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The Impact Of Health Reform On State And Local Governments [September 30, 2009] Future Of International Postsecondary Student Enrollment In The U.S. [September 29, 2009] Evaluating eHealth [September 28, 2009] Statistics On Hospital-Based Care In the U.S. [September 25, 2009] Accreditation And The Higher Education Opportunity Act Of 2008 [September 24, 2009] Jammed Access: Widening The Front Door To Health Care [September 23, 2009] Income, Poverty, And Health Insurance Coverage In The U.S. [September 22, 2009] Preliminary Analysis Of The Chairman’s Mark Of The America’s Healthy Future Act [September 21, 2009] Beyond Health Care: New Directions To A Healthier America [September 18, 2009] Senate Finance Committee Issues Its Health Reform Bill [September 17, 2009] Projections Of Education Statistics To 2018 [September 16, 2009] Web Site Launched On New Approaches to Chronic Disease [September 15, 2009] Is Health Spending Excessive? If So, What Can Be Done About It? [September 14, 2009] Slides Available From Summit On Health Care Workforce [September 11, 2009] A Snapshot Of U.S. Physicians [September 10, 2009] The 2009 Higher Education Price Index: 2.3% [September 9, 2009] Bending The Health Cost Curve [September 8, 2009] Retail Medical Clinics Can Provide Care At Lower Cost, Similar Quality As Other Medical Settings [September 4, 2009] Family History And Improving Health [September 3, 2009] New GI Bill Will Lead To More Full-Time, Full-Year Enrollments And Greater Attendance At Public Four-Year Institutions [September 2, 2009] Race, Ethnicity, And Language Data [September 1, 2009] Improving Quality And Value In The U.S. Health Care System [August 31, 2009] Life Expectancy in U.S. Reaches New High [August 21, 2009] Incorporating Costs Into Comparative Effectiveness Research [August 20, 2009] Economic Effects Of Health Care Reform On Small Businesses And Their Employees [August 19, 2009] Is The US Losing Its Preeminence In Higher Education? [August 18, 2009] Budgetary Effects Of Expanding Governmental Support For Preventive Care And Wellness Services [August 17, 2009] How We Can Pay For Health Reform [August 7, 2009] US Oral Health Workforce In The Coming Decade [August 6, 2009] Cost Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine [August 5, 2009] Allied Health Regional Workforce Analysis [August 4, 2009] Growing Old In America: Expectations And Reality [August 3, 2009]
The Impact Of Health Reform On State And Local Governments A new report from the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is the third in the CEA series. It illustrates the potential benefits of health insurance reform for state and local government budgets through a detailed analysis of current spending levels. The focus is on a sample of sixteen diverse states. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/cea-statelocal-sept15-final.pdf. Future Of International Postsecondary Student Enrollment In The U.S. A new issue brief entitled Sizing Up the Competition: The Future of International Postsecondary Student Enrollment in the United States from the Center for International Initiatives (CII) at the American Council on Education (ACE) examines enrollment trends of internationally mobile postsecondary students. Several factors are identified that could seriously affect the growth of international student enrollments in the U.S., including the global financial crisis; the increasing domestic higher education capacity of countries that currently send their students to the U.S., which could result in fewer students studying abroad; and intensified recruiting by competing countries. The issue brief can be accessed by clicking http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/cii/pubs/ace/SizingUptheCompetition_September09.pdf. eHealth—the use of electronic tools in delivering health care is rapidly emerging as an international priority in nations at all levels of development, yet the benefits and priorities have not clearly been defined, according to an article published on September 15 by the Public Library of Medicine (PloS) Medicine. The result is that there is an urgent need for additional research in this area. International research to evaluate the impact of eHealth would be especially helpful and unless it begins to take place potential economies of scale may not be realized. Recent events illustrate that the world economy is increasingly global, yet eHealth applications are generally local, regional, or, in a few instances, national. Nonetheless, enormous savings might be realized rapidly if international eHealth collaborations become more frequent and more knowledge generation and even data interchange begin to occur. The article can be accessed by clicking http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000105
Statistics On Hospital-Based Care In the U.S. HCUP Facts and Figures: Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2007 is a report that presents data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database on hospital care in 2007, as well as trends in care from 1997 to 2007. HCUP Facts and Figures features an overview of numerous hospital-related topics, including general characteristics of U.S. hospitals and the patients being treated; most common diagnoses, conditions, and procedures associated with inpatient stays; costs and charges associated with hospitalizations; and a special section that details trends in hospital care by expected payer, including Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and the uninsured. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/factsandfigures/2007/pdfs/FF_report_2007.pdf.
