Published on November 24, 2009 at 10:43 AM
In this
Kaiser Health News column, Michael L. Millenson writes about insights one could gain from paying attention to what's happening in Iowa. "The Des Moines home of the Chicago Cubs' AAA farm team boasts of being 'one of the top minor league facilities in the country.' This might also be an accurate description of the State of Iowa's political status, in which its quadrennial presidential caucuses help determine who advances to the Big Show." Millenson continues, "[i]f this were a presidential election year, a recent report by the Iowa Committee for Value in Healthcare would be reaping a lot of attention. Its sponsors say they know the 'secret sauce' that allows Iowa to care for one of the highest percentage of 'old old' in the country on modest Medicare reimbursement and yet still score near the top of the nation on a slew of quality indicators (11/24).
Read entire column.