Some States Will Rate Health Plans On Quality This Fall
Kaiser Health News
February 28, 2013
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/February/28/states-to-rate-health-plans-on-quality.aspx
This fall, health insurers in a few states will be seeing stars. Not the celestial kind, but stars that reflect their scores on quality measures designed to help consumers make better-informed decisions about what coverage to buy. In Oregon, for instance, insurers will get one to four stars depending on their screening rates for breast cancer, flu shot delivery and complaint resolution, among other measures. Maryland is considering ranking insurers on how they deal with chronic illnesses and interact with minority groups. Colorado will rate them based on a federal consumer satisfaction survey.
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Another Big Step in Reshaping Health Care
The Wall Street Journal
February 28, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323699704578328693720458354.html
Hospitals and health insurers are locking horns over how much health-care providers will get paid under new insurance plans that will be sold as the federal health law is rolled out. The results will play a major role in determining how much insurers will ultimately charge consumers for these policies, which will be offered to individuals through so-called exchanges in each state. The upshot: Many plans sold on the exchanges will include smaller choices of health-care providers in an effort to bring down premiums.
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Regulators assert new power to seize assets of fraudulent healthcare pools
The Hill
February 28, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/healthcare/285507-dol-steps-up-enforcement-of-small-employer-healthcare-plans
Federal regulators will now have the power to freeze the assets of fraudulent or abusive small-business healthcare pools, according to a new rule to be published Friday.
The Department of Labor (DOL) is issuing two final rules authorized by the healthcare reform law that aim to protect small-business employers and their employees from predatory health benefit arrangements.
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I thought I understood health care. Then my Mom went into the ICU.
The Washington Post
February 28, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-thought-i-understood-health-care-then-my-mom-went-into-the-icu/2013/02/27/e7d44510-7a3a-11e2-9a75-dab0201670da_story.html
My father, sister and I sat in the near-empty Chinese restaurant, picking at our plates, unable to avoid the question that we’d gathered to discuss: When was it time to let Mom die? It had been a grueling day at the hospital, watching — praying — for any sign that my mother would emerge from her coma. Three days earlier she’d been admitted for nausea; she had a nasty cough and was having trouble keeping food down. But while a nurse tried to insert a nasogastric tube, her heart stopped. She required CPR for nine minutes. Even before I flew into town, a ventilator was breathing for her, and intravenous medication was keeping her blood pressure steady. Hour after hour, my father, my sister and I tried talking to her, playing her favorite songs, encouraging her to squeeze our hands or open her eyes.
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Pharmacy Chains Push Into Health Care
The Wall Street Journal
February 28, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323293704578332601939386228.html
Pharmacy chains are branching out into health-care services, as a way to counter a slowdown in prescription drug sales and evolve beyond just dispensing pills. In the most recent development, Rite Aid Corp. RAD +2.44% will open 58 stores, across four markets, which contain in-store clinics providing virtual doctor visits conducted via Web camera. The walk-in clinics—which charge patients $45 for a 10-minute chat with a doctor on a computer monitor—will be rolled out Friday in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Previously, Rite Aid had piloted the virtual clinics in nine stores in the Detroit area.
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Sequestration will hit health care in Maryland
The Baltimore Sun
February 28, 2013
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/maryland-health/bs-hs-sequester-health-cuts-20130228,0,4305856.story
The chief financial officer at Anne Arundel Medical Center is watching the fight over federal spending closely. If the federal government goes through with sequestration cuts beginning today, Maryland stands to lose millions of dollars in health-related funding that could leave hospitals such as Anne Arundel Medical Center looking for ways to make up lost revenue without weakening medical care.
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Healthcare and Politics Do Not Mix
Townhall
February 28, 2013
http://townhall.com/columnists/halscherz/2013/02/28/healthcare-and-politics-do-not-mix-n1522256
Make no mistake about it- the Obama administration’s Medicaid expansion plan at the state level is not about providing healthcare insurance coverage to those who do not currently have it, and it certainly has nothing to do with compassion. It is about control and dependency. It is about expanding the rolls of Americans who rely on government subsidized healthcare. It is about moving forward with the Affordable Care Act which will ultimately touch every American but will be controlled from Washington DC.
