On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that might deny tax credits next year to Newsome and an estimated 9.3 million people in 34 states that use the federal health insurance marketplace at HealthCare.gov. Roughly two-thirds of them, or 6.3 million, probably would become uninsured in 2016, according to estimates by the Urban Institute, a centrist research center. Plaintiffs in the King v. Burwell case argue that the Affordable Care Act allows payment of tax credits and cost-sharing reductions only in the 16 states – and the District of Columbia – that set up their own insurance marketplaces.
Hospitals that treat California's poorest patients are faring badly under the Affordable Care Act's drive to improve quality. Under ACA authority, Medicare is imposing fines on safety-net hospitals at twice the rate paid by other hospitals, according to an analysis by the Center for Health Reporting. One local safety-net hospital, Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock, was the most highly penalized in the state. "The safety-net hospitals are dealing with a population that's sicker by the time they show up at the hospital," said Alice Chen, a health economist at the University of Southern California. "This stacks the deck" against them.
Soon, La Jolla will be home to two state-of-the-art heart hospitals built only half a mile apart. To some, the proximity of UC San Diego's Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center and Scripps Health's Prebys Cardiovascular Institute just south of Genesee Avenue might look a little too close for comfort. (Prebys Cardiovascular, the region's newest heart hospital, had its grand opening ceremony Thursday.) However, leaders of the UC San Diego Health System and Scripps Health expressed confidence that the beds in their facilities will stay full even as trends in cardiac care shift away from overnight stays and toward less-invasive procedures performed on an outpatient basis.
The doctor is making house calls again, but you will not find anyone in scrubs on your doorstep. These days, physicians get a little help from technology. Several members of the medical community met Friday as part of a project to bring telemedicine to Hancock County. The sound of a heartbeat thumps loud and clear through the monitor. With telemedicine, someone can have a doctor's exam, without setting foot in a waiting room. "The physician is at a different site, whether it be the emergency room or his office," explained Associate Dean of Rural Medicine at Mercer, Dr. Jean Sumner. "He can completely examine the patient using this equipment."
For too long, the vibrant communities in fast-growing west Miami-Dade have been starved of proper emergency medicine — residents effectively live in a healthcare desert. That's doubly shameful in a community where one of the world's best providers of emergency medicine is owned by those same taxpayers. This month, Jackson Health System is poised to expand its footprint and continue fulfilling its mission with the creation of Jackson West, an innovative new outpatient medical campus in Doral. Jackson West would launch a free-standing emergency room for adults and children alongside a pediatric outpatient center featuring some of the world's most advanced care for young patients.
Uber, the poster child of the sharing economy, came out of nowhere and managed to overhaul the traditional taxi business in just a few short years. It now has a valuation of approximately $41 billion. Now Wall Street is searching for the next industry that can be Uber-fied. There are rooms full of analysts in search of the next "sharing economy" juggernaut. And I'll bet they're not looking at health care — an industry that's proven one of the most difficult to drag into the tech age. But they could be missing something big. Recent movement from the U.S.'s biggest retailers into the primary care business indicates that health care might finally be in for some big disruption.