Even after the federal healthcare reform law is fully implemented in 2014, safety net providers will play a central role in providing medical services to vulnerable patients. To optimize the quality and efficiency of those services, safety net providers should restructure the way in which they provide care, emphasizing primary care and coordination across the entire continuum of inpatient and outpatient services.
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The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, is an online poll designed to highlight perspectives on the most timely health policy issues from a panel of the nation's leading health plan executives, policymakers and healthcare purchasers. It is conducted four times annually. This is the 26th installment in the series.
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As I write this essay, our national leaders just concluded contentious negotiations related to raising the debt ceiling. There was high anxiety in all quarters because both parties agreed that deep cuts must be made in government spending. Even previously protected programs were “on the table,” such as Social Security, Medicare and, especially, Medicaid.
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A frequently asked question in health reform discussions is, “Will there still be a need for the healthcare safety net?” This is an interesting question for several reasons.
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Both the Obama administration and critics of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have repeatedly stressed the importance of state flexibility in implementing various improvements to healthcare financing and access. But many healthcare leaders prefer the opposite approach.
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Editor's note: The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, is an online poll designed to highlight perspectives on the most timely health policy issues from a panel of the nation's leading health plan executives, policymakers and healthcare purchasers. It is conducted four times annually. This is the 25th installment in the series. On pp. 24 and 25, perspective on the latest topic—the...
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In early 2009, I decided that my chair's initiative for the National Governors Association would center on improving our system of delivering healthcare to the American people.
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We choose our homes and our cars, but not one of us chooses cancer or heart disease. Yet, health insurance is the only product in America for which an entire marketplace of sellers refuses to offer to a consumer who wants to buy, has the means to buy, and is legally eligible to buy.
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Democratic leaders in the last Congress repeatedly urged their wavering colleagues not to “make the perfect the enemy of the good” before close votes on the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, is an online poll designed to highlight perspectives on the most timely health policy issues.
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Health reform is once again front and center in Congress. Clearly, Democrats and Republicans have very different views about last year's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and some in the Republican party argue that nothing short of repeal is worth pursuing.
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Although the new session of Congress has barely begun and President Barack Obama has only just released his budget for fiscal 2012, already as much attention is being given to positions being developed for 2012 as for legislation being readied for the current session. In large part, that should come as no surprise given a new House of Representatives whose majority was elected on promises to roll back government spending to 2008 levels as well as repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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