: The Ticket: Ryan鈥檚 Rise From Follower To GOP Trialblazer
His prescriptions in the Republican budget plan he devised have become his party鈥檚 marching orders: cut income tax rates and simplify the code, privatize Medicare, shrink the food-stamp and Medicaid programs and turn almost all control over to the states, and reduce domestic federal spending to its smallest share of the economy since World War II (Weisman, 4/29).
: States Could Be In A Bind On Mandate
If the Supreme Court strikes down the health reform law鈥檚 individual mandate, the states at the forefront of implementing the law could find themselves like Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons: racing ahead only to discover there鈥檚 no ground underneath their feet. These states were all counting on the individual mandate to make health insurance exchanges viable 鈥� because without a requirement for most people to buy coverage, there鈥檚 a chance that healthy people could avoid paying into the system, making premiums skyrocket (Feder and Millman, 4/29).
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: 5 Prevention Programs GOP Hopes To Target
The fight in Congress over the Prevention and Public Health Fund may rage on for a while longer. Republicans voted last week to eliminate what they termed as a 鈥渟lush fund鈥� as a way to prevent a large increase in student loan rates. Democrats disagree and will keep pushing for other student loan pay-fors. The prevention fund already has been hit with a $5 billion cut this year (Smith, 4/29).
: In Hopeful Sign, Health Spending Is Flattening Out
The growth of health spending has slowed substantially in the last few years, surprising experts and offering some fuel for optimism about the federal government鈥檚 long-term fiscal performance. Much of the slowdown is because of the recession, and thus not unexpected, health experts say. But some of it seems to be attributable to changing behavior by consumers and providers of health care 鈥� meaning that the lower rates of growth might persist even as the economy picks up (Lowrey, 4/28).
: Ahead Of The Tape: Humana Is Poised To Weather Any Ills
Careful what you wish for鈥攜ou just might get it. Investors in health insurers squirmed through the first year-and-a-half of Barack Obama鈥檚 presidency as his industry overhaul took shape. Now, the sector that seemingly stood to lose the most from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is in no mood to cheer the constitutional challenge the law faces in the Supreme Court (Jakab, 4/29).
: Accretive Denies Accusations Of Pressuring Patients To Pay
Accretive Health, one of the nation鈥檚 largest collectors of medical bills, took issue on Sunday with a report by the Minnesota attorney general鈥檚 office that it puts bedside pressure on patients to pay their bills (4/29).
: Accretive Gets Clean Bill Of Health From Other Customers
Health systems that work with Chicago-based Accretive Health backed the company Friday, saying they hadn鈥檛 seen evidence of the allegations raised in Minnesota that the debt collector violated patients鈥� rights. Their endorsements came as the Minnesota-based hospital system embroiled in the payment controversy severed its remaining contracts with the Chicago-based company (Frost, 4/28).
: Chicken Scratches vs. Electronic Prescriptions
E-prescribing comes as part of the switch to electronic health records, which can cost a medical practice tens of thousands of dollars. The stimulus package passed in 2009 included provisions that theoretically ease the financial burden for doctors, but the payments are tied to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements that are spread out over five years. So the upfront costs remain substantial. In addition to those costs, the other large obstacle to adopting electronic records is their impact on office work flow, Dr. Kaushal says (Stross, 4/28).
: Report: Anti-Psychotics Wrongly Prescribed In Nursing Homes
Many nursing homes are typically using anti-psychotic drugs in residents who display agitation and combative behavior, but who should not be administered the powerful sedatives, a Boston Globe report based on government data has found (Eversley, 4/29).
: How One Hospital Bent The Cost Curve
Many economists and health policy specialists think that changes made by insurers, hospitals and doctors to emphasize the quality of care rather than the quantity of care is a major factor, and Children鈥檚 Hospital Boston offers a good test case. But about four years ago, the hospital recognized the growth in costs as unsustainable 鈥� as many institutions in Massachusetts did after the state passed an individual mandate law. 鈥� All in all, the hospital made more than 100 changes and cut tens of millions of dollars in costs (Lowrey, 4/28).