Jammed Access: Widening The Front Door To Health Care By several measures, access to care is jammed for many Americans. Universal coverage, if passed, won't necessarily translate into better access as shown in Massachusetts. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (HRI) identifies three key obstacles to access: crowded points of entry such as the emergency department, a system that is confusing to navigate, and individuals who inevitably fail to act on their health early. The report finds that consumers are open to trying new means of access and the industry already is responding. Solutions discussed in the report include: new means of access like online consultations, coordination of care among practitioners by using non-physician providers, and supportive models such as shared medical appointments that enable patients to learn from each other as well as from their providers. The report can be accessed by clicking http://pwchealth.com/cgi-local/hregister.cgi?link=reg/Jammed_access_Widening_the_front_door_to_healthcare.pdf.
Income, Poverty, And Health Insurance Coverage In The U.S.
Preliminary Analysis Of The Chairman’s Mark Of The America’s Healthy Future Act The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint
Committee on Taxation (JCT) have completed a preliminary analysis of The analysis can be accessed by clicking http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/105xx/doc10572/09-16-Proposal_SFC_Chairman.pdf.
Beyond Health Care: New Directions To A Healthier America Building a healthier America is feasible in years, not decades. A report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation entitled Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America describes the Commission's work and provides recommendations for moving forward to ensure all Americans have an opportunity to lead healthier lives. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.commissiononhealth.org/PDF/779d4330-8328-4a21-b7a3-deb751dafaab/Beyond%20Health%20Care%20-%20New%20Directions%20to%20a%20Healthier%20America.pdf. Senate Finance Committee Issues Its Health Reform Bill Yesterday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced the America’s Healthy Future Act, landmark health care reform legislation to lower costs and provide quality, affordable health care coverage. The Finance Committee will meet to begin voting on the Chairman’s Mark next week. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Chairman’s Mark would make an $856 billion investment in the health care system over ten years. The full text of the bill can be accessed by clicking http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/leg/LEG 2009/091609 Americas_Healthy_Future_Act.pdf TOP
Projections Of Education Statistics To 2018 A new publication from the National Center for Education Statistics furnishes projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2018. The report can be accessed by clicking http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009062.pdf. Web Site Launched On New Approaches to Chronic Disease A new n NIH-funded multimedia consumer education website has been launched that will provide in-depth, evidence-based information, extensive resources and research summaries, and unique online exercises that offer patients a multidisciplinary integrative approach to managing heart disease, diabetes and chronic pain. The site is available in English and Spanish and can be accessed by clicking Is Health Spending Excessive? If So, What Can Be Done About It? According to a new paper from The Brookings Institution, the case that the United States spends more than is optimal on health care is overwhelming. To lower spending without lowering net welfare, it is necessary to identify what procedures are effective at reasonable cost, to develop protocols that enable providers to identify in advance patients in whom expected benefits of treatment are lower than costs, to design incentives that encourage providers to act on those protocols, and to provide research support to maintain the flow of beneficial innovations. The paper can be accessed by clicking http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/articles/2009/0910_health_spending_aaron/0910_health_spending_aaron.pdf.
Slides Available From Summit on Health Care Workforce Presentations from the 2009 HRSA Workforce Summit in Washington, DC on August 10-12 are available on the Web at http://www.team-psa.com/workforcesummit2009/agenda.asp. Topics discussed include: primary care, diversity, the role of foundations in supporting the health workforce, the potential impact of health care reform, health professions education, and data collection. The slides can be accessed by clicking http://www.team-psa.com/workforcesummit2009/agenda.asp. To open a presentation, scroll through the agenda and search for the session and speaker whose presentation is of interest. Almost 75 percent of physicians were accepting all or most new Medicare patients, the vast majority of physicians contracted with managed care plans, and slightly fewer than six in 10 physicians provided charity care in 2008, according to findings released from the nationally representative Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the survey covers a wide variety of physician and practice dimensions from basic physician demographic information, practice organization and career satisfaction to insurance acceptance, compensation arrangements, and charity care provision. A data bulletin can be accessed by clicking http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/1078/.
The 2009 Higher Education Price Index: 2.3% Academe's own version of the inflation rate, the Higher Education Price Index, fell to 2.3 percent in 2009, down sharply from the 5 percent rate in 2008, the Commonfund Institute announced today. The price index is designed to be a more accurate reflection of colleges' and universities' costs than is the broad Consumer Price Index, because it uses products and services that are more typical of what postsecondary institutions purchase in a given year. The Commonfund Institute added two features to the index this year, aligning HEPI with the July to June fiscal year that most colleges use and for the first time providing regional figures, which ranged from 3.4 percent in the New England region to 2.0 percent in the East South Central and South Atlantic regions.
