Thursday, October 8, 2009
QD: News Every Day--health care reform / Surgeon General / unlicensed providers
ACP Internist's daily digest of internal medicine in the news continues with sides blurring on health care reform, a new Surgeon General favorable to primary care and the suggestion of continuous credential monitoring for providers.
Health Care Reform
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate Finance Committee's proposal will:
--slow spending growth on medical care
--lower the deficit
--cost less than President Obama's threshold
--cover 29 million uninsured Americans
--cover 94% of all Americans
The Finance Committee's bill requires a vote, possibly on Tuesday, and then will be merged with a bill in the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Now, Congress needs to figure out who will pay for it all, the wealthy or the insurance companies.
Meanwhile, some Republicans who carry the title of "former" are supporting some kind of reform: former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist, and former Medicare administrator Mark McClellan. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson cited the Senate Finance Committee's plan specifically.
And while Republican governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bobby Jindal support reforming health care in some way, two Democratic governors oppose expanding Medicare because of its impact on the states.
In case you missed it ...
Regina Benjamin, MD, took one step closer to becoming Surgeon General. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the nomination; she now goes to the full Senate. But there's no timetable to vote on Dr. Benjamin, a primary care physician.
Nearly one in 5 health care practitioners operate under malpractice allegations, an expired license or false credentials, and nearly 2% practice without a license. The study, done by a company that provides credentialing verification, prompted them to suggest continuous Web-based monitoring instead of reviews every two to three years.
Where one lives impacts the health care received, since insurance coverage, access to preventive medicine and disease treatment vary widely among states, according to a study released by the Commonwealth Foundation. Vermont focused on health care and its robust residents faired the best, followed by Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota and Maine. As usual, the South trundles behind the rest of the nation's health care performance. Mississippi has the worst health care, with Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas rounding out the results.
Labels: disparities, health care cost, health care reform, QD
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
12:18 PM
0 Comments
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Saving health and money
Last month, I asked for some data on the cost-effectiveness of preventive care. The American Journal of Public Health has obliged. In a new study reported by HealthDay, researchers evaluated the cost and health benefits to be gained by preventing several chronic diseases. They found that preventing a patient's hypertension would save $13,702 in lifetime medical spending, while prevention of diabetes would save $34,483, and preventing obesity would save $7,168. Unfortunately, those cost arguments for tobacco cessation programs turn out to be wrong: quitting smoking would result in an increase of $15,959 in lifetime medical costs.
Since only the abstract of the study is free, I also didn't get to find out how one would successfully prevent all these conditions. The key to preventing obesity, especially, seems like a secret we would all like to know.
Labels: Diabetes, health care cost, hypertension, obesity, prevention, smoking cessation
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
1:00 PM
0 Comments
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Patients finding shopping around for medical costs easier online
Patients looking to save some money on expected medical procedures have taken to comparison shopping and planning ahead for high costs and co-pays. Hospital systems, Web sites and the states are compiling the costs of procedures and posting them online so patients can comparison shop or budget ahead before their procedure or test.
The list of comparison services available is extensive, as are their lists of tests and procedures: maternity, knee replacement, appendectomies, colonoscopies; some systems compare hundreds of providers and services.
Consumers are driving this trend, but so is the Internet. Hospitals see it as one more way of making more informed decisions, while one Web site founder compared it (crassly, I thought) to buying a car, including haggling over prices to get steep discounts.
Labels: health care cost
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
2:21 PM
1 Comments
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
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Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
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A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
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Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
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EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
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Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
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A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
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The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
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The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
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