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MBGH releases survey results of employers' reactions to health reform

Today the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) released the results of a recent national employer survey gauging the reactions and concerns related to health reform after the mid-term November elections. Conducted by MBGH and co-sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), Business Insurance and Workforce Management, the findings indicate that employers believe the law will increase their benefit costs and changes are needed in the law to improve quality, reduce expenses and reward health system performance.

4 Jan 2011

Looking ahead: What health system changes to expect in 2011

[M]illions of Americans [are] already exploring realities of the health-care overhaul, provisions likely to remain in place even as lawmakers threaten to repeal or defund it. Several key measures began taking effect for insurance plans written or renewed starting in September. More are scheduled for 2011, some benefiting consumers directly, others affecting insurance companies in various ways (Conaboy/Avril, 1/2).

3 Jan 2011

Today's Opinions: End-of-life counseling; Rising costs of boomers; Controlling infections in hospitals

Death panels. Government-sponsored euthanasia. Pulling the plug on grandma. Those were just some of the blatantly false terms conservatives threw around last year to scare Congress into stripping a provision out of the health-reform bill that would have allowed Medicare to reimburse doctors for providing voluntary, end-of-life counseling to their patients. The scare tactics worked (1/2).

3 Jan 2011

First Edition: January 3, 2011

Today's headlines include forward looking reports about the health law's possible impact in 2011 as well as early plans for the new Congress.

3 Jan 2011

A ‘tough’ 2011 for Britain’s NHS

The NHS would have a tough year ahead said the NHS Confederation suggesting 2011 could end up being the “toughest year” in the NHS’ 62-year history. The major issues would be the structural reforms from health secretary Andrew Lansley, the difficulty of finding £20 billion of efficiency savings and the uncertainty created by debate over a major piece of healthcare legislation would all contribute to a tough year.

30 Dec 2010

In State budgets, Medicaid goes under the knife; Costs high for Florida Medicaid's doctor-immunity plan; N.J. practices to launch ACOs

Governors nationwide are taking a scalpel to Medicaid, the jointly run state and federal health-care program for 48 million poor Americans, half of whom are children. The single biggest expense for states, Medicaid consumes about 22 percent of their total $1.6 trillion in expenditures, more than what is allocated to elementary and secondary education, according to a National Governors Association report.

23 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 22, 2010

Today's headlines include a number of reports regarding a new proposed rule by the Department of Health and Human Services that will require insurers to justify large premium hikes.

22 Dec 2010

Proposed Affordable Care Act regulations will bring transparency to proposed insurance rate increases

New proposed Affordable Care Act regulations announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will bring new transparency and scrutiny to proposed health insurance rate increases. These proposed rules allow HHS to work with states to require insurers to publicly disclose and justify unreasonable rate increases.

22 Dec 2010

Funding, antitrust suit pose tests for health law

News outlets are reporting on various policy developments — whether it's the Senate's effort to fund the federal government, ongoing legal challenges to the overhaul or a Michigan antitrust suit — that create tests for the sweeping health law. Meanwhile, however, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius touts the law's benefits and warns against another challenge — that of repeal.

22 Dec 2010

Health-care coverage program for kids ends in Ariz.; Florida Medicaid patient information may be at risk

A new audit criticizes the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and a contractor for failing to properly control access to computer systems that include sensitive information about Medicaid beneficiaries (Saunders, 12/17).

20 Dec 2010

Britain’s NHS falls short in providing services

British patients are being denied routine procedures varying from hip replacements, to cataract removal and wisdom tooth extraction as trusts are cutting back on surgeries and diagnostic procedures to save money. There is also a restriction preventing patients undergoing procedures for lifestyle reasons and those considered “low priority”. This includes obesity surgeries, mild varicose veins, fertility treatments, back injections for pain, hip and knee replacement in obese patients etc.

20 Dec 2010

The health law and legal challenges: What the future holds

News outlets continue their efforts to handicap the health law's chances as it progresses through the judicial system toward the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports on a proposal — inspired by such repeal efforts — for a Constitutional amendment that would allow states to overturn federal laws passed by Congress.

