Congressional Democrats are already looking beyond the White House healthcare summit, focusing instead on a final round of intraparty negotiations that are likely to determine the fate of healthcare reform, the Washington Post reports. Although President Obama is billing the summit as an opportunity for Republicans to air their ideas for reform, Democrats do not expect it to reveal much common ground and are showing little willingness to abandon the basic outline of legislation that the House and Senate have approved, the Post reports.
President Barack Obama will use a bipartisan summit to push for healthcare legislation, but if that fails to generate enough support the White House has prepared the outlines of a more modest plan. His leading alternate approach would provide health insurance to perhaps 15 million Americans, about half what the comprehensive bill would cover. It would do that by requiring insurance companies to allow people up to 26 years old to stay on their parents' health plans, and by modestly expanding two federal-state health programs, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In this article published online by the Washington Post, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle say several Republican ideas have been incorporated in President Obama's health reform proposal he released earlier this week. "It contains several ideas taken directly from Republican bills, such as letting people save on their premiums if they participate in proven employer wellness programs, a proposal supported by Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.)," they write. "Or giving states grants to evaluate medical liability models that can improve patient safety, reduce medical errors and bring down liability premiums, similar to a proposal Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) has supported."
From the seating arrangements to the camera positions and buffet lunch, today's bipartisan healthcare summit has been carefully orchestrated after days of negotiations that led to a walk-through on Wendesday for Congressional aides, the New York Times reports. Both parties spent Wednesday preparing, and Republicans met to plot strategy even as they continued to deride the event as “political theater,” the Times reports.
Marketing of the medical mart planned for downtown Nashville is set to begin with pitches to possible tenants and others during a four-day health information technology conference in Atlanta. Besides seeking tenants for the permanent showrooms of the trade center, developer Market Center plans to partner with other groups to bring medical meetings and trade groups to boost the project and possibly buy merchandise at the giant medical mall, The Tennessean reports.
Massachusetts' largest independent doctors group is curtailing referrals to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a move it says is designed to better coordinate care of patients and reduce costs. Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates said it has started sending many of its Boston patients to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, unless the patients have a prior relationship with a doctor at the Brigham. The organization felt it could better coordinate care at Beth Israel Deaconess, partly because the hospital has agreed to send patients back to their primary care doctor or a specialist at Harvard Vanguard after their inpatient stay, rather than keep them in the more expensive hospital system, the Boston Globe reports.