An interesting news report on Kaiser Health News gives an indication of why health reform that affects costs will be very difficult. The story details the fight in one New Jersey town over building a new hospital.
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Massachusetts has become such a bellweather for health reform that every report analyzing the program’s outcomes is eagerly anticipated. Health Affairs, vol. 28, page w578 (May 2009), looks at some of the results as of the fall of 2008.
Several of the country’s largest health plans have recently issued reports or statements relating to health care reform. While the source needs to be considered in reading any discussion of health reform, these plans do have a significant body of experience regarding coverage, cost and quality issues and they retain formidable lobbying weight.
The Congressional Budget Office’s most recent missive on health reform (available here) discusses the budgetary treatment of health care reform proposals.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (“AHRQ”) Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project released a report in April 2009 outlining hospitalizations that might have been preventable had the patients been receiving appropriate ambulatory care.
A study reported in Health Affairs, vol. 28, page 897 (May/June 2009), provides a further input to the question of the relationship, if any, between costs and quality in health care.
The American Academy of Family Physicians has been at the forefront of efforts to re-emphasize the role of primary care physicians in the health system; and has participated in development of the patient-centered medical home as a method for revitalizing primary care.
A recent article in The American Journal of Managed Care (volume 15, page 295, May 2009), described findings from a comparison within the Kaiser Permanente system of patients with diabetes who were subject to a care management program and those who were not.
A recent story in the Boston Globe raises intriguing questions about the effect of health coverage expansions on physician visits and other services and consequently, costs.
In informal responses to inquiries about the use of health risk assessments and wellness incentives, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has indicated that it will use the Americans with Disabilities Act and its general powers to limit the ability of employers to enact programs designed to improve the health of employee populations and control health care costs.
The Los Angeles Times ran an article on May 17, 2009, regarding Cesarean births. Birth services are a microcosm of the problems in the broader health system.
About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at [email protected].
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