20 Dec 2010

Monday's opinions: Justice Anthony Kennedy may hold key to health care outlook; Minn.'s Medicaid plans; Improving food choices

Unless someone can drop into Anthony Kennedy's dreamspace and, "Inception"-style, either figure out what he thinks of the individual mandate or simply tell him what to think of the individual mandate, it's not worth spending much time speculating on the ultimate legal fate of the provision. The case will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court, and when it does, Kennedy will decide which side has the majority, and until that happens, the various legal decisions are little different from op-ed columns (Ezra Klein, 12/18).

20 Dec 2010

Health overhaul roundup: Analyzing the individual mandate, watching the politics around reform

While last week's biggest news focused on the court action surrounding the health law, some reports now analyze the controversial provision at the heart of these cases and what the future could look like if it did or did not survive. But reform news also translates into political news, as PolitiFact pinpoints its "Lie of the Year" and the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports on how federal reforms could influence the state's gubernatorial election.

20 Dec 2010

First Edition: December 20, 2010

Today's headlines include more analysis on the continuing legal challenges to the health law and the path they might take to the Supreme Court.

20 Dec 2010

Participants in CMS, Premier healthcare alliance HQID VBP project raise quality by 18.3%

With value-based purchasing (VBP) now law under health reform, hospitals participating in the nation's largest hospital VBP demonstration are providing lessons learned that can help others save lives and better craft rules to govern the new program.

20 Dec 2010

PwC: Top Health Industry Issues of 2011

Health organizations will undergo a strategy makeover in 2011 as they react to new rules and payment models, continuing cost pressures and new customer demands, according to the Top Health Industry Issues of 2011, published today by PwC's Health Research Institute. But in a recent nationwide survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, PwC found that consumers don't fully understand or buy-in to all the changes.

20 Dec 2010

Medicare bonus payment pilot program also a test for ACOs

Half of 10 physician groups testing Medicare bonus payments for quality and spending control earned payouts during the fourth year of the five-year experiment, the CMS has announced. Bonuses, which totaled $31.7 million for the fourth year, are based on how much physician groups save Medicare and how well doctors perform on measures of quality.

20 Dec 2010

Implementation roundup: HHS meets on state exchanges; Regs out soon on 'unreasonable' insurance rate increases; Plan 'B' options for the individual mandate

The first of a two-day, closed-door, HHS meeting with representatives from 44 states suggested that in many cases states will delay passing laws to create health insurance exchanges until 2012, according to one attendee. ... States have flexibility under the law to structure exchanges in different ways. HHS has urged that, if possible, they begin passing legislation in 2011 to get that process underway (Reichard, 12/16).

20 Dec 2010

Research roundup: Gender differences in health spending; How the states could fare under the new law; Increased Medicare premiums

Health Affairs: Pronounced Gender And Age Differences Are Evident In Personal Health Care Spending Per Person - This paper examines health care spending by men and women in 2004, including comparisons "by age group, goods and services consumed, and payers, and an analysis of some of the most frequently cited health conditions and treatments associated with that spending."

20 Dec 2010

Health Reform News and Research

MBGH releases survey results of employers' reactions to health reform

Looking ahead: What health system changes to expect in 2011

Today's Opinions: End-of-life counseling; Rising costs of boomers; Controlling infections in hospitals

First Edition: January 3, 2011

A ‘tough’ 2011 for Britain’s NHS

In State budgets, Medicaid goes under the knife; Costs high for Florida Medicaid's doctor-immunity plan; N.J. practices to launch ACOs

First Edition: December 22, 2010

Proposed Affordable Care Act regulations will bring transparency to proposed insurance rate increases

Funding, antitrust suit pose tests for health law

Health-care coverage program for kids ends in Ariz.; Florida Medicaid patient information may be at risk

Britain’s NHS falls short in providing services

The health law and legal challenges: What the future holds

Monday's opinions: Justice Anthony Kennedy may hold key to health care outlook; Minn.'s Medicaid plans; Improving food choices

Health overhaul roundup: Analyzing the individual mandate, watching the politics around reform

First Edition: December 20, 2010

Participants in CMS, Premier healthcare alliance HQID VBP project raise quality by 18.3%

PwC: Top Health Industry Issues of 2011

Medicare bonus payment pilot program also a test for ACOs

Implementation roundup: HHS meets on state exchanges; Regs out soon on 'unreasonable' insurance rate increases; Plan 'B' options for the individual mandate

Research roundup: Gender differences in health spending; How the states could fare under the new law; Increased Medicare premiums

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