News Archive
Living Well With Chronic Illness [January 31, 2012]
Transforming Health Care: The Role of IT [January 30, 2012]
State Progress Toward Health Reform Implementation [January 27, 2012]
Community Health Centers And State Health Policy [January 26, 2012]
Unemployed Adults Have Poorer Health And Access To Care [January 25, 2012]
National Priorities For Research And Research Agenda [January 24, 2012]
Improving Patient And Health System Outcomes Through Advanced Pharmacy Practice [January 23, 2012]
Additional Cuts To Funding Hospital Care Would Drive Up Job Losses [January 20, 2012]
Lessons From Medicare’s Demonstration Projects On Disease Management, Care Coordination, And Value-Based Payment [January 19, 2012]
Behavioral And Social Science Foundations For Future Physicians [January 18, 2012]
Five Percent Of Americans Account For Nearly Half Of U.S. Health Care Expenditures [January 17, 2012]
Hospital Employment Increases In December 2011 [January 13, 2012]
Raising The Ages Of Eligibility For Medicare And Social Security [January 12, 2012]
One In Six U.S. Adults Binge Drink [January 11, 2012]
AHRQ White Paper On Patient-Centered Medical Homes [January 10, 2012]
Uncompensated Hospital Care In 2011 [January 9, 2012]
Containing The Growth Of U.S. Health Spending [December 23, 2011]
Addressing The U.S. Primary Care Workforce Shortage [December 22, 2011]
America’s Youth: Transitions to Adulthood [December 21, 2011]
Keeping Doctors From Moving Out Of State [December 20, 2011]
Online Guide Helps Organizations Adopt Electronic Health Records [December 19, 2011]
Resources For Clinical Effectiveness Reviews Expanded [December 16, 2011]
How To Reduce $521 Billion In Wasteful Healthcare Spending [December 15, 2011]
Supporting Patient Engagement In The Patient-Centered Medical Home [December 14, 2011]
A Third Of Adults Discharged From A Hospital Don't See A Doctor Within 30 Days [December 13, 2011]
The Overlooked Connection Between Social Needs And Good Health [December 12, 2011]
IOM Report On Allied Health Workforce And Services [December 9, 2011]
Building Medical Homes: Lessons From Eight States With Emerging Programs [December 8, 2011]
Preventable Chronic Disease On The Rise--Undermining Nation's Health [December 7, 2011]
Decline In Consumers Seeking Health Information [December 6, 2011]
Uses of Retail Medical Clinics Rises 10-Fold Over A Two-Year Period [December 5, 2011]
Spending Patterns Under Medicare Part D [December 2, 2011]
Medicaid Costs Squeeze State Budgets [December 1, 2011]
Living Well With Chronic Illness
The epidemic of chronic illness – which represents 75 percent of the $2 trillion in annual U.S. health care spending – is steadily moving toward crisis proportions, yet maintaining or enhancing quality of life for individuals living with these illnesses has not been given the attention it deserves. Longevity is no longer the only goal as more focus is placed on living a long and healthy life. The CDC and the nonprofit Arthritis Foundation asked the IOM to help identify ways to reduce disability and improve the function and quality of life for individuals living with chronic illness. The report lays out a comprehensive framework intended as a guide to develop and implement cross-cutting strategies that reduce the individual and societal burdens of chronic illness. The IOM makes recommendations to the CDC as well as HHS on the development and support of programs to meet the health and social needs of people living with chronic illnesses.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13272.
Transforming Health Care: The Role of IT
The Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT released a set of recommendations for the most effective use of health IT dollars to support coordinated, accountable, patient-centered health care.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/BPC%20Health%20IT%20report%20Jan%202012.pdf.
State Progress Toward Health Reform Implementation
A report from The Urban Institute uses the Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model to explore the correlations between a state's progress toward implementing the Affordable Care Act and the anticipated benefits of the reform for state residents, as measured by the expected state gains in insurance coverage and federal subsidies.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412485-state-progress-report.pdf.
