Hawaii's doctor shortage is getting worse. According to figures from the University of Hawaii's medical school, the current shortage of 890 is expected to jump as high as 1,500 by 2020. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Tuesday the current shortage is up nearly 20 percent from 742 in 2013. The medical school's Area Health Education Center is trying to find ways to deal with the issues that make practicing medicine in Hawaii difficult, including administrative burdens and the state's high cost of living. Center researcher Kelly Withy says the shortage is especially problematic on the neighbor islands, where residents aren't getting prompt treatment for serious diseases such as cancer.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a medical staff has standing to sue its hospital board and that the medical staff bylaws constitute "an enforceable contract between members of a medical staff and a hospital." How that ruling will be played out in hospitals nationwide will be an interesting chapter in the hospital medical staff story. The 3-year case pitted Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center, a 25-bed hospital in southwestern Minnesota, against its own medical staff. A district court and court of appeals had ruled in favor of the hospital, but with assistance from various national and state medical associations, the plaintiff doctors went to the Supreme Court, which overturned the earlier decisions by a vote of 5-2.
At first glance, Colorado would seem to be one of the federal health law's clearest success stories, offering nearly 200 plans and average premiums nearly unchanged in the coming year. But zoom in closer, and it is clear that a kind of pricing pandemonium is underway, one that offers a case study of the ambitions and limits of the Affordable Care Act during this second year of enrollment. An analysis by The New York Times shows, for example, that the cost of one midlevel silver plan in Colorado rose 36 percent west of the Rocky Mountains this year, while another dropped nearly 40 percent in the northeastern plains.
More than five years after the single-payer system was scrapped from ObamaCare policy debates, just over 50 percent of people say they still support the idea, including one-quarter of Republicans, according to a new poll. The single-payer option – also known as Medicare for all – would create a new, government-run insurance program to replace private coverage. The system, once backed by President Obama, became one of the biggest casualties of the divisive healthcare debates of 2009. The idea remains extremely popular among Democrats, with nearly 80 percent in support, according to the poll, which was shared first with The Hill by the Progressive Change Institute.
Medicaid expansion in two dozen states remains one of the biggest hurdles to guaranteeing healthcare coverage after the rollout of ObamaCare, according to a new report from Families USA. Unless the remaining 23 states opt to expand the eligibility for the low-income insurance program, millions of people will continue to lack affordable coverage, the healthcare advocacy group warned. Many of those who remain uninsured fall in a coverage gap, where they make too little to qualify for tax credits but just above the current eligibility for Medicaid — unless they live in the 28 states that have agreed to the ObamaCare provision that brings a windfall of federal dollars to expand coverage.
In pursuit of greater efficiency in the United States health system, public programs and private insurers have begun to pay some hospitals and physicians differently. These new payment models take many forms, but they all impose greater responsibility for cost control and quality improvement on providers and bear some resemblance to failed health care financing arrangements from the 1990s. However, there are some distinctions that could make all the difference. A recently announced partnership that includes Anthem Blue Cross in California and seven Los Angeles-area hospital systems exemplifies these new models.