QD: News Every Day--health care reform and H1N1

ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events continues with health care reform, H1N1 influenza and how primary care shortage issues play out regionally.

Health care reform
Halts to the annual cuts to physician reimbursement under Medicare died in the Senate because legislators objected to $247 billion in unfunded costs over the next decade. Enough legislators from both parties objected to an effort to freeze reimbursement for 10 years while Congress found an alternative to the sustainable growth rate formula. ACP President Joseph W. Stubbs, FACP, said, "Although many [legislators] will claim that their vote against cloture was a vote for fiscal responsibility, there is nothing fiscally responsible about pretending that Medicare will save money, from cuts that Congress has no intention to let go into effect, in order to make it seem like Medicare will spend less than it really will."

Meanwhile, some versions of health care reform legislation in the U.S. House would raise the rate of medical spending, not lower it, reports the Office of the Actuary, an independent arm of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Spending would increase by 2.1% over 10 years, or $750 billion, because 34 million more people would have health coverage, according to the report. (Wonks can read it here.)

A lesson can be taken from Massachusetts physicians, who support their health care reform laws by a 5-to-1 margin, albeit with some desired changes, reported the Boston Globe. That's slightly higher than in the rest of the public, according to the most recent general poll by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Highlights include:
--Two-thirds of doctors say the law has not diminished the quality of care;
--19 percent say it has improved quality;
--62% say the law has not affected the amount of time they spend with their patients; and
--Nearly 80% say the law had no negative impact on their practice overall or had a positive impact.

The original study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Health care reform can expand access but not reduce costs, if lessons from Massachusetts teach us anything, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

H1N1 influenza
Production of a vaccine for swine flu virus is behind schedule, said Anne Schuchat, FACP, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Officials expect "widespread availability" by mid-November.

Meanwhile, public radio presents more on "presenteeism" and how a lack of sick days forces some sick workers to show up.

Primary care shortage
ACP's governor of its Connecticut Chapter addresses why so much money is spent on some health care items, such as prescription drugs, medical scans and durable medical equipment, and not on more important areas such as public health education and training medical students. The consequences are dire, as this profile of the Sacramento, Calif. area shows. California has 59 primary-care physicians per 100,000 citizens, whereas 60-80 considered sufficient.

Labels: flu, H1N1, health care reform, primary care shortage, QD

posted by Ryan DuBosar at 12:22 PM