All Entries Tagged With: "healthcare reform"
GMSI Live: Health reform panel talks on new bill passed by House
The Greeley Medical Staff Institute (GMSI) Symposium opened its doors this morning to attendees of the plenary session, “Healthcare reform: What it means for hospitals and physicians.” Just hours after the House of Representatives voted to pass its version of the healthcare reform bill, otherwise known as HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, moderator Richard A. Sheff, MD, CMSL, chair and executive director of The Greeley Company joked that many sleepy-eyed attendees, like him, may have also stayed up to watch the House vote of 220-215. The hotly debated issue shocked many as both Republicans and Democrats came to a final vote.
Panelists Jonathan H. Burroughs, MD, MBA, FACPE, CMSL, John Maa, MD, FACS, and Kirk Mathews, MBA, debate what healthcare reform will look like in the coming months. (HospitalistLeadership.com Photo / Karen M. Cheung)
With panelists Jonathan H. Burroughs, MD, MBA, FACPE, CMSL, John Maa, MD, FACS, and Kirk Mathews, MBA, the GMSI Symposium opening session similarly focused on the issues of bundled payments, a public option, and what and when to expect healthcare reform.
Although unclear when the Senate will vote on the healthcare reform bill, many wait with held breathes for reform to become reality.
Reform: Quality, Cost and Access… Access to what?
I have been extremely interested in watching the debate on health ______ reform. I intentionally did not fill in the blank because this has become a bit of a moving target. Of course, this debate began as a discussion on healthcare reform. But somewhere along the line, someone changed the terminology. Now, we no longer hear President Obama discuss healthcare reform, but health insurance reform. I am perfectly okay with this term because I believe it more accurately depicts what the current proposals have become.
Most would agree that early on in the reform debate, three main issues were identified as being central to any meaningful reform—quality, cost, and access. The current bills under consideration in both the House and the Senate contain some elements of all three. However, they all place heavy emphasis on access and do precious little to address quality and almost nothing to address cost (except increase the cost, but that is another blog post). But these bills also beg the question: Access to what? Access to actual healthcare or access to health insurance? Clearly, if you study these bills, they are more focused on providing access to health insurance, and thus, the appropriate shift in the terminology by President Obama and others.
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.
Wherefore art thou tort reform?
By Kirk Mathews, MBA
The more I hear about healthcare reform or “health insurance reform,” the less I hear about tort reform and the more crazed I become! I have written before (Can real health reform happen without tort reform?) about the added costs from defensive medicine. So I nearly blew a gasket, when driving down the interstate recently, I spotted a billboard that read something like this:
Have you ever had Tendonitis? Ever had problems with your Achilles tendon? Ever taken Levaquin? Then call Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe so we can sue on your behalf!
Primary care and healthcare reform: Where do we fit in?
In the healthcare reform discussion, one thing that most people agree on is the need to revamp primary care and primary care reimbursement. One congressional committee has published a Discussion Draft on the House healthcare reform bill.
This bill calls for increasing Medicare reimbursement by 5% (10% if the physician practices in an area defined as a health professional shortage area) for primary care services. These services are defined as evaluation and management services, including new and established patient office visits, and “other physicians services as the Secretary determines are associated with ensuring accessible, continuous, coordinated, and comprehensive care for individuals enrolled under this part.”
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Understanding risk and insurance: Is healthcare a right?
There is an incredible, nearly unbelievable amount said and written about healthcare reform. As a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine Public Policy Committee, I am flooded with more required reading than I have had since graduate school! I try to keep up with some of the articles on this topic that are flooding the Internet.
On occasion, one will come across some remarkably profound, yet incredibly simple concepts that we have all known but seem to get lost in the massive amount of white noise. One of those is the concept of insuring against risk. In an article by C. Edmund Wright, we are reminded of what health insurance is, or more appropriately what it was. Consider this quote from the article.
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Health reform and the hospitalist
By Richard Rohr, MD, MMM, FACP, FHM
Some sort of health reform is likely to be enacted by Congress before the year is out, and we can be sure that it will change hospital medicine in some manner, but details are still hazy.
We will see some expansion of coverage to the currently uninsured, which would help hospital medicine groups, but I am not sure that universal coverage will be achieved this year. Don’t look for a single payer system–this country is too pluralistic to accept that. Private insurers will continue to play an important role, and you’ll probably keep all or most of your present billing numbers.
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Sen. Baucus talks about healthcare reform
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="125" caption="Photo Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) / Press Office "]
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The Hospitalist, a Society of Hospital Medicine publication, interviewed Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) for the May issue Q&A, titled, “Medicine’s Change Agent: Influential senator says HM can help lower costs, improve quality of care.”
The six-term Senator and leader of the Senate Finance Committee, who wrote the white paper, “Call to Action: Health Care Reform 2009,” has been one of the Senate members spearheading healthcare reform.
With the ambitious goal of controlled healthcare spending, Baucus proposes a return to primary care and preventative care through community health centers and rural clinics.
[more]Reducing readmissions: A major focus of reform
As healthcare reform picks up steam, Congress is seeking input from experts and thought leaders. One area sure to get a lot of attention is finding a way to reduce readmissions. How bad is the problem? The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2007 that 18% of all Medicare enrollees discharged from the hospital returned within 30 days. This is not only expensive for the Medicare system, but it is also physically and emotionally difficult for the patient.
On April 21, 2009, the Senate Finance Committee (Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman) hosted a roundtable discussion on delivery system reforms. Reducing readmission rates got lots of attention. Medpac Chairman Glenn Hackbarth suggested a financial “penalty for an excessive readmission rate.”