Community Health Centers And State Health Policy
Although the federal health center program was initiated and still is largely implemented without significant state involvement, state governments’ relationships with these safety net providers have grown over the years as states have worked to increase coverage and access to quality care. A primer provides an overview of community health centers and other types of Federally Qualified Health Centers and is intended to assist state policymakers in developing successful strategies to integrate health centers into state delivery systems and reform plans.
The primer can be accessed by clicking http://www.nashp.org/sites/default/files/chc.primer.2012.2.pdf.
Unemployed Adults Have Poorer Health And Access To Care
Unemployed adults are more likely to be uninsured and in poor health than those with jobs and less likely to receive needed medical care and prescriptions, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based on data from the CDC's National Health Interview Survey, 48% of unemployed adults had health insurance in 2009-2010, compared with 81% of employed adults. More than 41% of unemployed adults without health insurance delayed or did not receive needed medical care due to cost, compared with 15% of those with private health insurance, the survey found. More than 11% of unemployed adults had fair or poor health, compared with 5% of employed adults.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db83.pdf.
National Priorities For Research And Research Agenda
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) released for public comment its proposed national priorities and agenda for comparative clinical effectiveness research, which will guide the independent organization's funding of research. Consistent with criteria outlined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the draft priorities and agenda focus on five research areas: comparing prevention, diagnosis and treatment options; improving health care systems and services; communicating and disseminating information so patients can make informed health care decisions with clinicians; addressing disparities in health outcomes; and accelerating patient-centered and methodological research. The report does not specify or prioritize particular conditions or diseases for research. Comments on the draft report will be accepted online through March 15 and at a February 27 public forum. The PCORI Board of Governors then will issue a final version. The organization expects to issue its first funding announcements in May.
Additional information can be accessed by clicking http://www.pcori.org/provide-input/priorities-agenda/.
Improving Patient And Health System Outcomes Through Advanced Pharmacy Practice
A report released by the U.S. Public Health Service provides a resource to advance beyond discussion of pharmacists in expanded roles and move toward implementation. The report, Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes through Advanced Pharmacy Practice – A Report to the Surgeon General 2011, has also earned support for the recognition of pharmacists as health care providers and clinicians.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.pharmacist.com/Content/ContentFolders3/NewsReleases/2012/JanMar/USPHS_Report_USSG.pdf.
Additional Cuts To Funding Hospital Care Would Drive Up Job Losses
An additional 83,000 jobs could be lost if Congress enacts nearly $20 billion in Medicare cuts to funding for hospital care included in H.R. 3630, House-passed legislation extending the Social Security tax holiday, unemployment insurance and the physician fix, according to an updated analysis by a firm specializing in economic impact studies. That's in addition to an estimated 194,000 jobs that will be lost through mandatory sequestration slated to begin in 2013, which includes $41.5 billion in cuts to Medicare payments to hospitals over nine years. Two of every three dollars spent on hospital care goes to wages and salaries for caregivers and other workers. Hospitals, which rank second only to restaurants as the top source of private-sector jobs, created 89,000 jobs in 2011.
The analysis can be accessed by clicking http://www.aha.org/content/12/1-18-12-jobsreport-trippumbach.pdf.
Lessons From Medicare’s Demonstration Projects On Disease Management, Care Coordination, And Value-Based Payment
In the past two decades, Medicare has conducted two broad categories of demonstrations aimed at enhancing the quality of health care and improving the efficiency of health care delivery in its fee-for-service program: (1) Disease management and care coordination demonstrations have sought to improve the quality of care of beneficiaries with chronic illnesses and those whose health care is expected to be particularly costly, and (2) Value-based payment demonstrations have given health care providers financial incentives to improve the quality and efficiency of care rather than payments based strictly on the volume and intensity of services delivered. In an issue brief, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reviewed the outcomes of 10 major demonstrations that have been evaluated by independent researchers. The evaluations show that most programs have not reduced Medicare spending.
The issue brief can be accessed by clicking http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/126xx/doc12663/01-18-12-MedicareDemoBrief.pdf.