Much of the rhetoric around health reform has centered on the over-riding need to reduce the growth of health care costs, but agreeing on approaches that accomplish this goal has proven elusive. In order to slow the rise in health care costs, steps must be taken to address significant problems that exist with payment, benefits, regulations, and organizations in the current health care system. According to a new report from The Brookings Institution, health care reform should include comprehensive efforts to achieve higher-value care. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/47708full.pdf. Retail Medical Clinics Can Provide Care At Lower Cost, Similar Quality As Other Medical Settings Retail medical clinics located in pharmacies and other stores can provide care for routine illnesses at a lower cost and similar quality as offered in physician offices, urgent care centers or emergency departments, according to a new RAND Corporation study that appeared in the September 1, 2009 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, the first to assess the quality of care provided in retail medical clinics in the United States, compared the care provided in different settings for patients with middle ear infections, sore throats and urinary tract infections. Researchers found no difference in the quality offered to patients visiting retail clinics, physician offices and urgent care centers, but retail clinics did slightly better than hospital emergency departments. Additional information can be accessed by clicking http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/151/5/321. Family History And Improving Health An independent panel was convened by the National Institutes of Health to assess critically exactly what is known and what needs to be learned about how taking a family history relates to improving health. The conference focused on the use of family history in the primary care setting for common diseases such as diabetes, stroke, cancer, and heart disease. The panel released findings in a statement that can be accessed by clicking http://consensus.nih.gov/2009/Fhx%20images/familyhistory_draftstmt.pdf. New GI Bill Will Lead To More Full-Time, Full-Year Enrollments And Greater Attendance At Public Four-Year Institutions A new report from the American Council on Education suggests that future military undergraduates (defined as veterans and military service members on active duty or in the reserves who are pursuing undergraduate education) may be more likely to enroll full-time for the full academic year and may be more likely to matriculate at four-year public institutions than past military undergraduates. Military Service Members and Veterans in Higher Education: What the New GI Bill May Mean for Postsecondary Institutions, draws on numerous data sources to help higher education administrators understand and anticipate the enrollment choices of returning veterans and military personnel and the services needed to accommodate these students under the new GI Bill. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/CPA/Publications/MilService.errata.pdf. Race, Ethnicity, And Language Data The quality of health care in the United States is not optimal and the pace of improvement is slow. In addition, disparities persist for specific population groups. A fundamental step in identifying which populations are most at risk is to collect data on race, ethnicity, and English-language proficiency. A large body of research has documented disparities in access to and quality of health care that are revealed when quality of care measures are examined by these variables. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) formed the Subcommittee on Standardized Collection of Race/Ethnicity Data for Healthcare Quality Improvement to examine approaches to standardization. In its 2009 report, Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data: Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement , the subcommittee recommends collection of more granular ethnicity and language need according to national standards in addition to OMB race and Hispanic ethnicity categories. The presence of data on race, ethnicity, and language does not, in and of itself, guarantee subsequent actions regarding quality-of-care data to identify health care needs or actions to reduce or eliminate disparities that are found. The absence of data, however, essentially guarantees that none of those actions will occur. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12696 . Improving Quality And Value In The U.S. Health Care System A new report from The Brookings Institution reviews the evidence on a range of payment and delivery system reforms designed to improve quality and value. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0821_bpc_qualityreport/0821_bpc_qualityreport.pdf . Life Expectancy in U.S. Reaches New High U.S. life expectancy reached nearly 78 years (77.9), and the age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 population, both records, according to the latest mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2007,” was issued on August 19 by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The data are based on nearly 90 percent of death certificates in the United States. The 2007 increase in life expectancy – up from 77.7 in 2006 -- represents a continuation of a trend. Over a decade, life expectancy has increased 1.4 years from 76.5 years in 1997 to 77.9 in 2007. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/nvsr58_01.pdf .
