The Health Care Blog – Page 931 – Everything you always wanted to know about the Health Care system. But were afraid to ask.

Above the Fold

Berwick “Perfectly Designed” for HHS Secretary Post?

Feb 5, 2009• 10

By Michael L. Millenson

Several well-informed sources independently told me that Institute for Healthcare Improvement founder Dr. Donald Berwick had been chosen by the Obama administration to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — a fascinating selection. (This article, though, reminds us of Don’s background in public health and in government commissions that deal with a broad swath of the policy elite.)

But would Berwick continue to agree to serve under an HHS secretary with less prestige, Congressional clout, presidential access and deep understanding of health care than Tom Daschle? I’m presuming here that Berwick already had a personal relationship with Daschle and his senior advisers. Still, Berwick has spoken in recent months of reform from “the inside out,” and there are few “insider” positions with more influence over health care than being in charge of the Medicare program.

The Perils of Play or Not Pay

Feb 5, 2009• 12

By ROGER COLLIER

Remember those heady days with a newly-elected Democratic President and solid Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, when it seemed that national health care reform was just around the corner? Remember how, after the face-off between the liberals who wanted a single-payer system and the conservatives who wanted as little change as possible, the centrists took command? Remember the early 1990s, and play-or-pay as the magical way to universal coverage?

So you do remember play-or-pay? Be careful about admitting it. After the failure of the Clinton plan and the collapse of similar state reforms in Washington and Massachusetts, a mere mention of the term would cause political eyes to roll, while its inclusion in any reform plan was enough to kill the proposal dead, dead, dead.

Op-Ed: Why the Senate should be abolished, Parts 34-36

Feb 5, 2009• 22

By Matthew Holt

Irrelevant small states with no people in them that exist by an accident of history are chronically over-represented in this country — both in the electoral college and most obviously in the Senate. And those states are much more conservative than metro areas where people actually live, which means that even if they send Democrats to DC, they’re not exactly raging Trotskyites.

Hence we get Max Baucus, representing less than 1 million people, or one-sixth of an average state’s population, pushing moderate reform and saying that single-payer is a political non-starter. He’s right, but it’s only because of the political structure that guarantees him his power. If San Francisco, which has roughly the same population as Montana, sent a Senator to Congress I think the result would be somewhat different.

Two-year SCHIP fight over with Obama’s signature

Feb 5, 2009• 4

By Sarah Arnquist

After a nearly two-year ordeal that divided Democrats and Republicans and involved two presidential vetoes, President Obama signed a bill on Wednesday to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

SCHIP provides health insurance coverage to about 7 million children. This expanded bill will extend coverage to an additional 4 million children.

The WSJ Health Blog reports that doctor-owned hospitals were winners in the bill and big tobacco was a loser.

The bill will increase the national tobacco tax by 60 cents to about $1 per pack to fund the $33 billion expansion. This will please the tobacco control folks, who say the best way to reduce smoking is by increasing the price of cigarettes through taxes. It does mean, however, the expansion is funded through a declining revenue source.

Obama remains committed to health reform, White House official tells wonks

Feb 5, 2009• 35

By Sarah Arnquist

President Obama remains committed to comprehensive health care reform in 2009 and believes the declining economy emphasizes its urgency, a top White House official told hundreds of health policy experts Monday in Washington D.C.

“The current economic crisis has really highlighted the problems and put them under fluorescent lights," said Jeanne Lambrew, deputy director of the newly created White House Office of Health Reform.

The Academy Health conference is probably the wonkiest of meetings on the increasingly crowded health reform conference circuit. University PhDs and private sector policy analysts are here to discuss and assess the impacts of reform.

Carmona could be logical pick for HHS job

Feb 4, 2009• 2

By Val Jones MD

Merrill Goozner
has been speculating about who will be nominated as the new Secretary
of HHS. He reviewed his most likely candidates (David Cutler or David
Blumenthal), and threw in a “dark horse” potential nominee: Ken Thorpe
(whom I’ve interviewed several times on this blog and spent time with during Obama’s inauguration ceremony).

Tommy Thompson told me that the nominee is likely to be a current or former democratic governor (such as Kathleen Sebelius or Howard Dean).

But I’ve been pondering the “long shot” question and think that
Goozner may have missed a more obvious choice – someone who works with
Ken Thorpe at the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease: former Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona.

Mythology and Healthcare Reform

Feb 4, 2009• 43

By MONTE UYEMURA, MD

Successful healthcare reform is critical to the well-being of our nation. Who has the answers? As a rural family physician, I keep shouting in vain that they are backing the trailer up to the wrong barn. Reform proposals utilizing creative accounting keep conjuring up healthcare expenditure savings where they don’t exist, and even is we could attain this mythological information technology utopia, it will be mere cough medicine for our healthcare system’s pneumonia. It scares me to think that healthcare reform is being guided by myths.

Calendar: The Haas Business of Health Care Conference Feb. 7th 2009

Feb 4, 2009

My Desktop Economic Indicators

Feb 3, 2009

By John HALAMKA

Economists track changes in the money supply, personal debt, consumer
confidence, and durable goods orders. My signs of economic health are
more subtle.

1. Email volume on nights and weekends

In
good times, people eat out at restaurants. They go to concerts, plays,
and movies. They take weekend trips with the family.

In bad times, they stay at home and email.

For
the past two months, I've received an average of 100 emails between
6pm-12am and another 50 between 12am and 6am. This is double the usual
volume for those hours.

A Question For You Privacy Wonks Out There

Feb 3, 2009• 5

By Matthew Holt

When I read a headline like Privacy advocates hail stimulus bills I immediately wonder which privacy advocates. If it’s Deborah Peel I shudder, as her aim appears to be to shut down any system of electronic health data exchange. But if it’s Deven McGraw, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, I’m pretty encouraged as she (and her organization) seem to be taking the militant moderate path on privacy—putting patients in control of their data but encouraging the benefits of electronic records.

So I’m a little puzzled that they both like the privacy aspects of the stimulus package. Can someone who’s read the bill let us know what’s in there, and why they both like it while providers, payers and pharmacy chains hate it?

CODA: Of course who cares about the patients? Most importantly physicians’ privacy will now be safeguarded—even though it’s only their privacy about what we the taxpayer are giving them as contractors that Consumers Checkbook wanted to violate. I can just see Haliburton’s lawyers ready to cite this one.