All Entries Tagged With: "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1)"

Many physicians favor public option

I just read about a recent study conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to gauge physician’s reactions to healthcare reform.

Sixty-three percent of physicians support some type of government-backed healthcare reform, says the study, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine .

Check out this article from United Press International.

I’d love to hear what physicians out there think–and why! Comment below.

[via Credentialing Resource Center Blog]

White House announces new healthcare jobs in Roadmap to Recovery plan

President Barak Obama on Monday announced the Roadmap to Recovery plan, an administration-wide effort to implement the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was signed into law on February 17. During the administration's second 100 days, the White House aims to quadruple the number of jobs that were created or saved during the first 100 days, totaling 600,000 jobs during the next administrative period, according to a White House press release.

The Roadmap to Recovery plan calls for expanded health services for approximately 300,000 patients at 1,129 health centers in the country and eight territories, under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). With an available pool of nearly $29.59 billion for HHS, the administration has paid out more than $18.76 billion, according to www.Recovery.gov, at the time of publication.

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Healthcare reform and comparative effectiveness research

The recent Stimulus Package includes $1.1 billion for “comparative effectiveness research.” Seven-hundred million dollars will go to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research related to public health.

An additional $400 million will go to the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for conducting research that “compares the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of items, services, and procedures.”  In addition, the HHS will be charged with the development of “clinical registries, clinical data networks, and other forms of electronic health data that can be used to generate or obtain outcomes data.”  HHS will also create a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research which will be charged with “reducing duplicative efforts and encouraging coordinated and complementary use of resources.” Here are my thoughts:

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Healthcare reform and hospitalist reimbursement

As the rolls of the unemployed continue to grow, so too will the roll of the uninsured. No doubt this is having an impact on the reimbursement received by hospitals and physicians when they care for these individuals. As hospitalists, a large portion of patients we care for are unassigned and unfunded patients. We are on the frontlines in this battle to deliver care to the uninsured (and underinsured).

There are some provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Bill) that are designed to assist in this fight. Included in the Stimulus Bill is a provision to help people who lose their jobs to be able to afford health insurance under the COBRA laws while they seek new employment. This provision will subsidize 65% of the premium payment for a worker who was involuntarily terminated and meets eligibility requirements. Sounds good….right? Here are the pros and cons:

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Ready, Fire…AIM? Healthcare reform: Ready or not, here it comes!

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White House photo 3/2/09 by Pete Souza [via whitehouse.gov

If people doubted President Obama’s resolve to reform healthcare, they need not look any farther than The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Commonly referred to as the “Stimulus Package” the Congressional Budget Office estimates a total price tag of $787.2 billion over ten years. If that’s not convincing, read the transcript from his Feb. 24 speech to Congress or look at his proposed budget. Wow!

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President signs economic bill to jumpstart healthcare reform

President Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus bill into law on Tuesday, estimated at $787 billion in tax cuts and spending during the next two years. Called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), the law targets healthcare as one of the catalysts to renovate the U.S. economy.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes more than $100 billion in Medicaid adjustments and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) subsidies for unemployed workers, according to Healthcare Finance News. The bill also includes $19 billion for health information technology integration.

The President will release details on the first budget proposal on Feb. 26, outlining the plan for the 2010 fiscal year, according to Reuters.