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Arkansas to use federal funds for exchange
Politico
February 28, 2013
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/arkansas-to-use-federal-funds-for-exchange-88196.html?hp=l16
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe’s office says the state has received approval from Health and Human Services to take federal Medicaid expansion money and use it to buy private coverage for low-income residents through the state’s insurance exchange. Beebe’s idea isn’t partial expansion, which HHS has already said states can’t do if they want the federal funds. But the state would take the federal dollars for Medicaid expansion to provide private coverage through an insurance exchange to hundreds of thousands of residents who earn less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
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Key Senate panel to consider Medi-Cal expansion
Los Angeles Times
February 27, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-key-senate-panel-to-consider-medical-expansion-20130227,0,2988391.story
A key Senate panel will consider legislation Wednesday that would dramatically expand Medi-Cal, the state's public insurance program for the poor. The proposal, authored by state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) and Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), is part of a legislative package that aims to help California implement President Obama's healthcare overhaul. Beginning in January 2014, the federal Affordable Care Act requires most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. Gov. Jerry Brown has called a special session of the Legislature so healthcare bills that he signs can take effect within 90 days rather than next year.
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Parties Focus on the Positive as Budget Cuts Draw Near
The New York Times
February 27, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/politics/parties-focus-on-the-positive-as-budget-cuts-near.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&_r=0
With time running short and little real effort under way to avert automatic budget cuts that take effect Friday, substantial and growing wings of both parties are learning to live with — if not love — the so-called sequester. “It’s going to happen,” said Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and a leading conservative voice in the House. “It’s not the end of the world.”
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Cuts coming: With time short, Senate scuttles rival plans to head off the automatic reductions
The Washington Post
February 27, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/with-budget-cuts-imminent-congress-turning-to-avoiding-government-shutdown-in-less-than-month/2013/02/27/b0aa0258-8144-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html
Squabbling away the hours, the Senate swatted aside last-ditch plans to block $85 billion in broad-based federal spending reductions Thursday as President Barack Obama and Republicans blamed each other for the latest outbreak of gridlock and the administration readied plans to put the cuts into effect. So entrenched were the two parties that the Senate chaplain, Barry Black, opened the day’s session with a prayer that beseeched a higher power to intervene.
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'Sequester' cuts to hit healthcare hard
Los Angeles Times
February 27, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-healthcare-cuts-20130228,0,3004259.story
As the Obama administration begins to implement $85 billion in cuts to federal spending this year, no part of the budget other than defense will take a bigger hit than healthcare. And the so-called sequester appears likely to have a disproportionate effect on areas of the health system already hobbled by years of retrenchment or underfunding, including public health and medical research.
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The dog that didn’t bark: For Medicare providers, looming cuts less painful than budget deal
The Washington Post
February 27, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-dog-that-didnt-bark-for-medicare-providers-looming-cuts-less-painful-than-budget-deal/2013/02/27/77364574-8110-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html
Hospitals, doctors and other Medicare providers are on the hook for a 2 percent cut under looming government spending reductions. But they’re not raising a ruckus. Why? The pain could be a lot worse if President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans actually did reach a sweeping agreement to reduce federal deficits.
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Iowa Senate committee passes Medicaid expansion
Sioux City Journal
February 27, 2013
http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/iowa/iowa-senate-committee-passes-medicaid-expansion/article_e21151e4-180f-5f10-b57d-c8efceeeabcd.html
Calling it “the moral thing to do,” Senate Democrats pushed a Medicaid expansion bill out of committee on a strict party-line vote Wednesday. The move came the same day the Iowa Hospital Association released a poll that showed a majority of Iowans favor expansion — 56 percent to 32 percent — of the program as called for in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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GAO: Medicare remains ‘high-risk’ for over $44 billion in ‘improper payments’
The Daily Caller
February 27, 2013
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/27/gao-medicare-remains-high-risk-for-over-44-billion-in-improper-payments/
Medicare remains a “high-risk” federal program due to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ failure to lower Medicare’s rate of improper payments, which totaled over $44 billion in 2012, according to the Government Accountability Office. “CMS has not met GAO’s criteria to have the Medicare program removed from the High-Risk List. For example, although CMS has made progress in measuring and reducing improper payment rates in different parts of the program, it has yet to demonstrate sustained progress in lowering the rates,” according to GAO’s written testimony before the House Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday.
