The current relationship between hospitals and physicians has been built around rewarding for volume of services and not quality. That model is breaking down as reformers in Washington have hospital and physician inefficiency in their sights, with Medicare pushing toward value-based purchasing and experimenting with a payment system that rewards a system of coordinated care. In this HealthLeaders Media Breakthroughs report that you can download for free, four leading hospital systems—Gundersen Lutheran Health System, Sanford Health-MeritCare, SSM Health Care, and Virginia Mason Medical Center—share the lessons they have learned about adding quality to healthcare.
Senate Republicans have vowed to use every available tactic to delay voting on the healthcare bill as Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) continues efforts to unify Democrats in support of the legislation, the Washington Post reports. Republicans showed they were prepared to extend the healthcare debate as long as possible, with Sen. Tom Coburn (OK) demanding that a Senate clerk read aloud a 767-page Democratic amendment. Three hours later, the amendment to create a Canadian-style single-payer system was withdrawn. But Republicans are expected to make a similar move when Reid introduces the revised Senate bill, which is likely to top 2,000 pages and which cannot be similarly withdrawn, the Post reports.
A conflict in the Senate this week illustrated the frustration growing for both Democrats and Republicans after more than two weeks of debate on healthcare reform, the New York Times reports. Democrats said Republicans were stalling and obstructing the most important social legislation in decades, while Republicans said a proposed amendment avowed a Democratic goal of a government takeover of healthcare, the Times reports.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid struggled to win over the last Democratic vote on health reform legislation as it remained uncertain whether the measure can be brought to a vote before Christmas, the Wall Street Journal reports. After more than two weeks of debate, Reid remained a vote short of the 60 votes needed to ensure passage of the White House-backed initiative. The latest focus was on Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Nebraskan who stands as the only undecided member of the party's 60-member caucus, which includes two independents, the Journal reports.
Philadelphia-based Fox Chase Cancer Center lost its appeal to use 19.4 acres of neighboring Burholme Park for a $1 billion expansion of its hospital. Commonwealth Court upheld a ruling last December that Fox Chase is not entitled to lease a portion of the 65-acre public park. Fox Chase says it urgently needs to expand to keep pace with cancer care, research, and the burgeoning increase in patients, but it has said it will look elsewhere if the city said no to expanding into the park.
Hundreds of workers at a Sonoma County, CA, hospital are scheduled to go to the polls in a closely watched union vote pitting the giant Service Employees International against an upstart rival. The balloting at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has drawn scrutiny in labor circles nationwide because of the nasty underlying conflict between the SEIU and its breakaway competitor, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Los Angeles Times reports.