Friday, November 20, 2009
QD: News Every Day--Santa's take on H1N1 influenza, part II
ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events continues with the contentious issues the senate faces for health care reform and Medicare reimbursement, as well as the pecking order for H1N1 flu prioritization
Health care reform
The Senate will vote Saturday whether to proceed with its bill. The issues are contentious: abortion, affluence and affordability, among others. According to ACP Advocate, the Senate likely won't vote on its bill until December, and even after that happens, the two versions will still need to be reconciled with each other and passed again by both chambers. (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, AP, Christian Science Monitor, ACP Advocate)
The House voted to cancel the pending 21% cut to Medicare reimbursement. Now the issue moves to the Senate, which didn't get that accomplished as a single issue when it came up in October. They'll reconsider it as part of overall health care reform legislation.
In case you missed it ...
As we reported yesterday, organizations representing mall Santas want their members added to the priority list for H1N1 influenza vaccination. Now, hog farmers are saying their proximity to pigs trumps the Santa's contact with children. They first want to protect their herd from humans carrying H1N1 influenza. The Santas respond that they should fall in the pecking order when pigs fly, not reindeer.
Labels: H1N1, health care reform, QD, reimbursement
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
11:48 AM
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
QD: News Every Day--SGR cuts stalled
ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events continues with more on SGR cuts, and one physician who reformed health care in Oregon from the inside, as a legislator and later as governor.
SGR cuts
Legislation to permanently fix the annual threat of sustainable growth rate (SGR) cuts to Medicare physician payment formula has stalled. Some legislators balked on voting for it because the $247 billion price tag over 10 years wasn't offset elsewhere. Permanently ending annual SGR cuts were part of a quid pro quo deal between doctor's groups and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; eliminate the SGR in exchange for supporting overall health reform. The money would hold reimbursement where it is until Congress can create a better way to reimburse for Medicare.
Since political debate involves a lot of name-calling, one legislator compared the American Medical Association's position to prostitution for its support. The AMA promptly got all dolled up and released 22 "patient access hot spots" nationwide that the organization claims highlights the impact of Medicare cuts. The AMA analyzed state-level data on five access measures and declared hot spots are based on their ranking in the top 15 of at least two of five measures of access:
-- practicing physicians per 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries,
-- Medicare beneficiaries below 150% of the federal poverty level,
-- estimated underserved population living in primary care health professional shortage areas,
-- hospital emergency room visits per 1,000 population, and
-- percentage who hadn't seen a doctor in the past 12 months because of cost.
In case you missed it ...
A physician enacted health care reform in Oregon, first as president of the state's Senate and then as its Governor. The Oregon Health Plan prioritized medical services by value and the number of services covered was determined by how much money the legislature appropriated. It was radical and it worked. Kaiser Health News profiles the physician.
Meanwhile, ACP governors from Nebraska and North Dakota and a member from Green Bay, Wisc. chimed in their support for health care reform.
Labels: health care reform, medicare, QD, reimbursement
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
12:08 PM
1 Comments
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
QD: News Every Day--Senate considers SGR overhaul
ACP Internist's daily digest of news and events continues with the tantalizing prospect of permanently ending the annual SGR cuts, changing public support over health care reform, and Maine's effort to recruit medical students to its rural areas.
SGR cuts
The Senate considers today closing debate and proceeding to vote on a way to permanently end annual SGR cuts. This year, a 21% reduction is on the line, which would prompt primary care doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients. Democrats and Republicans had put off the procedural step, called a cloture vote, to allow time for consensus on the issue instead. ACP reports what doctors can do ahead of this key vote. The separation of SGR cuts from health care reform was done in exchange for physician support for both items.
Health care reform
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that about one-third of Americans worry about losing health care coverage, a slight increase from last month. The number of Americans who worry about losing coverage in the next year has increased by 11% points since the spring. Young adults are the most often concerned (40%), followed by middle-aged (38%) and then seniors (29%) even though they have Medicare.
The Washington Post reports 57% of all Americans now favor some form of a public insurance option while 40% oppose it. More specifically, 45% of Americans favor current outlines in Congress, and 48% are opposed.
H1N1 influenza
H1N1 influenza--"swine flu"--has finally been confirmed in pigs. The agriculture department confirmed that a pig exhibited at the Minnesota State Fair was infected, and that the infection was unrelated to teenagers there who later became sick. But, three other piglets may have become ill after being handled by humans.
In case you missed it ...
Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and the State of Maine will offer all Maine-based students half-tuition scholarships for those who agree to clinical practice in rural Maine. The students will spend most of the first two years in Boston studying at Tufts’ main campus, then get immediate hands-on experience traveling around rural locations in the state. Maine used Recovery Act stimulus package funds and private sources for the scholarships and hopes in return to retain 75% of students as doctors after graduation.
Also, Illinois' largest insurer is launching a patient-centered medical home pilot. The Chicago Tribune spells out how it might work.
Labels: H1N1, health care reform, medical education, QD, reimbursement
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
11:46 AM
0 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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Previous Posts
- QD: News Every Day--Santa's take on H1N1 influenza...
- Rethink pink: breast cancer screening evidence met...
- QD: News Every Day--Santa's take on H1N1 influenza...
- QD: News Every Day--when evidence and politics col...
- Ghostwriting haunts Congress' hallowed halls
- QD: News Every Day--payment fix inches forward (fo...
- QD: News Every Day--not the intended effect
- Medical news of the obvious
- QD: News Every Day--flu's growing tally
- QD: News Every Day--no holidays for Congress
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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.
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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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