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Oklahoma House Committee Passes Obamacare Nullification, 8-5
Tenth Amendment Center
February 27, 2013
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2013/02/oklahoma-house-committee-passes-obamacare-nullification-8-5/
Today, the Oklahoma House committee on States’ Rights had a hearing on House Bill 2073 (HB2073), introduced by State Representative Dan Fisher. The bill would declare unconstitutional the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare – and require the state legislature to “adopt and enact any and all measures as may be necessary to prevent” its enforcement within the State. After some sharp discussion and debate, the committee passed the bill by a vote of 8-5. HB2073 will now be sent to the Calendar committee which will need to approve the bill before sending it to the full Oklahoma State House for a floor debate and vote. (action items below)
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Panel OKs $31M for Michigan health care exchange
AP
February 27, 2013
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/245334/2/Panel-OKs-31M-for-MI-health-care-exchange-
A Michigan legislative panel has voted to spend $31 million to help build a health insurance marketplace required under the contentious federal health care overhaul. Wednesday's 24-3 vote by the House Appropriations Committee signals the Republican-led Legislature may be ready to go along with Gov. Rick Snyder's plan to pursue a partnership exchange controlled almost entirely by the federal government.
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A Health Care Entitlement Worth Ending
Health Affairs Blog
February 27, 2013
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2013/02/27/a-health-care-entitlement-worth-ending/
The “fiscal cliff” deal raised taxes on households earning more than $450,000 a year and sheltered everyone else from an automatic income tax increase. Tough decisions about spending were put off until March 1, the new deadline by which Congress must take deficit-cutting action if it is to avoid automatic across-the-board sequestration cuts. One of the biggest bones of contention is what to do about entitlement spending, particularly Medicare. Many Republicans want to raise the age of Medicare eligibility to 67. President Obama and congressional Democrats do not.
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GOP doctors slam 'ObamaCare' in 'healthcare state of the union'
The Hill
February 27, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/285261-gop-doctors-slam-obamacare-in-health-care-state-of-the-union
House Republican doctors released a "healthcare state of the union" video Wednesday that criticizes President Obama's signature healthcare law but does not mention repealing it.
The video shows floor speeches from frequent critics of the healthcare law, including Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). It shows lawmakers arguing that the Affordable Care Act will raise costs and criticizing its taxes on medical devices.
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OSHA promises to protect workers who report healthcare reform law violations
The Hill
February 27, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/administration/285267-osha-promises-to-protect-workers-who-blow-whistle-on-obamacare-violations
Workers who blow the whistle on violations of the healthcare law will be protected from retaliation by the federal government, according to new rules issued on Wednesday.
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is encouraging people to turn in employers who fail to abide by the rules set in the Affordable Care Act.
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The Changing Politics Of Health Care
NPR
February 27, 2013
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/27/173069963/the-changing-politics-of-health-care
After vocal GOP opposition to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, three prominent Republican governors recently signed-on to one key element of the law. NPR Political Junkie Ken Rudin and NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner explain on the shifting politics of health care.
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Very Last Word: How to make healthcare a buyers’ market
MSNBC
February 27, 2013
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/27/very-last-word-how-to-make-healthcare-a-buyers-market/
On Tuesday’s Very Last Word, Steven Brill, author of the article “Bitter pill: Why medical bills are killing us,” explained how the sellers’ market of health care could be transformed into a buyers’ market with help from the federal government.
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Obamacare is ramping up a health-care turf war
The Washington Post
February 27, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/27/how-obamacare-is-ramping-up-a-health-care-turf-war/
The Affordable Care Act will extend health insurance to millions of Americans — a number that grows weekly with Republican governors signing onto the Medicaid expansion. Health policy experts expect that increased insurance coverage will lead to increased demand for health care. Once a patient has access to health insurance coverage, the thinking goes, she or he will be more likely to turn up seeking care.
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Health care exchange: Michigan House panel starts state's process of approving federal money
MLive
February 27, 2013
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/health_care_exchange_michigan.html
Lawmakers in the Michigan Legislature have taken an initial step toward authorizing the use of a federal grant related to a health insurance exchange required under the federal Affordable Care Act. The bill approved Wednesday by the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee includes nearly $31 million in federal money related to setting up an exchange through a state-federal partnership. The bill next advances to the House floor.
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Obamacare Is Raising Healthcare Costs, Not Lowering Them
U.S. News & World Report
February 26, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2013/02/26/obamacare-is-raising-healthcare-costs-not-lowering-them
No one really knows how much Obamacare is going to cost the American government or the American people. All we really know for certain, something that a number of public and private econometric studies have backed up, is that it will be more expensive than the president led us to believe it would be. There are efforts underway to establish the true costs, or at least to help the American people understand what the out-of-pockets expense will be for them. In early February the House Ways and Means Committee started a website, Obamacare Burden Tracker as a real-time resource to "help the public keep track of all of the new government mandates, rules, and red tape" resulting from the new healthcare law.
