Hospitals Dispute Rural Health Findings
June 18, 2012 (The Daily Yonder) - An independent congressional agency given the job of reporting on functioning of Medicare has issued a report finding that access to care and quality of care does not vary much from rural to urban areas and that payments to rural physicians are "at least as adequate as those made to urban physicians."
Moreover, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) finds that some special payments to rural hospitals should not be continued.
MedPAC's findings have brought a strong reaction from rural health care groups. “The National Rural Health Association strongly disagrees with this report,” said Alan Morgan, National Rural Health Association CEO. “Rural patients and providers will ultimately pay the price as rural hospitals will be forced to eliminate services or close their doors if this report is enacted. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) conclusions are counter to national data. Primary care workforce shortages remain a significant challenge in rural areas.”
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HHS announces 81 Health Care Innovation Awards
June 15, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced the recipients of 81 new Health Care Innovation Awards made possible by the health care law, the Affordable Care Act. The awards will support innovative projects nationwide designed to deliver high-quality medical care, enhance the health care workforce, and save money. Combined with the awards announced last month, HHS has awarded 107 projects that, according to awardees, intend to save the health care system an estimated $1.9 billion over the next three years.
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Any Supreme Court ruling hurts nonprofit hospitals
June 14, 2012 (The Chicago Tribune) - No matter how the Supreme Court decides on the national healthcare law, nonprofit hospitals will face a rocky future, Moody's Investors Service said in a study published on Thursday.
Within the next two weeks the highest court in the country is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that has inspired both political and legal battles from the moment President Barack Obama signed it into law more than two years ago.
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How Hospitals Can Shape Sustainable Cost Control
by Karen Minich-Pourshadi
June 13, 2012 (HealthLeaders Media) - It is among a healthcare leader's greatest challenges: how to make truly sustainable, long-term cost reductions instead of annual, tactical cuts. The frustration to move from the immediate and into the long-term cost-reduction phase is perhaps best summed up by these comments from a physician organization CFO who participated in the November 2011 HealthLeaders Intelligence Report Cost Containment: Overcoming Challenges: "We can't get beyond the idea stage. We run around like Chicken Little—the sky is falling—we must reduce costs now. Then, we get absorbed into the next crisis and forget all about cost reduction. We need to appoint a leader, create a plan with measureable goals, get buy-in, implement, and then monitor and reassess. We're just too busy some days to reduce costs."
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Committee Approves FY13 Labor HHS and Financial Services Appropriations Bills
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
June 14, 2012 (U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Press Release) - The Senate Committee on Appropriations today approved the fiscal year 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill by a vote of 16-14; and the Financial Services and General Government bill by a vote of 16-14. Both measures will now be reported to the full Senate for its consideration.
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Rural Healthcare Reveals High Value for Americans
June 12, 2012 (PR Newswire) - The latest update to Rural Relevance Under Healthcare Reform: A Tracking Study was released today by iVantage Health Analytics, Inc. The new release includes analysis from the company's data stores including: the Fifth Annual National Emergency Department Study, the Hospital Strength Index(TM) and the 2011 CMS Shared Savings Data File for ACO Development.
The study recognizes the significant differences between healthcare in rural America compared to urban settings and the unique challenges that many safety net hospitals in sole provider communities face. This study nonetheless finds high value in rural healthcare. The study evaluates key performance measures across physician, outpatient, hospital and emergency department settings. The measures include: beneficiary costs, quality of care, patient safety, patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, facility costs and service pricing, market size, competition and demand growth factors.
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The President's Rural Term Paper
by Bill Bishop
June 12, 2012 (The Daily Yonder) - The Obama administration released a report Monday on its policies and accomplishments in rural America during the President's first term in office. Rural equals agriculture in this report — and that leaves out the environment, worker safety, education and the hearings the administration held across the country on the lack of competition in the ag business.
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Uncertainty Over Law Casts Shadow Over Health Care Innovations
by Jordan Rau
June 17, 2012 (Kaiser Health News) - The health care law placed the force and money of the federal government behind a decade’s worth of ideas on how to improve patient care and change the ways doctors and hospitals function.
While this part of the health care law is at the periphery of the Supreme Court challenge, these changes could be halted if the court throws out the entire law, and some experts say they might be hobbled even if the justices excise just parts of the Affordable Care Act.
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Consumer Reports Releases First-Ever Doctor Practice Ratings
June 2012 (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) - Consumer Reports released its first patient experience ratings of primary care physician groups as part of a partnership with Aligning Forces for Quality, the Foundation’s signature effort to lift the quality of care in 16 targeted communities. The ratings cover nearly 500 practices in Massachusetts and were developed by Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP), a coalition of leading health care stakeholders that operates Greater Boston Aligning Forces for Quality. The report promotes opportunities for patients to become more involved in their care and to build stronger partnerships with their doctors.
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Camp addresses shortage in rural health providers
by Nicole Weskerna
June 14, 2012 (Daily Chronicle) - Nicole Dispensa is heading toward a job in health care, but she believes her hometown of Stillman Valley lacks the resources to learn more about that career path. Dispensa, 17, wants to pursue a career in clinical lab sciences. In a town with a population of about 1,100 people, it’s not easy to come by people in that profession.
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Social-Class Discrimination Contributes to Poorer Health
June 15, 2012 (UofW School of Medicine and Public Health) - Discrimination felt by teenagers based on their social class background can contribute to physiologic changes associated with poorer health, according to a new study led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher. Lead author Dr. Thomas Fuller-Rowell, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar, says that while the link between poverty and poor health has long been known, this is one of the first studies to consider the impact of class discrimination.
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