You might not have to leave your cubicle at work or your couch at home to get that sore throat or nasty cough checked out. Walgreens is launching a virtual doctor visit feature on its mobile app, the company announced Monday. The nation's largest drugstore chain is teaming up with MDLive, a provider of virtual health services, to connect Walgreens customers with certified doctors via video chat on a smartphone, tablet or computer. The service is immediately available to residents of California and Michigan and will be rolled out in other states in the next few years.
When the new Congress convenes in January, debate will flare anew over whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its various provisions are the best way to address America's daunting healthcare challenges. While headlines to come may focus on big national programs and policies, we would do well to consider what we are learning from on-the-ground experience. Better quality care, lower system costs and smarter national policy actually lies in local experience; specifically, what we are learning from mobilizing care around certain patients within their communities. Roughly five percent of people in the U.S. drive 50 percent of the nation's healthcare costs.
The tears welled up in Martin Chalecki's eyes as he recalled not being able to scream when a male hospital employee allegedly molested him as he lay in bed suffering from pancreatitis. "I wanted to scream in the worst way -- I tried to scream, but because I was on a lot of medication, no sounds would come out," he said Thursday. "This man stood over me, this smile on his face with hands that were cool and dry and did terrible things to me. I will never forget that smile on his face."
Last-second preparations are underway Friday before the new William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in Dallas opens Saturday. On Friday morning, crews did everything from cleaning the kitchen utensils to stocking the bathrooms with toilet paper. "It's a busy and exciting time," University of Texas Southwestern University Hospitals CEO Dr. John Warner said. "We've moved our staff last week and we're doing touch up painting, we're cleaning the building for the final time and just beginning our final preparations to be ready to start taking care of patients." But when it comes to the medical care, they're already prepared.
Hospitals and insurers are continuing to pressure the state to shelve a publicly financed study that aims to bring transparency to health care costs. And though the study, which would look at contracts between hospitals and private insurance companies, is moving forward, at least one member of Governor Andrew Cuomo's inner circle is leaning toward postponing its release. Courtney Burke, the governor's deputy secretary for health, has told hospital representatives the study was not a priority and that it was on hold, though officials from the Department of Financial Services said it is moving forward, a source with knowledge of the discussions said.
It's one of the most important economic questions today: Is the snail-like growth of health costs over the last several years a real trend, or is it merely a temporary part of the Great Recession's aftermath? The data experts who compile the government's official numbers on health spending lean toward the more pessimistic view. They think the slowdown ? to the lowest level of growth on record ? stems in large part from Americans skimping on medical care during tough times. "The pattern observed in recent years is not unique and is consistent with historical patterns," Anne Martin of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said after that agency released new numbers this week.