Health Affairs

This Denver-based consultant previously worked for twelve years in health philanthropy as senior program officer with the Rose Community Foundation of Denver and as vice president of programs for the Colorado Health Foundation. A week after the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado, the Denver Post headline read “Suspect sent notebook to CU before rampage.” The... Read the rest of this entry »

On July 24th, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) released updated estimates that project the budgetary impact on the Affordable Care Act of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in NFIB v Sebelius. In NIFB, the Court ruled that the federal government could not remove all... Read the rest of this entry »

On July 27, 2012, Judge John Kane of the United States District Court for Colorado entered a preliminary order in Newland v. Sebelius prohibiting the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury from requiring Hercules Industries, Inc., a for-profit, privately-held Colorado Corporation, to cover women’s preventive health services, including contraception, through its group... Read the rest of this entry »

An examination of national health expenditures in 2010 was the most-read Health Affairs article from January through June of 2012. This article, published in January, represents the latest installment of the annual retrospective health spending reports from researchers at the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Each year Health... Read the rest of this entry »

Demand for new radiologists, one of the most sought-after specialists, began declining in 2007 because of a lessening increase in demand for imaging studies. According to a Web First study in Health Affairs published yesterday, the growth in the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for patients in the United States... Read the rest of this entry »

When the Oregon Health Insurance Exchange began planning how to offer comparative information about health care insurance options, the organization turned to the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation, a nonprofit regional health improvement alliance that compiles reports on the quality of care provided by Oregon hospitals and physicians. Why would a health insurance exchange, which... Read the rest of this entry »

On July 24, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation issued an updated analysis of the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the financial penalty for states that do not adopt the law’s Medicaid eligibility expansion. Less than a month after... Read the rest of this entry »

If you were expecting the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recalculation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to rival the drama of the Supreme Court decision, you will have been disappointed.  But the new CBO re-estimate underscores the dangers of basing major policy changes on such forecasts. While the Court caused political shockwaves by declaring the... Read the rest of this entry »

A belated shout-out to Julie Ferguson’s summertime edition of the Health Wonk Review over at Workers’ Comp Insider. Julie offers a great collection of health policy blog posts for reading at your desk or at the beach.

One of the most vexing problems that has plagued the Medicaid and Medicare programs for decades is the siloed and inefficient system that Medicare-Medicaid eligible individuals must navigate to receive health care services and supports. Or perhaps it’s better to put it this way: we lack a rational, coordinated delivery system to improve health outcomes... Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s International AIDS Society (IAS) conference, taking place in the US for the first time after a 20-year boycott, has a special meaning to me.  As an infectious diseases doctor, I provide primary care to HIV-positive patients.  I first became drawn to HIV/AIDS in 1989 when I was 10 years old.  At that time... Read the rest of this entry »

This week, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced nine research grants, the results of which should help states implement various provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Commonwealth Fund released an issue brief on progress toward getting health insurance exchanges up and running in three states. And the Empire... Read the rest of this entry »

New analysis of a national survey on consumer experiences with health coverage compared the responses of Medicare beneficiaries to nonelderly adults covered by private coverage. The analysis by Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis and coauthors, published yesterday as a Health Affairs Web First article, found that those in the Medicare group were more satisfied with... Read the rest of this entry »

Those who oppose making affordable health insurance available to lower- and middle-income Americans are not giving up easily.  Having lost their two-year long battle to have the Affordable Care Act nullified in its entirety by the federal courts, opponents have come up with a new theory that they believe will at least deprive millions of... Read the rest of this entry »

The June issue of Health Affairs raised important questions about the current effort by states and the federal government to enroll individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid into managed care, citing states’ and plans’ lack of experience in delivering integrated care to this vulnerable, complex population. Despite growing enrollment in Medicare Advantage and Medicaid... Read the rest of this entry »

On the eve of AIDS 2012, the international HIV/AIDS conference, soon to get under way in Washington, DC, a new Health Policy Brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. This major program of assistance to foreign countries affected by HIV/AIDS was created... Read the rest of this entry »

A small number of seats may still be available for Health Affairs’ Tuesday, July 17 conference, “After the Supreme Court: Moving Ahead to Implement the Affordable Care Act, Improve Health and Health Care and Lower Costs.” The conference will be held at the National Press Club in Washington DC and is co-chaired by Mark  McClellan,... Read the rest of this entry »

The Affordable Care Act is intended to bring new health insurance choices to American consumers but — unless we pay attention to the concept of choice architecture — consumers may not be able to identify the best choice for them. Health insurance policies are complex products.  The myriad and confusing features of health coverage make... Read the rest of this entry »

Check out news of recent hires at foundations and elections to foundation boards. I have also included a few job openings in health philanthropy. Russ Gould, a partner in California Strategies, LLC, a public affairs firm based in Sacramento, has been elected to the board of the California Endowment. Gould is a past chair of the UC... Read the rest of this entry »

A Health Affairs Web First study published yesterday examines the results of the Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield Alternative Quality Contract. Under the AQC, BCBSMa pays provider organizations through multiyear contracts based on global budgets and pay-for-performance for achieving certain quality benchmarks, a model similar to the new Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations in Medicare. The... Read the rest of this entry »