Behavioral And Social Science Foundations For Future Physicians
Understanding how lifestyle, behavior, and economic status affect health, and applying this knowledge to medical practice is vital for future physicians, according to a new report from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges). The report is designed to help medical educators understand what behavioral and social sciences to include in their curricula, and provides a framework to help prepare future physicians to address complex social challenges and unhealthy behaviors that can lead to premature death, chronic disease, and health care disparities.
The report can be accessed by clicking https://www.aamc.org/download/271020/data/behavioralandsocialsciencefoundationsforfuturephysicians.pdf.
Five Percent Of Americans Account For Nearly Half Of U.S. Health Care Expenditures
Five percent of the U.S. population accounted for nearly half of health care expenditures in 2008 and 2009, according to a new study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Individuals ranked in the top 1% of health care spending accounted for 20% of total health care spending in 2008 and 22% in 2009. Persons in the bottom half of the expenditure distribution accounted for 3% of spending in 2008, and most of them remained among the lowest spenders in 2009. The top decile of spenders were more likely to be in fair to poor health, elderly, female, white and have public health coverage, while the bottom half of spenders were more likely to be in excellent health, children or young adults, male, Hispanic and uninsured.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st354/stat354.pdf.
Hospital Employment Increases In December 2011
Employment at the nation's hospitals increased 0.20% in December to a seasonally adjusted 4,797,100 workers, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It represents an increase of 9,800 more employees than in November and 89,100 more than a year ago. Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of fluctuations due to seasonal events, private hospitals employed 4,803,800 in December - 10,300 more than in November and 88,700 more than a year ago.
Additional information about job growth in other aspects of health care can be accessed by clicking http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm.
Raising The Ages Of Eligibility For Medicare And Social Security
Raising the ages at which beneficiaries can collect Medicare and Social Security would reduce federal spending and increase federal revenues by inducing some individuals to work longer. However, raising the eligibility ages for those programs also would reduce lifetime Social Security benefits and cause many who would otherwise have enrolled in Medicare to face higher premiums for health insurance, higher out-of-pocket costs for health care, or both. An issue brief from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reviews how ages of eligibility affect beneficiaries under current law and how delaying eligibility would affect beneficiaries, the federal budget, and the economy.
The issue brief can be accessed by clicking http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/125xx/doc12531/01-10-2012-Medicare_SS_EligibilityAgesBrief.pdf.
One In Six U.S. Adults Binge Drink
An estimated 38 million U.S. adults binge drink, consuming an average eight alcoholic beverages per occasion, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The frequency of adult binge drinking ranges from 3.6 episodes per month in New Jersey to 5.9 in Kentucky, according to 2010 survey data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Nearly one-quarter of men report consuming at least five drinks per occasion in the past month while 11% of women report consuming at least four drinks per occasion. The prevalence of binge drinking was highest among adults under age 35 (28%) while the frequency was highest among adults age 65 and older (5.5 episodes). According to the CDC, excessive drinking is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and contributes to more than 54 types of injuries and diseases.
The Report can be accessed by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm61e0110.pdf.
AHRQ White Paper On Patient-Centered Medical Homes
A new decision-maker brief and white paper from AHRQ discuss how to improve the quality of the evidence and evaluations for the Patient-Centered Medical Home to ensure optimal policy decisions. The decision-maker brief offers a concise description of why and how to commission effective evaluations of medical home demonstrations. It provides insights into which outcomes to assess, why to include control practices, and why accounting for clustering is critical to accurate evaluations.
The paper can be accessed by clicking http://pcmh.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/community/pcmh__home/1483/PCMH_Home_Papers%20Briefs%20and%20Othe%20Resources_v2.
Uncompensated Hospital Care In 2011
U.S. hospitals provided $39.3 billion in uncompensated care in 2010, according to the latest data from the AHA's Annual Survey of Hospitals. That's $200 million more than in 2009. The total includes "bad debt," services for which hospitals anticipated but did not receive payment, and charity care, services for which hospitals neither received nor expected payment because they determined, with help from the patient, the patient's inability to pay. It does not include Medicaid and Medicare underpayment.
