid the groundwork for cost control and quality improvement, as a follow-on to the initial legislation’s emphasis on achieving near-universal coverage. The legislation authorized several studies — including a report published a few months back on global payment strategies — and set the stage for hearings on health care cost containment to be held before the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP), which are scheduled to begin March 16, 2010.
Update 2/18/10: Paul Levy posted a series of questions DHCFP would like hospitals to answer at the hearings at Running a Hospital. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
February 28th, 2010 by Richard Cooper, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Dartmouth Atlas, Epidemiology, Healthcare reform, Peter Orszag
1 Comment »
An important article appeared in the NYT recently, describing a new paper by Peter Bach, which is in today’s NEJM. Peter’s paper (“A Map to Bad Policy“) debunks the Dartmouth Atlas and cautions against its use. As I said in the Wash Post in September, the Dartmouth Atlas is the ”Wrong Map for Health Care Reform.”
More damning even than Peter’s analysis was Elliott Fisher’s reply: “Dr. Fisher agreed that the current Atlas measures should not be used to set hospital payment rates, and that looking at the care of patients at the end of life provides only limited insight into the quality of care provided to those patients. He said he and his colleagues should not be held responsible for the misinterpretation of their data.” Really? It was someone else’s interpretation? OK, Elliott, you’re not responsible. Just stand in the corner. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*
February 26th, 2010 by Debra Gordon in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Costs, Emergency Medicine, Health Insurance, uninsured, With Insurance, Without Insurance
11 Comments »
$2600.
$544.
Look carefully at those two numbers. The first is the sum of three bills I received for my husband’s day-after-Christmas visit to the emergency room for unusual dizziness. A CT and EKG ruled out a stroke or heart attack. Diagnosis? Vertigo.
(Note: both figures will likely be much higher once all the bills come in, but I needed a blog post so I’m going with what I’ve got now).
Now look at the second figure. That’s what I have to pay after the discounts my insurance company has negotiated with the hospital and radiologists. Note: there are no payments from the insurance company in there because we had not yet met our deductible. These are just the discounts. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at A Medical Writer's Musings on Medicine and Health Care*
February 26th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Bariatric Surgery, Failed Weight Loss, Gastric Bypass, Internal Medicine, Personal Choice, Super Obese
No Comments »
What are some excellent weight loss options? I’m a true believer in diet and exercise. When you burn more calories than you consume on a daily basis, the laws of chemistry, physics, and all other natural sciences say that you will lose weight.
There’s also the option for gastric bypass, which is really nothing more than a really expensive way to make you stop eating so much. If you don’t exercise while you diet, or don’t continue to exercise after you stop dieting, your body will eventually slow down its metabolism and weight loss will become harder and harder. You will gain your weight back. Some people have literally eaten their way through a gastric bypass procedure and find themselves right back at square one. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Happy Hospitalist*
February 25th, 2010 by BobDoherty in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Gingrich, Goodman, GOP, Healthcare reform, Obama, Republicans, Summit
No Comments »
It looks as if President Obama’s plans for a February 25 bipartisan summit on health care will move forward, even as Republican leaders continue to express reservations.
The kicker is that the President is asking the GOP to show how it would “put a stop to insurance company abuses, extend coverage to millions of Americans, get control of skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reduce the deficit” (italics added by me). Many Republicans don’t view expanding coverage as a principal goal of health care reform. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty*
