In the last few days of negotiations in Congress, repeal of the Affordable Care Act's tax on medical devices emerged as a key Republican demand. The medical-device industry waged an intense lobbying campaign — even garnering the support of many Democrats who favored the law — arguing that the tax would stifle innovation and increase health care costs. This argument is doubly disingenuous. Not only can the medical-device industry easily afford the tax without compromising innovation, but the industry's enormous profits are a result of anticompetitive practices that themselves drive up medical-device costs unnecessarily. The tax is a distraction from reforms to the industry that are urgently needed to lower health care costs.
As he was trying to sign up for health insurance through Kentucky's new online exchange this month, Kenny Wheeler hit a wall. Mr. Wheeler, an independent sales representative with a neuromuscular disorder, had succeeded where many in other states had failed, getting through a thicket of log-in pages. But when he tried to find out whether two health plans he liked would pay for his medications or let him keep his current doctors, he could not. He called one doctor on the spot, but the receptionist could not tell him whether the practice was in the new plan networks.
Marylanders who signed up for coverage through the state's new health insurance exchange did so under the condition that their information could be shared with law enforcement. The policy sparked debate in the conservative blogosphere after the Weekly Standard published a post saying it raised privacy concerns. "We will not sell your information to others. Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection," the policy states. "The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities."
After nearly two years without a permanent CEO, Parkland Memorial Hospital's Board of Managers announced Wednesday that it has resumed the search for a permanent CEO. The Dallas County hospital suspended the search in March until it had successful completed a make-or-break survey by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It passed the inspection last summer. "At the time we suspended our CEO search, the Board knew we had a good turnaround team in place to steer Parkland through the impending CMS survey," said Debbie Branson, who chairs the hospital board. "That survey was crucial to the entire healthcare community in North Texas and it required our full attention," she said. "The time is right to turn our attention back to the CEO search."
A bad fall in the hospital can turn a short visit into a long stay. Such falls featured in congressional discussions about patient safety, and in a in the Journal of Patient Safety about medical errors. Falls are one part of a multistate clash between nurses and hospitals over how to improve the safety of hospitalized patients. In Washington state, hospitals are required to falls that happen on their watch to the state health department. Some hospitals have installed bed alarms to monitor patients prone to sleepwalking. Gene White sits on his back porch near a garden fountain. Just walking there from his bedroom was an ordeal for the retired airline pilot.
There's nothing simple about the proposed affiliation between Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare and St. Elizabeth Medical Center. If the affiliation makes it through state and federal scrutiny, it would join three hospital campuses, more than two dozen community sites, $500 million in annual revenues and 4,700 employees under the umbrella of an active parent organization to be known as the Mohawk Valley Health System. Blending all that into one health system, while keeping St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic and Faxton St. Luke's secular, is not an exercise for the faint of heart.