Additional information can be accessed by clicking http://www.aha.org/content/12/11-uncompensated-care-fact-sheet.pdf.
Containing The Growth Of U.S. Health Spending
The growth in U.S. health care spending has become a focal point in debates over federal and state health care reform. While the problem is easy to quantify, strategies for slowing rising expenditures are controversial, and evidence of their effectiveness is often elusive. A new report from the Urban Institute provides background that describes the problem and reviews the cost containment provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also presents estimates of cost savings from several policies that go beyond those included in the ACA.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412406-Growth-of-Spending-in-the-US-Health-System.pdf.
Addressing The U.S. Primary Care Workforce Shortage
While there’s little debate about a growing primary care workforce shortage in the United States, it’s less clear whether existing workforce policies—such as educational loan forgiveness or scholarships and higher payment rates—can boost the supply of practitioners quickly enough, according to a new Policy Analysis from the nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR).
The policy analysis can be accessed by clicking http://www.nihcr.org/PCP_Workforce.pdf.
America’s Youth: Transitions to Adulthood
America's Youth, a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) contains statistics that address important aspects of the lives of youth, including family, schooling, work, community, and health. The report focuses on American youth and young adults 14 to 24 years old, and presents trends in various social contexts that may relate to youth education and learning.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012026.pdf.
Keeping Doctors From Moving Out Of State
Widespread concerns about physician shortages have many states working to keep doctors trained in medical schools and residency programs there from crossing state lines to practice medicine. On average, only 39% of U.S. physicians practice in the same state where they went to medical school. Forty-eight percent practice in the state where they completed graduate medical education, said the report, released by the AAMC Center for Workforce Studies.
The report can be accessed by clicking https://www.aamc.org/download/263512/data/statedata2011.pdf.
Online Guide Helps Organizations Adopt Electronic Health Records
A new online guide is available from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to help hospitals and other health care organizations anticipate, avoid, and address problems that can occur when adopting and using electronic health records. The free tool, called the "Unintended Consequences Guide," was created to provide practical troubleshooting knowledge and resources. Experts from the RAND Corporation, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente-Colorado, and the American Health Information Management Association Foundation created the guide. It was developed with all types of health care organizations in mind - from large hospital systems to solo physician practices.
The guide can be accessed by clicking http://www.ucguide.org/.
Resources For Clinical Effectiveness Reviews Expanded
The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library and a component of the National Institutes of Health, announces the expansion of the information available from PubMed Health, which provides integrated access to clinical effectiveness reviews. NLM's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), in partnership with England's national Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, the Cochrane Collaboration, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other agencies in the US and abroad, now makes available more than 18,000 clinical effectiveness reviews via PubMed Health. PubMed Health organizes these clinical effectiveness research results, including full texts as well as summary information, for consumers and clinicians. Systematic reviews of clinical effectiveness studies address this need with rigorous scientific methodology. However, they are scattered across the biomedical literature and the Web sites of public health agencies around the world that produce many of them. The National Library of Medicine is uniquely positioned to gather these critical clinical resources in one place.
Additional information can be obtained by clicking http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/.
How To Reduce $521 Billion In Wasteful Healthcare Spending
A report that was released today from NEHI and the WellPoint Foundation indicates ways in which a leaner, more efficient future of high value health care and improved health for all Americans can be attained. Much of the health care provided today is inefficient, ineffective, and ultimately wasted. The document is intended to support health care leaders' efforts to lower health care costs by identifying seven specific areas of waste and inefficiency that together drain $521 billion from the system each year and it describes steps that could be taken to curb this unnecessary spending without an adverse impact on quality of care.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.nehi.net/bendthecurve/sup/documents/Health_Care_Leaders_Guide.pdf.
Supporting Patient Engagement In The Patient-Centered Medical Home
Given the current interest in the patient-centered medical home, from the provider community in particular, a report from the Center for advancing health offers contains two modest proposals for how the idea of patient-centeredness can extend to supporting patients' needs to participate positively in their own care.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.cfah.org/pdfs/CFAH_PACT_WhitePaper_current.pdf.