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Health care Twitter depends on who’s Tweeting
Politico
February 26, 2013
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/health-care-twitter-depends-on-whos-tweeting-88065.html
Lawmakers, doctors and journalists send out tweets by the millions on health care and health reform — but the three groups don’t have the same take on Twitter, according to a new analysis.
Botox comes up a lot more among doctors. Pfizer and Merck pop up among a sampling of health journalists. And Medicare dominates lawmakers’ health tweets — occurring more frequently than unemployment, abortion or even Obamacare. Medicaid expansion also scored big in recent months.
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How vulnerable are you to health care catastrophe?
CBS
February 26, 2013
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505146_162-57571222/how-vulnerable-are-you-to-health-care-catastrophe/
Citizens like us get handed bills for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Items that may cost $300 cost you over $13,000. Ordinary acetaminophen pills are marked up 10,000 percent. "Nonprofit" hospitals have profit margins that would be the envy of any CEO on Wall Street. You'll read these stories and many more in a disturbing article that came out this week in Time magazine titled "Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us."
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GOP officials: Delay health care law as cost-saver
The Washington Times
February 26, 2013
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/26/gop-officials-delay-health-care-law-cost-saver/
West Virginia’s state attorney general Tuesday called on President Obama to delay the implementation of his signature health care law, the latest in a chorus of Republicans arguing that slowing down the new law is a way to ease the looming crisis over sequester spending cuts.
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States Saying No to Health care Marketplaces is Good News
The Huffington Post
February 26, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-kirsch/states-saying-no-to-healt_b_2765349.html
The headlines -- "Many States Say 'No' to Health Insurance Exchanges," to take one example -- make it seem like bad news. But it's not. It is good news that half the states are refusing to have anything to do with the new health insurance marketplaces being set up under the Affordable Care Act. One of the biggest differences between the good version of ObamaCare passed by the House and the mediocre Senate version that became law was the question of whether the federal government or states would run the new health insurance marketplaces (called "exchanges" in the law). But resistance by Republican governors is leading to implementation of the law in a way that is much closer to the vision in the House bill.
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CMS should drop belated attempts to collect overpayments
Fierce Health Finance
February 26, 2013
http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/cms-should-drop-belated-attempts-collect-overpayments/2013-02-26
Had the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System and Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago cheated on their taxes in 2000 and the Internal Revenue Service never followed up, they would already be off the hook. If they had committed armed robbery or a number of violent felonies back in the day and hadn't been prosecuted, they could get on with their lives. Instead, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services wants the hospitals or the state of Illinois to pay up nearly $145 million in disproportionate share Medicaid overpayments because they had overcharged poor patients.
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CMS hands out nearly $300 million for health care innovation awards
Health IT Exchange
February 26, 2013
http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/healthitexchange/healthitpulse/cms-hands-out-nearly-300-million-for-health-care-innovation-awards/
Nearly $300 million will be awarded to states as the first recipients of the state innovation model awards, funded through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services. Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont are receiving the awards to test and expand services like accountable care organizations (ACOs) within their state. The goal of the health care innovation initiative is to improve “health system performance for residents of participating states,” according to the CMS. States will design, test and assess multi-payer, health care delivery services and payment models through the initiative.
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Sessions: Healthcare law will add $6.2 trillion to deficit over 75 years
The Hill
February 26, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/284913-sessions-new-report-will-show-health-law-ups-the-deficit
The Senate Budget Committee's top Republican said a new government report shows that President Obama's healthcare law will add $6.2 trillion to the deficit over the next 75 years. Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.) said numbers from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) prove the Affordable Care Act won't reduce the deficit, as proponents claimed.
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Gov. Christie backs Obama healthcare law Medicaid expansion
The Hill
February 26, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicaid/284963-report-christie-to-back-obamacare-medicaid-expansion
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday became the eighth Republican governor to endorse the Medicaid expansion in President Obama's healthcare law.
Christie's decision is another big political win for Obama and his signature legislative achievement. Although Christie isn't the most conservative governor to accept the Medicaid expansion, he's the most serious contender for the 2016 presidential nomination to sign on.
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CMS Updates Meaningful Use FAQs
Becker’s Hospital Review
February 25, 2013
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/cms-updates-meaningful-use-faqs.html
CMS has added one new question and updated two other questions in its frequently asked questions section regarding the electronic health records meaningful use program. The new question addresses the issue of funding sources states can use to fund the 10 percent non-federal Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health administrative expenditures.
