Health Care Reform - Do We Need a Health Care Fed?

The debate surrounding comparative-effectiveness research seems to continually revert back to the question of whether or not the government should be deciding which processes and procedures have the best outcomes. Below are perspectives from both sides.

Jonathan Weiner, a professor of health policy at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University says yes.

Michael Cannon, the Cato Institute's Director of Health Policy Studies says no.

Massachusetts Cuts Health Rolls

To deal with pressing budget cuts, and skyrocketing costs due to increased enrollment of their health insurance coverage mandate, Massachusetts is cutting 12% from the Commonwealth Care budget, the Boston Globe reports.

The article, from the Boston Globe, begins with:

"Overseers of Massachusetts’ trailblazing healthcare program made their first cuts yesterday, trimming $115 million, or 12 percent, from Commonwealth Care, which subsidizes premiums for needy residents and is the centerpiece of the 2006 law.

The board of the Connector Authority made the cuts as officials confronted two side effects of the recession: the state budget crisis and a surge in enrollment by the recently unemployed."

Find the complete article here.

Health Care Reform - Health Wonk Review

The Healthcare Economist blog posted a variety of links to blogs and other websites with commentary on a number of the issues permeating the health reform debate. Check out the posting here.

Health Care Reform - Health Care With a Warranty?

In yesterday's New York Times, Dr. Pauline Chen writes about the concept of health care with a warranty. Bridges to Excellence CEO Francois de Brante, along with colleagues Guy D'Andrea and Harvard economist Meredith Rosenthal, published in the most recent edition of Health Affairs an article that proposes a new health care reimbursement model that comes with a warranty. This model, called Prometheus Payment, first covers all fees for standard and recommended services, treatments, and procedures for specific conditions. However, the fees are "risk-adjusted" for patients who may be old or frail. The warranty, thus, is based on the costs incurred by avoidable complications and half of those costs must be paid for by the provider.

Health Care Reform - Health Co-ops

In the Commonwealth Fund Blog's inaugural post, Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis writes on the possible impact health insurance cooperatives may have on reform as well as the history of American cooperative health care. The current policy discussion is fraught with variations of how reform will actually take shape and one proposal in play is the one laid out by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). The Senate Finance Committee's soon-to-be-released reform bill is considering Conrad's idea for reforming the insurance market by developing and implementing regional- or state-based non-profit health insurance co-ops rather than a public insurance option. Find the article here.

Patient-Centered Medical Home Article

In today's New York Times, Jane Brody writes a thorough and informing article on patient-centered medical homes, their potential to deliver better care, and the attention the concept has been receiving throughout the health reform debate. Check out the article here.

Health Care Reform - House Releases Draft Bill

Early Friday afternoon, the House released a health reform draft bill that consolidates the ideas and discussions from the three committees responsible for health care - Energy & Commerce, Education & Labor, and Ways & Means. If passed, the bill would institute a public health insurance plan, a pay-or-play insurance requirement similar to the Massachusetts model, establish a health insurance commissioner, expand Medicaid eligibility, fill in the Medicare Part D doughnut hole, and would end insurers' practice of denying coverage or charging higher premiums to sick people. Key details of the plan, however, have been left out, such as a CBO cost estimate. An article about the bill can be found in today's New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Health Care Reform - How to Pay For It?

An article in today's New York Times outlines the numerous proposals to cut costs in the estimated over $1 trillion health care reform bills. Accompanying the article is a detailed and helpful interactive graphic that dissects the key reform proposals, its supporters and dissenters, ways to finance them, and the legislative road map. Find the article here.

A Bipartisan Approach to Health Reform

Today, the Bipartisan Policy Center, along with the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released a report outlining a bipartisan approach to health reform.

The report's blurb from the Brookings site:

"The bipartisan framework, "Crossing Our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health Care System," released today by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders and Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) Advisory Board members Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, provides recommendations for comprehensive health reform to ensure that every American has affordable, quality health coverage. The report is a product of the BPC's Leaders' Project on the State of American Health Care, which was launched last year and is co-directed by health care policy experts Chris Jennings and Mark McClellan."

To access the report, click here.

Quality Improvement: Examples from Leading States

This week, the National Academy for State Health Policy released a report on state public-private quality improvement (QI) collaborations. The report, titled, State Partnerships to Improve Quality: Models and Practices from Leading States, can be found here.

A summary of the report:

This Commonwealth Fund-supported report highlights 10 leading state quality improvement partnerships -broad-based, public-private partnerships that strive for long-term, statewide, and systemic quality improvement. This report describes the state partnerships' origins, internal processes, accomplishments, and lessons learned, as well as their five strategies for achieving quality improvement. The factors and policies that influence the 10 featured state partnerships offer key insights for achieving systemic improvement in health care quality and performance. The report features state partnerships in Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Twitter, Facebook, and Health Care

In last Thursday's edition of the New York Times, Dr. Pauline Chen reports on the new ways that doctors and their patients interact. With the advent of social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, increasing numbers of providers are communicating with patients via tweets, and the like. Not only is social media becoming a tool for doctor-patient interaction, but is also a burgeoning medium for patient-to-patient interaction. Check out the article here.

Health Care Reform - The Public Plan Option

As the health care reform debate rages and countless reform proposals hit the web and the legislative floors, the option of a government-sponsored public health insurance plan continues to permeate discussion. Our umbrella organization, the National Business Coalition on Health, recently released an issue brief on the public plan option. In it, the political landscape, legislative status, diplomatic perspective, and arguments for and against the public plan option are included. Find the issue brief by clicking here.

Patient-Centered Medical Home Resources

The IBM Institute for Business Value has released a white paper on the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). Found at the IBM website and authored by Jim Adams; Paul Grundy, MD; Martin S. Kohn, MD; and Edgar Mounib, the report speaks of how the PCMH "can serve as a foundation for transformation of the U.S. healthcare system – if appropriately conceived and properly implemented." The "study makes the realistic case for why and how stakeholders can participate in PCMH initiatives, identifies critical issues and makes recommendations for best practices to increase the likelihood of initial success and sustainability."

Of related interest, the National Partnership for Women and Families has published a patient and consumers' guide to the PCMH. Additionally, they've also released four different consumer advocate guides to PCMH. All can be found here.

Event Announcement!

Low Cost, No Cost Options to Promote Prevention and Employee Health

Featured Speaker:
Michelle Martin
Director, Health & Wellness Benefits
CBS Corporation

Thursday, June 25th, 2009
8:00am - 10:00am

Union League Club
38 E. 37th St. (at Park Avenue)
New York, NY

Health Care Reform - Toward a Value-Based System

In a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, Dr. Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business School outlines major steps needed to reorganize the nation's health care system around one central focus: creating and increasing value for patients, defined as health outcomes achieved per unit cost expended.

The article can be found by clicking here.

NYBGH's New Blog

Welcome to the brand new NYBGH blog! The blog will serve as an information resource for anyone connected to the business group. We'll be posting, among other things, NYBGH event announcements, news stories important to employee benefit strategy, and health policy and reform updates and resources.

Check back often!

NYBGH