A Third Of Adults Discharged From A Hospital Don't See A Doctor Within 30 Days
One in three adult patients-aged 21 and older-discharged from a hospital to the community does not see a physician within 30 days of discharge, according to a new national study by HSC for the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR).
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.nihcr.org/Reducing_Readmissions.pdf.
The Overlooked Connection Between Social Needs And Good Health
Four in five physicians say patients' social needs are as important to address as their medical conditions, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For physicians serving patients in low-income communities, nine in ten physicians believe this is true. In this national survey of primary care providers and pediatricians, 85 percent believe that unmet social needs - things like access to nutritious food, reliable transportation and adequate housing - are leading directly to worse health for all Americans.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/73646rwjfphysicianssurveyrev.pdf.
IOM Report On Allied Health Workforce And Services
The demand for health care is growing as the nation ages and seeks to provide coverage for the millions of Americans who lack health insurance. At the same time, escalating costs have led to a variety of initiatives to make the delivery of health care more effective and efficient. The allied health workforce is critical to the success of these efforts. The IOM held a workshop on May 9-10, 2011, to examine the current allied health care workforce and consider how it can contribute to improving health care access, quality, and effectiveness. The workshop report became available on December 8, 2011.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Allied-Health-Workforce-and-Services.aspx?utm_medium=etmail&utm_source=Institute%20of%20Medicine&utm_campaign=12.08.11+Report+-+Allied+Health+Workforce&utm_content=New%20Reports&utm_term=Non-profit.
Building Medical Homes: Lessons From Eight States With Emerging Programs
According to a new report from the National Academy for State Health Policy, many states are engaging public and private payers in the design of medical home programs as a means of achieving better health outcomes, increasing patient satisfaction, and lowering per capita health care costs. The eight states profiled in this report-Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia-are at different stages in the development and implementation of a medical home program and have relied on different strategies to encourage primary care providers to adopt the model, including developing state medical home qualification standards instead of adopting national standards.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.nashp.org/sites/default/files/building.medical.homes_.emerging.states.pdf.
Preventable Chronic Disease On The Rise--Undermining Nation's Health
A report issued on December 6, 2011 indicates that increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. According to "America's Health Rankings," an annual state-by-state assessment of the nation's health, the country's overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 - a drop from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s. The report, published jointly by United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention, indicates that 2011 is the first year no state had an obesity prevalence under 20 percent. For every person who quit smoking in 2011, another person became obese.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.americashealthrankings.org/SiteFiles/Reports/AHR%202011edition.pdf.
Decline In Consumers Seeking Health Information
After a striking rise in the last decade, the proportion of American adults seeking information about a personal health concern from a source other than their doctor dropped to 50 percent in 2010, down from 56 percent in 2007, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/1260/1260.pdf.
Uses of Retail Medical Clinics Rises 10-Fold Over A Two-Year Period
Use of retail medical clinics located in pharmacies and other retail settings increased 10-fold between 2007 and 2009, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The determining factors in choosing a retail medical clinic over a physician's office were found to be age, health status, income and proximity to the clinic. No link between availability of a primary care physician and retail clinic use was found.
This article appeared in the American Journal of Managed Care, Vol. 17, No. 11, pp. e443-e448.
Spending Patterns Under Medicare Part D
The centerpiece of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Medicare Modernization Act) was the creation of Medicare Part D, a subsidized pharmaceutical benefit that went into effect in 2006. An issue brief from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reviews patterns of Medicare Part D utilization and spending among the non-LIS (low income subsidy) and LIS populations.
The issue brief can be accessed by clicking http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/125xx/doc12548/12-01-MedicarePartD.pdf.
Medicaid Costs Squeeze State Budgets
While the overall fiscal condition of states has improved from the depths of the recession, the Fall 2011 Fiscal Survey of States released by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), shows that states are facing a ‘big squeeze’ from both local and federal governments. Spending on Medicaid is expected to consume an increasing share of state budgets and grow much more rapidly than state revenue growth, resulting in slow or no growth in education, transportation, or public safety.
The report can be accessed by clicking http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/FSS1111.PDF.