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CMS may seek $225 million in uncollected Medicaid overpayments
McKnight’s Long-Term Care & Assisted Living
February 25, 2013
http://www.mcknights.com/cms-may-seek-225-million-in-uncollected-medicaid-overpayments/article/281612/#
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should press states to repay about $225 million in Medicaid overpayments accrued over a 10-year period, according to a recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG). As of December, CMS had recovered $987 million out of $1.2 billion in Medicaid overpayments verified during fiscal years 2000-2009, according to the OIG report released Feb. 20. The OIG audit review focused on 11 states with a “high dollar amount of sustained overpayments”: Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
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What is the cause of excess costs in health care Part 4 – Time’s “Bitter Pill”, CEO compensation and the Kafkaesque chargemaster
Science Blogs
February 25, 2013
http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2013/02/25/what-is-the-cause-of-excess-costs-in-health-care-part-4-times-bitter-pill-ceo-compensation-and-the-kafkaesque-chargemaster/
Steven Brill’s extensive piece in Time has generated a good discussion once again on why Americans pay so much more for health care than other countries, and while I agree with most of his critiques, he seems to have gotten overly hung-up on the hospital chargemaster. Readers of this blog know I’ve also discussed reform in health care, the diverse sources of excess cost including price gouging on pharmaceuticals, defensive medicine, expensive end-of-life care, the high cost of primary care in the ER etc, and both Brill and I appear to have relied on the same sources of data in the McKinsey report. We’ve also discussed the “hidden tax” of the uninsured, as well as some signs of reform (although of note, my belief that and EMR would reduce waste has proven wrong as the software designers have designed their programs to gouge medicare on behalf of the doctor – increasing costs!).
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Politics sideline panel on healthcare workforce shortages
Fierce Healthcare
February 25, 2013
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/politics-sideline-panel-healthcare-workforce-shortages/2013-02-25
Congressional politics have stymied an independent commission formed to study how shortages of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers complicate the execution of healthcare reform, The New York Times reported Sunday. Created in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, the 15-member National Health Care Workforce Commission has never met--because Congress refused to fund it, the Times reported.
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NY officials: Healthcare scam cheated govt
The Wall Street Journal
February 25, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP532deb1ff2804441b7fdb52e4010b161.html
Authorities say a Medicare and Medicaid scam cheated the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes Jr. says a doctor now faces indictment in the multi-agency investigation. Undercover investigators from the Human Resources Administration posed as patients as part of the three-year probe.
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Week ahead: Slew of healthcare issues await lawmakers
The Hill
February 25, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/284469-week-ahead-slew-of-healthcare-issues-await-lawmakers
Forget the sequester — with Congress back in town this week, there are a bevy of healthcare events concerning everything from delivery-system reform to global health diplomacy. The House will start off the week with a hearing Tuesday on Medicare’s benefit structure, hosted by the Ways and Means subcommittee on Health.
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3 Hill Panels Examining Changes To Medicare
Kaiser Health News
February 25, 2013
http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2013/02/2-hill-panels-examining-changes-to-medicare/
With $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts set to take effect on Friday and predictions of economic disruption, much of official Washington is focused on the “blame game.” Publicly, there has been no sign that Congress or administration officials has made any progress on averting these cuts or finding common ground on tackling the country’s fiscal problems. But there are small signs that Democrats and Republicans are beginning to wrestle with the issue of what role Medicare should play in deficit reduction. Three Capitol Hill committees with jurisdiction over health care have scheduled hearings this week to examine Medicare’s current benefit design and to review provisions in the 2010 health care law aimed at making the program more efficient.
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Canada's universal healthcare may not be so universal after all
Los Angeles Times
February 25, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-sci-sn-rich-favored-over-poor-in-canada-healthcare-20130225,0,7927898.story
You’re more likely to get a doctor’s appointment in Canada if you’re rich than if you’re poor, even though the government pays the bills, according to a new study. In the spring and summer of 2011, a team of Canadian researchers posing as prospective patients cold-called 375 doctors offices in Ontario to schedule a check-up.
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National view: States rightly refuse to enable Obamacare
Deluth News Tribune
February 24, 2013
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/259536/group/Opinion/
Champions of Obamacare want Americans to believe the president’s re-election ended the battle over the law. It did no such thing. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is heavily dependent on the states for its implementation. Republicans hold 30 governorships, and the Republican Governors Association has made it clear it remains highly critical of the health law. Some Republican governors, including Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, are refusing to do the federal government’s bidding. Several Democratic governors, including Missouri’s Jay Nixon and West Virginia’s Earl Ray Tomblin, also have expressed serious concerns.
