Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, says the nation needs to undertake comprehensive health reform to transform our healthcare system so that it improves efficiency and increases value. Healthcare costs are already so high and the power of compound interest so strong that reducing the growth rate by 1.5 percentage points per year would save substantial sums, he adds in this opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal.
Massachusetts General Hospital launched an effort to cut medical costs by reducing hospital stays and emergency room visits by the frail elderly. The initiative underscores just how hard it will be for the medical industry to make good on its promise to President Obama to pare healthcare spending by $2 trillion over the next decade. Under the Mass. General plan, the Medicare program would save millions of dollars by reducing hospitalizations of several thousand elders by 15% to 20% while improving their care. But to reap those savings the hospital has had to invest heavily up front, expanding the staffs of its primary care practices to provide time-consuming, hands-on help for patients struggling with a multitude of health problems.
Senators couldn't resolve differences over whether to create a public health-insurance plan, suggesting an uphill struggle in meeting their goal of passing a bipartisan healthcare bill by August. An 8 1/2-hour meeting last week featured "an awful lot of conflict," said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. Aides who were present said even some Democrats expressed concern about creating a public insurance option as part of a broad plan to revamp the nation's healthcare system.
Richard Scrushy's federal criminal trial, which ended in his acquittal, was an entertaining, white-collar whodunit. Four years later, the civil trial of a shareholder lawsuit seeking $2.6 billion from the disgraced HealthSouth Corp. chief executive isn't making nearly the same splash. There's few fireworks and no crowd this time, despite the huge amount of money at stake in the trial, according to this article from the Associated Press.
An effort to undo Minneosta Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto of funding for a healthcare program that serves 30,000 people in the state has failed. The House voted 87 to 47 on a motion to override the veto, short of the required two-thirds majority. The line-item veto revokes $381 million from the General Assistance Medical Care program, essentially killing it beginning in mid-2010.
After a year, the first 32 medical practices to sign up for a chronic-care initiative in Pennsylvania reported that their diabetic patients were doing better. Forty-four percent of the 15,000 diabetic patients in the program gained ideal control of their blood sugar, up from 33% a year ago. Participants say the program works because it gives incentives for caregivers to track patients better and to hire more staff. Over time, proponents hope to see broad health improvements and big savings from fewer hospitalizations and ER visits.
Nashville has given birth to hundreds of startup companies, especially in the city's signature healthcare industry. Executives and others with experience in specific niches are constantly searching for that new way of cutting costs, bringing more efficiency to healthcare, or turning a profit. Now a new generation of entrepreneurs is carrying forward the legacy of pioneer business leaders in the city, according to this article in The Tennessean.
Once reserved for cases in which the life of the baby or mother was in danger, the cesarean is now routine. The most common operation in the U.S., it is performed in 31% of births, up from 4.5% in 1965. With that surge has come an explosion in medical bills, an increase in complications, and a reconsideration of the cesarean as a sometimes unnecessary risk.
The practice of canceling medical coverage after policyholders have become sick or injured has cost insurers millions of dollars in fines and settlements. Now a jury will weigh whether Blue Shield of California owes anything to a canceled policyholder. Steve Hailey, a former self-employed machinist, and Blue Shield of California will be directly affected by the outcome, but the case already has influenced how insurers in California handle these rescissions.
A couple have filed a lawsuit against Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital and three employees, including the director of assisted reproductive technologies and two lab managers, for negligence, breach of contract, and infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit comes amid a national debate over storage of the growing number of frozen embryos in the United States, how to ensure their safety, and if, and when, clinics should destroy them.
