A new analysis suggests that smart design of the websites used for the new state insurance exchanges to enroll consumers in health plans could save consumers and the government more than $9 billion a year.
It highlights the difficulty for consumers of choosing a health plan that best fits their healthcare and financial circumstances even in the new reform environment where they can more easily make apples-to-apples comparisons.
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A federally chartered special work group with representatives from three federal agencies has submitted its draft recommendations on establishing a regulatory framework for health IT.
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There has been significant progress in getting health information technology systems to talk to one another, according to a new study on interoperability by HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
The study, “Hospital Electronic Health Information Exchange Grew Substantially in 2008-12,” was published in the August issue of the policy journal Health Affairs. The report was written by five ONC staffers, including the lead author, Michael Furukawa, director of the ONC's Office of Economic Analysis, Evaluate and Modeling, and contributor Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the ONC chief.
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Fledgling accountable care organizations have faced plenty of challenges. Now a group of economists and lawyers are calling for a close look at issues involving insurance, antitrust and other regulation to avoid “unintended consequences.”
Health policy experts Gary Bacher, Michael Chernew, Daniel Kessler and Stephen Weiner write in the latest issue of the policy journal Health Affairs that ACOs could stifle competition among insurers and providers and potentially drive up prices.
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Joint replacement prices at the most costly California hospitals plunged by one-third after the state required its workers and retirees to pay out of pocket all costs above a “reference price” of $30,000 for orthopedic surgery, a new study said.
The average cost of joint replacement among high-priced hospitals dropped to $28,465 after the California Public Employees' Retirement System made the change in 2011, wrote University of California researchers James Robinson and Timothy Brown in the journal Health Affairs. That's down from $43,308 the prior year.
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Supporters of the healthcare reform law got some good news from a survey just released by the healthcare policy briefing website The Morning Consult.
Nearly half of registered voters polled in the survey—47%—said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress in 2014 if the member tried to defund Obamacare as part of a federal budget package, compared with 28% who said they would be more likely to vote for the member.
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Doctors asked to assess options for reducing healthcare costs were not exactly enthusiastic about replacing the system that pays them based on the volume of tests, exams and procedures they perform.
Granted, cuts to Medicare physician pay proved even less popular among the nearly 3,000 doctors surveyed on their opinions for strategies to blunt the nation's high and rising healthcare costs. Just 1% of the polled physicians described their attitude toward this option as “very enthusiastic.”
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A major healthcare provider in the Denver area announced it was eliminating 300 jobs, but then a major healthcare payer announced it was adding an equal number of new positions.
Denver Health announced this week it would eliminate 300 jobs in an effort to save $18 million over 12 months. On July 18, just as the dust was settling, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Colorado said it was adding 300 jobs at its Denver office “as part of a comprehensive effort to support its growing business.”
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It comes as no surprise to many observers that regional health information exchanges are struggling financially.
Research published this week in Health Affairs concluded that “there is a substantial risk that many current efforts to promote health information exchange will fail.”
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Blackwelder
This year's American Medical Association House of Delegates meeting featured a renewed sense of collegiality, no noticeable net change in the number of bearded delegates, a recognition of ties between current delegates and momentous health policy events from 50 years ago, and—speaking of ties—a return of one of the more prominent bow tie-wearing delegates.
The AMA's new president, Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, said in an interview that she felt a “good spirit” at the meeting. This was echoed by Shaan Gandhi, a fourth-year Harvard Medical School student and an alternate delegate from Massachusetts. Gandhi said he enjoyed the mix of healthcare policy discussions—ranging from support for a ban on the marketing of energy drinks to youths to delaying the implementation of the ICD-10 set of diagnosis and procedural codes. Gandhi said he definitely would attend future meetings.
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Blackwelder
This year's American Medical Association House of Delegates meeting featured a renewed sense of collegiality, no noticeable net change in the number of bearded delegates, a recognition of ties between current delegates and momentous health policy events from 50 years ago, and—speaking of ties—a return of one of the more prominent bow tie-wearing delegates.
The AMA's new president, Dr. Ardis Dee Hoven, said in an interview that she felt a “good spirit” at the meeting. This was echoed by Shaan Gandhi, a fourth-year Harvard Medical School student and an alternate delegate from Massachusetts. Gandhi said he enjoyed the mix of healthcare policy discussions—ranging from support for a ban on the marketing of energy drinks to youths to delaying the implementation of the ICD-10 set of diagnosis and procedural codes. Gandhi said he definitely would attend future meetings.
Read more »