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Bringing Down Health-Care Costs Isn’t Always Complicated
Bloomberg
February 24, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-24/bringing-down-health-care-costs-isn-t-always-complicated.html
Accustomed as we are to thinking of hospitals as beneficent providers of lifesaving and often charitable care, it comes as a shock to learn how many are engaging in, not to put too fine a point on it, price gouging. As Steven Brill shows in his cover story in this week’s Time magazine, nonprofit hospitals, even more than for-profit ones, chase 12 percent profit margins with eye-popping markups on everything from cardio stress tests to gauze pads.
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Panel on Health Care Work Force, Lacking a Budget, Is Left Waiting
The New York Times
February 24, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/health/health-care-panel-lacking-budget-is-left-waiting.html
One of the biggest threats to the success of President Obama’s health care law comes from shortages of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. But a 15-member commission created to investigate the problem has never met in two and a half years because it has no money from Congress or the administration.
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A Complex Role for Medicare in the Standoff in Washington
The New York Times
February 24, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/us/politics/medicare-is-at-the-heart-of-the-fiscal-fight.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y&_r=0
In some ways, the partisan standoff over looming budget cuts resembles earlier links in the chain of fiscal battles that began two years ago. But the politics of one core dispute between Democrats and Republicans — what to do about Medicare — are changing. And some of those changes complicate President Obama’s agenda, even as he continues to flex his postelection muscle.
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In Florida, a health-care quandary
The Washington Post
February 24, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-florida-a-health-care-quandary/2013/02/24/6ed3e36c-7ec9-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html
Almost overnight, Florida has gone from being an ardent opponent of the federal health-care law to a laboratory for an ambitious experiment under it. If state lawmakers back Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to expand Medicaid, it will be an experiment with a determinedly free-market twist. Scott’s turnabout on Medicaid last Wednesday came a few hours after the federal government tentatively approved his application to fully privatize the federal-state program for the poor.
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Jindal: Delaying Medicaid expansion, health care exchanges could avert sequester
The Washington Post
February 24, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/02/24/jindal-delaying-medicaid-expansion-health-care-exchanges-could-avert-sequester/?tid=pm_politics_pop
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) suggested Sunday that delaying elements of President Obama’s health care law could help avert the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester. “Just delay the Medicaid expansions, delay the health care exchanges so they can work with states on waivers, on flexibility,” Jindal said on NBC News’ “Meet The Press.” “You could save tens of billions of dollars there, and you’re not even cutting a program that’s started yet. Just delay it for a few years.”
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Bill reverses ban on NH operating health exchange under federal health care overhaul law
The Republic
February 24, 2013
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/9ed55476f56e4f92961d0e32a495d308/NH--Health-Overhaul-Exchange
New Hampshire could yet decide to operate its own health care exchange under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law. The House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee is holding a hearing Tuesday on a bill filed by its chairman — Ed Butler, a Democrat from Harts Location. His bill would reverse a Republican-passed law that prohibits the state from operating a health exchange.
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Iowa governor affirms no Medicaid expansion
Modern Healthcare
February 24, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130224/INFO/302229984/iowa-governor-affirms-no-medicaid-expansion
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Saturday that he has told HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that he will not expand Medicaid in Iowa. Branstad met with Sebelius Friday in Washington, and in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press the governor said he again rejected an expansion of Medicaid in Iowa. Branstad said he pressed Sebelius for a federal waiver to continue IowaCare, a health care program that provides limited benefits to 70,000 low income adults in the state. That program is set to expire later this year.
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Jindal: Delaying Obama healthcare law could help offset sequester
The Hill
February 24, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/284565-jindal-delaying-obama-healthcare-law-could-help-offset-sequester
Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) on Sunday proposed delay the implementation of President Obama’s healthcare reform law to help offset the looming sequester cuts. “The president needs to step up to the plate and say to Congress, 'Here's how you can cut $85 billion."' I've got an idea for him,” said Jindal on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Just delay the Medicaid expansions, delay the health care exchanges so they can work with states on waivers, on flexibility. You could save tens of billions of dollars there by-- and you're not even cutting a program that's started yet. Just delay it for a few years.”
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Analysis: Obama, GOP see no need to stop the cuts
Modern Healthcare
February 24, 2013
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130224/INFO/302229985/analysis-obama-gop-see-no-need-to-stop-the-cuts
Unlike in earlier rounds of budget brinkmanship, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans both seem content to fight out their latest showdown on the current terrain, let across-the-board spending cuts take effect on March 1 and allow them to stay in place for weeks if not much longer. This time, there is no market-rattling threat of a government default to force the two sides to compromise, no federal shutdown on the short-term horizon and no year-end deadline for preventing a tax increase for every working American. The rhetoric is reminiscent, for sure.