Incorporating Costs Into Comparative Effectiveness Research AcademyHealth, an organization based in Washington, DC, provides a review of the differing perspectives on cost effectiveness analysis and its potential role (or lack thereof) in comparative effectiveness research ( CER). Insights from the brief come from a panel discussion during the National Health Policy Conference, The brief can be accessed by clicking http://www.academyhealth.org/files/publications/ResearchInsightsCER.pdf. Economic Effects Of Health Care Reform On Small Businesses And Their Employees Small businesses play an important role in the U.S. economy and are a strong driver of job growth and innovation. But small businesses are severely disadvantaged by the current U.S. health care system relative to their larger counterparts. A new report by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) examines the challenges faced by smaller firms under the current health care system, and the likely impacts of health care reform on small businesses and the workers they employ. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/CEA-smallbusiness-july24.pdf. Is The US Losing Its Preeminence In Higher Education? According to a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research ( NBER Working Paper No. 15233) issued this month, t he expansion of U.S. universities after World War II gained from the arrival of immigrant scientists and graduate students, the broadening of access to universities, and the development of military research and high technology industry. Since the 1980s, however, growth of scientific research in Europe and East Asia has exceeded that of the U.S., suggesting convergence in world science and engineering and a falling U.S. share. But the slowdown of U.S. publication rates in the late 1990s is a different matter, in that the rise of science elsewhere does not imply a U.S. slowdown in any obvious sense. Using a panel of U.S. universities, fields and years, evidence is found of a slowdown in the growth of resources. In turn, this has caused a deceleration in the growth of research output in public universities and university-fields falling into the middle 40 percent and bottom 40 percent of their disciplines. These developments can be traced to slower growth in tuition and state appropriations in public universities compared to revenue growth, including from endowment, in private universities. The paper can be accessed by clicking http://www.nber.org/chapters/c11592.pdf. Budgetary Effects Of Expanding Governmental Support For Preventive Care And Wellness Services On August 7, Douglas Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), sent a letter to Rep. Nathan Deal, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In it, he indicated that a lthough different types of preventive care have different effects on spending, the evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall. A copy of the letter can be accessed by clicking http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10492/08-07-Prevention.pdf. How We Can Pay For Health Reform In a paper and brief produced by The Urban Institute, the authors discuss alternative ways that health reform could be financed. They analyze different options including several proposals for delivery system reforms and for reduction in Medicare and Medicaid payments. They estimate the cost savings that could occur due to the introduction of a public plan option. Finally, they explore a range of revenue options. The key message of the paper is that health reform can be paid for, but it is best to obtain funds from a large number of measures to spread the burden broadly. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411932_howwecanpay.pdf. US Oral Health Workforce In The Coming Decade The current oral health workforce fails to meet the needs of many segments of the U.S. population. This variability in access to oral health services is often related to geography, insurance status, sociodemographic characteristics, and income levels. Challenges include a lack of coordination and integration among the oral health, public health, and medical health care systems; misaligned payment and education systems that focus on the treatment of disease rather than prevention; the lack of a robust evidence base for many dental procedures and workforce models; and regulatory barriers that prevent the exploration of alternative models of care. The Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop on February 9-11, 2009, jointly sponsored by the California HealthCare Foundation and the Health Resources and Services Administration to discuss: What is the current status of access to oral health services? Which workforce strategies hold promise to improve access? How can stakeholders improve the regulations and structure of oral health care delivery to improve access? The report can be accessed b clicking http://cart.nap.edu/cart/deliver.cgi?record_id=12669 . Cost Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Americans spent $33.9 billion out-of-pocket on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) over the previous 12 months, according to a 2007 government survey. Approximately 38 percent of adults use some form of CAM for health and wellness or to treat a variety of diseases and conditions, according to data from the 2007 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The CAM component of the NHIS was developed by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data provide estimates of the cost of CAM use, the frequency of visits made to CAM practitioners, and frequency of purchases of self-care CAM therapies. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/nhsr/nhsr018.pdf. Allied Health Regional Workforce Analysis A new report from the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California at San Francisco is entitled, Allied Health Regional Workforce Analysis: Bay Area Region . This 112-page document focuses on 22 allied health occupations based on the following criteria. (1) workers in many of these occupations serve as the initial contact, and sometimes the only contact, in the healthcare system for poor, underserved, or special needs communities; (2) many of these occupations represent a substantial number of job opportunities. They are often fast-growing occupations; occupations whose workforce is large, thus producing many job opportunities due to sheer size; or occupations that have both of these characteristics; and (3) these occupations are characterized by a broad range of educational requirements and practice settings. The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.calendow.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/By_Topic/Culturally_Competent_Health_Systems/Workforce_Diversity/AlliedHealthBayAreaFinal.pdf?n=465 . Growing Old In America: Expectations And Reality Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to physical dexterity to sexual activity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on aging among a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults finds a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves. These disparities come into sharpest focus when survey respondents are asked about a series of negative benchmarks often associated with aging, such as illness, memory loss, an inability to drive, an end to sexual activity, a struggle with loneliness and depression, and difficulty paying bills. In every instance, older adults report experiencing them at lower levels (often far lower) than younger adults report expecting to encounter them when they grow old. The report can be accessed by clicking http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/Getting-Old-in-America.pdf.
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