Family physicians have a message as Congress and state legislatures consider a range of policies that would squeeze doctors' pay: People still want their doctor in charge. There's a shortage of primary-care doctors in the U.S., and demand is about to surge because of the coverage expansion in the Affordable Care Act. As a result, many states are considering measures that would let nurses and nurse practitioners take on more responsibility. But the American Academy of Family Physicians says that's not the answer--and that patients won't like it, either.
A former executive at software giant Microsoft is assuming oversight of the Obama administration's efforts to repair the troubled HealthCare.gov website, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday. Kurt DelBene, who most recently served as president of the Microsoft Office Division, will take over from Jeffrey Zeints, a management expert whom the president asked to rescue the site after its disastrous rollout on Oct. 1. Zeints is widely credited with helping to make the site functional, allowing tens of thousands of Americans to select a health insurance plan on marketplaces created by the president's 2010 health law.
Insurance companies are struggling with a new request by the Obama administration to make sure people receive medical benefits under healthcare reform come January 1, even if they miss a sign-up deadline set for next Monday. The government has sought to reassure consumers, already frustrated by technical problems that stalled access to its HealthCare.gov enrollment website in October and November, that those who need coverage starting on New Year's Day will be able to sign up. Last week, the administration appealed to the insurance industry to accept people who sought benefits past the December 23 enrollment deadline for January 1, and to consider approving retroactive coverage for consumers who signed up during the month of January.
U.S. hospital admissions in November were the weakest in more than a decade, under pressure from a change in reimbursement rules for Medicare patients and confusion tied to the problem-ridden rollout of Obamacare, according to a survey by Citi Research. New billing rules for the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled require hospitals to treat patient stays lasting less than "two midnights" as an outpatient visit. "In addition, it is reasonable to conclude that the cumulative impact of changing physician employment and payment models is beginning to play a role, as well as the paralyzing effect of the impotent Obamacare rollout," Citi analyst Gary Taylor said in a report.
In a major departure from industry practice, GlaxoSmithKline, the sixth-largest global drug maker, announced Tuesday that it will no longer hire doctors to promote its drugs. The company also will stop tying compensation for sales representatives to the number of prescriptions written for drugs they market. The changes will be made worldwide over the next two years. The New York Times broke the news late Monday. But the company said it will continue to pay doctors for research, consulting and "market research." It will also continue to provide unsolicited funding for continuing medical education activities run by "independent" groups.
A threat to America's health insurance overhaul has been that young people would not buy coverage in new marketplaces, possibly pushing the program into a disastrous spiral of falling enrollment and rising premiums. But this worst-case scenario is looking more far-fetched, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which sees just slight increases in premiums in 2015 even though enrollment of younger people so far is well below the Obama administration's target. Preliminary figures suggest roughly a quarter of Americans signing up to buy insurance under the policy have been between the ages of 18 and 34, below the administration's target of roughly 40 percent.