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Health world braces for sequester
The Hill
February 24, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/284487-health-world-braces-for-sequester
Every corner of the healthcare world has something — and potentially a lot — to lose from the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to hit the government on March 1.
Doctors and hospitals say the sequester’s Medicare cuts will cost their industries more than 200,000 jobs just this year. A reduction in food inspections could lead to more food-borne illnesses, the White House has warned.
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The Wisconsin way: Inflexible federal policy too costly for state
Deluth News Tribune
February 24, 2013
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/259535/group/Opinion/
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, gives states three options in building health insurance exchanges: an exchange built and managed by an individual state subject to federal mandate, a partnership plan requiring the state to perform functions on behalf of the federal government, or a federal exchange developed by the federal government. While the three options differ in who initially builds and operates the exchange, all three options are identical in that they are governed and controlled by federal policy.
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Jerry Brown wants wiggle room from feds on healthcare
Los Angeles Times
February 23, 2013
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-wants-wiggle-room-from-feds-on-healthcare-20130223,0,7310960.story
Gov. Jerry Brown said implementation of the new federal healthcare law is at the top of his agenda as he meets with other governors in the nation's capital this weekend. In particular, Brown hopes to coordinate with other state leaders about how to expand coverage to the poor under the federal Medicaid program. Speaking to reporters at the National Governors Assn. winter meetings in Washington on Saturday, Brown said he wants to "build support among the governors for an appropriate state rule in the Medicaid expansion." With billions of dollars at stake, he said it was "absolutely critical that states have the authority they need to manage this very complex and expensive program."
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Jerry Brown presses Washington for 'broad authority' on health care
Sacramento Bee
February 23, 2013
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/02/jerry-brown-presses-washington-for-broad-authority-on-health-care-expansion.html
Gov. Jerry Brown said today that he remains concerned about California's ability to control costs as the state moves to expand health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, seeking assurances from the Obama administration that California will have "broad authority" to curb future spending. "We need to be able to control costs, period," the Democratic governor told reporters at a meeting of the National Governors Association. "And the federal government has the tendency to send out broad mandates and limit the state's authority, and then we have to come hat in hand and say, 'Please, let us manage this thing that you have thrust on us.'"
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Workshop to focus on rural health care, research
The Wichita Eagle
February 23, 2013
http://www.kansas.com/2013/02/23/2687517/workshop-to-focus-on-rural-health.html
Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which was established under the federal Affordable Care Act, will hold a regional workshop March 9 and 10 at the Hyatt Regency, 400 W. Waterman. PCORI is a nonprofit, publicly funded advisory board authorized by Congress that aims to support medical research and help determine which treatments lead to the best outcomes in health care. The goal is to reduce the cost of health care by putting resources toward the more effective treatments.
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Steven Brill’s 26,000-word health-care story, in one sentence
The Washington post
February 23, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/23/steven-brills-26000-word-health-care-story-in-one-sentence/
Steven Brill started his cover story in this week’s Time magazine with a simple health-policy question: “Why exactly are the bills so high?” His article is essentially a 26,000-word answer, the longest story that the magazine has ever run by a single author. It’s worth reading in full, but if you’re looking for a quick summary, the article seemed to me to boil down to one sentence: The American health-care system does not use rate-setting.
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Fewer in Pa. got health-care aid between July and December
The Philadelphia Inquirer
February 23, 2013
http://articles.philly.com/2013-02-23/news/37258952_1_medical-assistance-cash-assistance-anne-bale
Nearly 55,000 fewer Pennsylvanians were getting medical assistance in December 2012 compared with July, according to a new state Department of Public Welfare report, in many cases as an apparent side effect of the elimination of another program. The numbers represent the third major drop in public insurance rolls since Gov. Corbett took office three years ago.
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Overcoming Obstacles to Better Health Care
The New York Times
February 23, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/overcoming-obstacles-to-better-health-care.html?_r=0
AMERICANS spend far more on health care than people in other countries and we have little to show for it. And as we live longer after retirement, the share that will be paid by the government will rise. Unfortunately, no single change will transform our health care delivery system into one that we can afford. We are going to have to try lots of new approaches that depart from standard practices.
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Are Robots About to Take Over Health Care?
