Health Care Delivery

What we're reading, December 15, 2016: Democrats won't help repeal the Affordable Care Act, but some may help pass a replacement; drug makers push new opioids despite lack of evidence they reduce overdoses; CDC issues Zika virus travel advisory for Texas town.

Racial and ethnic differences in access to healthcare are not always due to differences in financial resources and insurance coverage. A majority of minorities receive fewer services when compared with whites who have the same level of health coverage and income.

What we're reading, December 14, 2016: many Obamacare enrollees voted for Donald Trump expecting him to fix, not repeal, the law; President Barack Obama signs 21st Century Cures Act into law; Ohio Governor John Kasich vetoes one abortion bill, signs another.

There are a lot of unknowns about how Republicans will move to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act now that they will have a Republican in the White House. Joe Antos, PhD, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, did his best to speculate how a repeal might play out and what will happen with Medicaid expansion under a Trump presidency.

Though there are many unknowns regarding how the Trump administration will affect policy, there is bipartisan support for lowering costs and increasing quality. The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 is a separate law that was passed with 92% bi-partisan support in 2015. Read on for tips on creating a strategy that will set you up for success under advanced alternate payment models.

In Hennepin County, Minnesota, which has one-fifth of the state’s population, the government has worked with the healthcare system to create a different way to care for people.

During the keynote speech at the inaugural conference of The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, Geoffrey Canada, president of the Harlem Children's Zone, discussed the challenge of addressing health disparities in poor communities.

This week, the top stories in managed care included poll results that show growing numbers of Republicans want the Affordable Care Act scaled back instead of repealed, Jardiance received a new indication for patients with type 2 diabetes, and CareMore reported care coordination gaps for seniors.

Creating effective interventions to care for complex populations and making them available is only half the battle. That was the lesson gleaned from a workshop session at The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs’ Putting Care at the Center conference, held December 7-9 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

During the first plenary session of Putting Care at the Center, the inaugural conference of The National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, panelists discussed building new models to care for high-need, high-cost patients.

The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals sent a joint letter to President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence highlighting the potentially devastating effects a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could have on community hospitals.

The report finds that if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, many who stand to lose are low-income parents who gained coverage under reforms that extended healthcare to families and raised eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level.

These are uncertain times in healthcare and the anxiety levels of stakeholders remain high as everyone waits to see how the appointments and policy changes within the new administration will impact healthcare in the United States in the near future.

It seems intuitive that people with higher incomes enjoy better health. But for researchers, this general relationship raises many questions, not the least of which relates to “causality.â€

A recently released report investigates the potential ramifications of partially repealing the Affordable Care Act through the process of budget reconciliation. The study by the Urban Institute Health Policy Center warned that such a move by Congress would double the number of uninsured Americans and significantly disrupt the insurance market, resulting in reduced access to care.

What we're reading, December 7, 2016: health insurers provide demands if Republicans repeal Obamacare; women face 20% higher healthcare costs in retirement; and immunotherapies are being considered for sepsis.

What we're reading, December 6, 2016: Members of the GOP are unhappy with the leadership's plans for a 3-year repeal and replace of Obamacare; California bill would require superbugs be listed on death certificates; and Novo Nordisk promises to limit drug price hikes.

Putting Care at the Center is bringing together innovators from across the country to network, learn from each other, and create a shared agenda for the emerging field of complex care.

The group that represents 5000 hospitals outlined a policy agenda that calls for regulatory reform but also seeks some certainty that patients who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act will be able to retain it in the future.

What we're reading, December 5, 2016: insurers may be turning a corner with Obamacare plans; selling insurance across state lines may be a difficult initiative to implement; and older Americans are not diligent about getting vaccinations.

Immuno-oncology will be an important part of cancer care in the future, but probably not the only part, predicted Robert W. Carlson, MD, CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. He also explained how patient advocacy and an enduring healthcare system are essential to the advancement of cancer care.

Prescription drug spending didn't rise as much as it did in 2014, but it still outpaced all other categories.

What we’re reading, December 2, 2016: Johnson & Johnson must pay $1 billion to patients injured by Pinnacle hip implants; 3 organizations join forces on initiative to prevent suicides in physicians and medical trainees; the American Hospital Association has sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump with a list of requests for his administration.

In a show of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the 21st Century Cures Act on November 30 by a vote of 392-26. Here are 5 things to know about the legislation.

What we’re reading, December 1, 2016: the percentage of Republicans that would like to see the Affordable Care Act scaled back instead of repealed has more than doubled since the election; smoking will soon be prohibited in all public housing nationwide; some physicians are incensed by the American Medical Association’s support for Rep. Tom Price as HHS secretary.