Health Affairs

Editor’s note: For more on Rick Brown’s life and work, see Chris Hafner-Eaton’s Health Affairs Blog post and Lee-Lee Prina’s post on Health Affairs’ GrantWatch Blog. E. Richard (Rick) Brown, a nationally recognized public health leader who advocated for health care reform and pioneered the collection and broad dissemination of health survey data to influence... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: For more on Rick Brown’s life and work, see Gerald Kominski’s Health Affairs Blog post and Lee-Lee Prina’s post on Health Affairs’ GrantWatch Blog. I humbly write what cathartically emanates from me regarding UCLA’s Dr. E. Richard Brown, who passed away on April 20, 2012. Rick Brown, as he was known to most... Read the rest of this entry »

Planned and unplanned disruptions in production of drugs are behind an overwhelming share of drug shortages.  Stockpiling the finished product has been proposed as a solution for preventing future shortages.  The general idea is that the federal government would purchase and stockpile select drugs, just as it does with vaccines and anti-bioterrorism agents.  This would... Read the rest of this entry »

If, as suggested in the April Health Affairs article by Andrew Ryan and coauthors, the Premier/Medicare Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) program failed to achieve its goals, we can only hope that all subsequent demonstration projects fail so successfully. The fact is HQID showed that the combination of rewarding performance improvement and providing transparency of... Read the rest of this entry »

The most recent Health Wonk Review is available at Wing of Zock, the blog of the American Academy Of Medical Colleges. Jennifer Salopek and Sarah Sonies have compiled a great collection of posts; they were kind enough to include a Health Affairs Blog debate on the fiscal consequences of the Affordable Care Act among Charles... Read the rest of this entry »

Whether Medicare Advantage plans should be paid more than traditional Medicare has long been an issue of debate. In the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Congress voted to narrow the difference in payments between the two programs from 2012-2017, with some offsets based on quality bonuses for plans with higher quality scores.... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: You can hear Amy Berman discuss her April Health Affairs Narrative Matters essay at the recent release event for the April issue. You can also join Amy tomorrow (May 1) at noon for live online chat hosted by the Washington Post, which will also be publishing an abridged version of her essay. In... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: In the April issue of Health Affairs, Jean Mitchell reported that “self-referring” urologists, who billed Medicare for both prostate biopsies and the associated surgical pathology services, charged Medicare for more specimens per prostate biopsy than non-self-referring urologists sent to independent pathology providers. Additionally, the regression-adjusted cancer detection rate was higher for men treated... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: In the April issue of Health Affairs, Jean Mitchell reported that “self-referring” urologists, who billed Medicare for both prostate biopsies and the associated surgical pathology services, charged Medicare for more specimens per prostate biopsy than non-self-referring urologists sent to independent pathology providers. Additionally, the regression-adjusted cancer detection rate was higher for men treated by... Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court continues to mull the fate of the Affordable Care Act.  The House of Representatives continues to push budget bills that would defund ACA programs.  Many state legislatures have adjourned for the year without taking significant action to implement state exchanges.  But ACA implementation continues its onward march as the federal agencies —... Read the rest of this entry »

A new Health Policy Brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation looks at essential health benefits–the core packages of benefits that so-called “qualified” health insurance plans must provide beginning in 2014. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires that health insurance plans sold to individuals and small businesses provide a minimum package... Read the rest of this entry »

You are increasingly being held accountable for the outcomes of the health care you deliver. Pay for performance; shared savings in ACOs; public report cards…the list of strategies to monitor and measure the effects of your efforts is lengthening. Many of you seem dismayed by the increased weight accorded to the patient experience of care... Read the rest of this entry »

On April 10, Charles Blahous released a paper on the fiscal consequences of the Affordable Care Act. On Friday, Health Affairs Blog offered a condensed and modified version of that paper, along with responses to the April 10 paper from Paul Van de Water and Len Nichols. Below, Blahous replies to those responses. Paul Van... Read the rest of this entry »

The latest report from Medicare’s trustees, released yesterday drives home what many already know: Medicare poses a serious long-term budgeting challenge. But a close look look at the report also suggests that, while reforms and savings are clearly needed in the Medicare program, it would also be worthwhile and realistic to look at options for... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: On April 10, Charles Blahous released a paper on the fiscal consequences of the Affordable Care Act. Below Len Nichols responds to the arguments Blahous raised in the April 10 paper and offers his own views on the ACA’s fiscal consequences. In related Health Affairs Blog posts, Paul Van de Water responds to... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: On April 10, Charles Blahous released a paper on the fiscal consequences of the Affordable Care Act. Below Paul Van de Water responds to the arguments Blahous raised in the April 10 paper and offers his own views on the ACA’s fiscal consequences. In related Health Affairs Blog posts, Len Nichols responds to... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: On April 10, Charles Blahous released a paper on the fiscal consequences of the Affordable Care Act. Below Blahous presents a condensed and modified version of that paper. In related Health Affairs Blog posts, Paul Van de Water and Len Nichols respond to the arguments Blahous raised in the April 10 paper and... Read the rest of this entry »

This past November a committee created under executive order by South Carolina Governor Nikki R. Haley recommended rejecting a state-based health insurance exchange as currently defined by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  After months of review, we determined that states have little meaningful flexibility under the Obama administration’s concept of “state-based”; that state-based... Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. public health system, like its health care system cousin, is a patchwork of services, programs and regulatory authorities that is neither designed for optimal performance nor funded for sustainability and success. Those are the findings of a recent panel from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies. Their report entitled “For... Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, April 25, Health Affairs will hold a briefing on the subjects of recent trends in health information technology adoption among US health care providers; eligibility for federal incentives to support that adoption; and demonstration of meaningful use. The forum coincides with the release of three “Web First” papers from Health Affairs, as well... Read the rest of this entry »