Real Clear Politics
February 23, 2013
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/02/23/are_robots_about_to_take_over_health_care_302619.html
IBM's Watson—the same machine that beat Ken Jennings at Jeopardy—is now churning through case histories at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, learning to make diagnoses and treatment recommendations. This is one in a series of developments suggesting that technology may be about to disrupt health care in the same way it has disrupted so many other industries. Are doctors necessary? Just how far might the automation of medicine go?
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How to Use Expanded Free Senior Health Services
U.S. News & World Report
February 22, 2013
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2013/02/22/how-to-use-expanded-free-senior-health-services
Seniors are slowly taking advantage of the greatly expanded menu of free preventive health screenings and tests provided under Obamacare. Many of the procedures do not require a co-pay and are not subject to any insurance deductibles. Ideally, they should be part of an ongoing wellness plan that you and your physician develop. Under the rules, for example, a free yearly wellness exam is available from doctors who participate in Medicare. This visit, in turn, can be used to build a year-long wellness plan with your primary physician. Most Medicare beneficiaries have some form of supplemental coverage beyond basic Medicare. They should check with their insurers for other wellness provisions provided under their policies.
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Maine gets $33M federal grant for health care
Boston Globe
February 22, 2013
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/2013/02/22/maine-gets-federal-grant-for-health-care/i8GYPX6C2Fzqeq1tYfT1LP/story.html
The LePage administration on Friday hailed a $33 million federal human services grant to the state, saying it will advance its goals of creating a more transparent and efficient health care system that could save $1 billion. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant will be used to test whether new payment and service models will produce superior results for patients and lower costs for health care providers. Maine was one of six states chosen to receive the federal grant. Vermont is receiving $45 million from the DHHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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How to pay for smokers’ health care
The Washington Post
February 22, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-to-pay-for-smokers-health-care/2013/02/22/f01c1a7a-7b9f-11e2-b147-36af0e207220_story.html
The solution to covering the extra health-care costs incurred by smokers without making health insurance unaffordable to those who need it is simple: Let the insurance companies figure out the additional cost and then collect that as a surcharge on the price of cigarettes. That way, you place the discouragement at the source of the problem, not at the result. Plus, it would have a political advantage that would help get it passed. It pits one powerful industry against another.
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Securing Health in the Sequester
The Huffington Post
February 22, 2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenneth-thorpe/securing-health-in-the-se_b_2743992.html
Even though it is universally acknowledged that health care spending increases are unsustainable, the current slash and burn strategies when it comes to health care threaten to do a lot of harm. This approach, behind proposed health-related budget cuts that emerge in virtually every deficit reduction plan from sequestration to Simpson-Bowles, fails to consider any of the value derived or to anticipate the losses that follow arbitrary cuts.
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RI getting $1.6M for health care innovation
San Francisco Chronicle
February 22, 2013
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/RI-getting-1-6M-for-health-care-innovation-4300227.php
Rhode Island is one of 25 states getting federal funds to help develop what officials say will be an innovative approach to improving health care quality and lowering costs.
The state is getting more than $1.6 million in State Innovation Model funding to develop a so-called Health Care Innovation Plan. The plan will include a review of state payment and delivery system reforms and identify ways to create a more community-based, patient focused system.
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Senate backs Otter's health care exchange
Idaho Statesman
February 22, 2013
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/22/2461660/senate-backs-otters-health-care.html
Gov. Butch Otter contends that creating a state-based nonprofit insurance exchange will result in a marketplace for individuals and small businesses to compare and buy insurance that's less expensive and friendlier to Idaho insurers and agents than what Washington, D.C., would come up with. Many Republicans were torn, given that they oppose President Barack Obama's insurance overhaul, which requires that every state has an exchange. Many Republican-led states are choosing to default to an exchange run by the federal government.
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Hikes in health insurance premiums fall; administration credits healthcare law
The Hill
February 22, 2013
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-insurance/284373-hhs-credits-health-law-with-big-drop-in-premium-hikes
The number of double-digit hikes to health insurance premiums has fallen dramatically because of President Obama's healthcare law, the Health and Human Services Department said Friday.
The average increase in health insurance premiums has fallen significantly since the healthcare law — and its provisions allowing the health department to review certain rates — took effect in 2010. The agency said rate review has contributed to those declines.
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The Experts: How to Fix Health Care
The Wall Street Journal
February 22, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324503204578316420978981406.html
What single change could be made to the current health-care reimbursement system to help bring down costs? Recent Journal Report articles on the future of Accountable Care Organizations and the expansion of Medicaid have touched on the issue of cost reduction. The Wall Street Journal put this question to The Experts, an exclusive group of industry and thought leaders who engage in in-depth online discussions of topics related to articles in the Reports.
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