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1. Four Mass. Hospitals Investigate Trashing Of Patient Health Records, Calif. Employers Worry About Workers Using Marijuana On Job The Boston Globe: “Four Massachusetts community hospitals are investigating how thousands of patient health records, some containing Social Security numbers and sensitive medical diagnoses, ended up in a pile at a public dump....
2. Developing Physician Communication Skills For Patient-Centered Care Growing enthusiasm about patient-centered medical homes, fueled by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s emphasis on improved primary care, has intensified interest in how to deliver patient-centered care. Essential to the delivery of such care are patient-centered communication skills. These skills have a positive impact on patient satisfaction, treatment adherence, and self-management. They can […]...
3. Public Reporting On Hospital Process Improvements Is Linked To Better Patient Outcomes The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services publicly reports so-called process performance at all U.S. hospitals, such as whether certain recommended treatments are given to specific types of patients. We examined whether hospital performance on key process indicators improved during the three years since this reporting began. We also studied whether or not these changes […]...
4. Share of Cost Health Care Reform – What’s Ahead in 2011? Share of Cost Health Care Reform - What's Ahead in 2011?...
5. Accountable Care Organizations: The Case For Flexible Partnerships Between Health Plans And Providers Under the Affordable Care Act, the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will guide a number of experimental programs in health care payment and delivery. Among the most ambitious of the reform models is the accountable care organization (ACO), which will offer providers economic rewards if they can reduce Medicare’s cost growth in their […]...
6. California Share of Cost, Food Dye Ban Implemented Or Considered By Some Health Authorities After Cancer And Hyperactivity Link Found California Share of Cost, Food Dye Ban Implemented Or Considered By Some Health Authorities After Cancer And Hyperactivity Link Found: After new scientific evidence revealed a possible link between food dyes and childhood cancer and hyperactivity, Australian food authorities are reported to be considering banning food colorings from breakfast cereals and confectionary items. The research […]...
7. First Patient Enrolled And Treated In The U.S. For EndoGastric Solutions’ Randomized Study Of Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF) EndoGastric Solutions (EGS), the leader in the emerging field of Natural Orifice Surgery (NOS), today announced that the first patient has been enrolled and treated in the RESPECT study (Randomized EsophyX vs. Sham/Placebo Controlled Trial). The RESPECT trial was designed by co-principle investigators Dr. John Hunter, Chairman of Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, and […]...
8. Nudging small business to provide health care, share of cost Much of the landmark Affordable Care Act won’t kick in until 2014, but one big component starts this year: federal tax credits for small businesses that provide their employees health care.  Mike Colias of Crain’s Chicago Business relays a report by the D.C-based Families USA that 159,900 companies in Illinois are eligible for a federal […]...
9. Share of Cost, Medicare Doesn’t Work As Well For Younger, Disabled Beneficiaries As It Does For Older Enrollees [Web First] Medicare is not working as well for its eight million disabled beneficiaries under age sixty-five as it is for its older beneficiaries. We report on a 2008 survey that found significant differences between the two Medicare populations, with the younger group experiencing more problems of cost and access. Even with the Medicare Part D prescription […]...
10. Recession Contributes To Slowest Annual Rate Of Increase In Health Spending In Five Decades In 2009, US health care spending grew 4.0 percent—a historically low rate of annual increase—to $2.5 trillion, or $8,086 per person. Despite the slower growth, the share of the gross domestic product devoted to health spending increased to 17.6 percent in 2009 from 16.6 percent in 2008. The growth rate of health spending continued to outpace the growth of the […]...
11. Building Regulatory And Operational Flexibility Into Accountable Care Organizations And ‘Shared Savings’ The Affordable Care Act created accountable care organizations (ACOs), which will be a new part of Medicare as of January 2012, together with a “shared savings program” that will modify how these organizations will be paid to care for patients. Accountable care organizations have the potential to lower costs, improve the quality of care, facilitate delivery […]...
12. Dental Health Services Dental Plan Limitations and Exclusion Dental Health Services Dental Plan Limitations and Exclusion...
13. Lessons For The New CMS Innovation Center From The Medicare Health Support Program The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act establishes a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The center is intended to enhance the CMS’s role in promoting much-needed improvements in payment and service delivery. Lessons from the Medicare Health Support Program, a chronic care pilot program […]...
14. Rearranging the waiting room chairs Monique Garcia of the Chicago Tribune reports that the Illinois Senate voted 58-0 to enact a series of reforms to the state Medicaid system. As the vote indicates, the reforms are hard to argue with. Unfortunately, as I’ve reported, they do very little to resolve the state’s Medicaid financing crisis — a crisis that can […]...
15. Despite some enrollment losses, most California health plans still turned a profit in 2010 Health insurance carriers ground California’s market-based health care system, serving about two-thirds of the state’s population. In addition to covering the privately insured, these companies also serve enrollees in managed care plans through Medi-Cal, Medicare, and other public programs. While California health insurers are a strong economic force overall, enrollment was flat in health plans […]...