Health Affairs

Editor’s Note: Below is the transcript of a recent interview of Thomas Russell, who is stepping down on January 1 after ten years as executive director of the American College of Surgeons, by John Iglehart, Founding Editor of Health Affairs. In a wide-ranging and provocative interview, Russell endorses the creation of an independent Medicare commission to better allocate health care resources... Read the rest of this entry »

On October 13, the day the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of health reform, the Health Affairs Blog held a roundtable on public opinion and health reform. Participants included Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard; Chad Bohnert, director of marketing and e-commerce at Zogby International; Mollyann Brodie, vice president, public... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: What follows is the transcript of a roundtable on public opinion and health reform that took place on October 13,  the day the Senate Finance Committee approved its version of health reform legislation. Participants included Bob Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard; Chad Bohnert, director of marketing and e-commerce at... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: Health Affairs Founding Editor John Iglehart recently interviewed American Hospital Association CEO Rich Umbdenstock. The wide-ranging conversation, transcribed below, touched on the ongoing health reform debate, the evolving role of hospitals in community health, the effect of the economy on hospital finances, the evolution of integrated medicine, patient safety, workforce concerns, and other... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: In terms of “bending the cost curve,” health-care providers in La Crosse, WI., have clearly demonstrated the ability to deliver high-qualty care for comparatively low costs. La Crosse was one of ten communities featured at a July 21 conference in Washington, D.C. titled “How Do They Do That?  Low-Cost, High-Quality Health Care in... Read the rest of this entry »

The traditional summer break that provides members of Congress a respite from their official duties instead, in some areas, turned into a raucous, sometimes angry series of town hall meetings focused on the ambitious health care reform proposals of Democrats. The meetings have given reform opponents and advocates an opportunity to voice their opinions, although... Read the rest of this entry »

As President Barack Obama and his allies press their case for health care reform, the president exhorts that his vision will slow the growth of medical expenditures, expand coverage to millions, and improve the quality of care.  In the trenches, where millions of medical interventions occur daily, physicians and hospital managers who do the heavy lifting describe a... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been deprived of needed resources and authority by Congresses and Presidents of both parties, former CMS acting director Kerry Weems said in a recent Health Affairs interview with the journal’s founding editor, John Iglehart. To follow up on this interview, the Health Affairs Blog convened... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been deprived of needed resources and authority by Congresses and Presidents of both parties, former CMS acting director Kerry Weems said in a recent Health Affairs interview with the journal’s founding editor, John Iglehart. To follow up on this interview, the Health Affairs Blog convened... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: Below is the transcript of a Health Affairs Blog Roundtable on Atul Gawande’s New Yorker article on McAllen, Texas, and variations in health care costs. The roundtable used the article as a jumping-off point for a wide-ranging discussion on the policy implications of cost variations, delivery system reform, and other topics. Participants included Robert... Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a great deal of debate over how much significance to attach to last week’s promise by health care industry leaders to “do our part” in achieving the Obama administration’s goal of cutting health care cost grown by 1.5 percentage points annually. President Barack Obama called the occasion “a historic day, a watershed... Read the rest of this entry »

If Congress creates a new national insurance exchange as part of health reform legislation, should a public plan be included as one of the options? That is the subject Jacob Hacker, Len Nichols, and Stuart Butler explored in a recent Health Affairs Blog roundtable. The full roundtable is posted here, and some of the highlights of the... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: If Congress creates a new national insurance exchange as part of comprehensive health reform, should a public plan be offered as one of the choices for consumers? That contentious question was the subject of a Health Affairs Blog Roundtable including Stuart Butler, vice president, domestic and economic policy studies, at the Heritage Foundation;... Read the rest of this entry »

A public-private alliance known as the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) has greatly improved aviation safety. A similar alliance among health care stakeholders could reduce medication and device errors and wrong-site surgeries, renowned patient safety expert Peter Pronovost and coauthors say in an article published April 7 on the Health Affairs Web site. Pronovost is a... Read the rest of this entry »

Whether comprehensive health reform passes this year is likely to depend on whether Senate Democrats are willing to use the so-called budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass health reform with a bare majority of 51 votes, Jonathan Oberlander said in a March 25 interview for the Health Affairs Blog. Oberlander, an associate professor of... Read the rest of this entry »

Given the strong emphasis on medical specialization and the beleaguered state of primary care, Democratic and Republican policymakers and a host of private-sector interests are promoting the resurrection of the generalist doctor in the physician workforce. But most graduating medical students who matched to residency positions this year have not yet gotten the message. And... Read the rest of this entry »

Releasing a study yesterday, the powerful Business Roundtable added fuel to the argument pressed by President Barack Obama—that rapidly growing medical expenditures pose a major threat to the long-term economic health of the United States. Adding a new international dimension to the estimated impact of rising health expenditures, the Business Roundtable report found that the United... Read the rest of this entry »

The tragic death of a 12-year-old Maryland boy, whose untreated tooth infection had spread to his brain, has spurred Congress to mandate that all states provide dental services as a benefit in their State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The death of Deamonte Driver on February 25, 2007, shone a spotlight on the difficulties poor... Read the rest of this entry »

Michelle Obama has made it clear that, unlike Hillary Rodham Clinton, she will not be a first lady who regularly mixes it up with public policy issues that vex her husband’s administration. But, invaribly, she will be drawn into issues on subjects of personal interest or that derive from her varied professional career as a... Read the rest of this entry »

Ever since an 18-year-old New York woman died tragically in 1984 under the care of medical residents who—in the view of her family—were overworked and undersupervised, the subject of the duty hours of physician trainees has simmered in the academic medical community and, on occasion, among public policymakers. Now, as the consequence of a new... Read the rest of this entry »