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Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa, Health Care, Conspiracies, Homosexuality (1994) – Video

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Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa, Health Care, Conspiracies, Homosexuality (1994)
The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice is a book by Christopher Hitchens addressing Mother Teresa #39;s life and work. The book presents b...

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Christopher Hitchens on Mother Teresa, Health Care, Conspiracies, Homosexuality (1994) - Video

Health care breach victims plummet

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The number of people affected by health care data breaches drastically dropped from 2011 to 2012, according to an analysis of the latest report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Data breaches impacted 2.5 million people in 2012, a precipitous fall from 2011, when 11 million people were affected, noted Gartner Research Vice President Jack Santos in a blog post on Monday.

"Well I am happy to say that we are off the curve to have 50 percent of the population breached for health care data by 2025," he wrote.

Santos' analysis jibes with a report earlier this year from Redspin, which provides penetration testing, risk management and compliance services to a number of industries, including health care providers.

In its report released in February, Redspin noted that while the number of large breaches in 2012 increased 21.5 percent over 2011, the number of patient records affected by the breaches dropped 77 percent.

Santos cited three possible reasons for the plummeting numbers:

In its report, Redspin maintains that tougher regulations and high-profile settlements contributed significantly to the year-to-year fall in affected clients.

The report said more hospitals have begun to conduct security risk assessments mandated by federal law and regulation, while the federal agency charged with protecting the privacy and security of medical records -- the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) -- began to impress on the industry that the regulators were serious about privacy and security through fines and monetary settlements.

[Also see: Law firms see big money in healthcare breach cases]

"During the same time period, OCR began to wield its enforcement authority, publicly announcing several high profile investigations that resulted in breach resolution agreements," the report said.

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Health care breach victims plummet

Nancy-Ann DeParle: Health care reforms proving critics wrong

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For more than 100 years, leaders from both parties struggled to bring affordable health care to all Americans. When President Barack Obama took up the fight, many people predicted defeat. Three years, 34 repeal votes, one Supreme Court decision and a presidential election later, some are questioning whether government is capable of implementing the historic law. Concern is understandable: The Affordable Care Act transforms a health care system that accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy and is central to our lives. But recent history shows that big changes in health care policy can be implemented.

The worries being voiced are familiar to those who follow health care policy. They're certainly familiar to me. I became the administrator of Medicare and Medicaid in 1997, just as Congress passed the most sweeping changes in Medicare's history. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 cut nearly $400 billion from providers such as doctors, hospitals and nursing homes; cracked down on waste and fraud; created a new Medicare HMO program; and launched the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) with a goal of covering millions of uninsured children.

Even members of Congress who voted for the law soon questioned whether it could work. Critics said that it was too big and complicated, that payment reductions would drive doctors and hospitals out of business and strand senior citizens without care, and that states would not cooperate in enrolling children in CHIP. Some predicted a Y2K crisis that would cripple government computers.

In fact, the law saved billions more than originally projected and extended the life of the Medicare trust fund by almost a quarter-century. We modernized payment systems and cut Medicare waste and fraud nearly in half. Millions of children in every state were insured thanks to CHIP.

A few years later, similar doubts surrounded the launch of two Republican initiatives: President George W. Bush's Medicare prescription drug plan and Mitt Romney's health care reform in Massachusetts. Today, the Medicare prescription drug benefit helps millions of seniors, and the Massachusetts plan is a model for the nation.

Soon the Affordable Care Act will add a new chapter to this history of real-world success.

Critics say the law is complex. They are right. When Obama first took office, 51 million Americans were uninsured, premiums had more than doubled in the preceding decade, and insurers could deny coverage to those who needed it most. If easy solutions existed, someone would have found them long ago.

The ACA tackles these problems. It provides near-universal coverage by requiring everyone who can afford coverage to have it; expanding Medicaid for the poorest and subsidizing those who are low-income or whose employers do not provide coverage; and creating online "health insurance marketplaces" where consumers and small businesses can shop for private plans competing on price and quality.

Much has been made of the states that have not established marketplaces. Governors who chose to sit on the sidelines made the wrong call, but the federal government is ready to step in. Working with insurers, states and others, the Obama administration has been quietly testing the new system tapping many of the officials who helped implement the Balanced Budget Act and the Medicare drug benefit to ensure that it works. And although public discussion of the ACA has been contentious, I have been part of pragmatic, behind-the-scenes conversations with state officials and businesspeople invested in the law's success.

Critics say the law fails to bring down health care costs. A review of the facts is in order. If you get insurance at work, the new law will not disrupt your coverage or make it more expensive. And premiums will fall for the overwhelming majority of consumers in the new marketplaces as coverage expands, administrative costs are reduced and discrimination based on gender and age is curbed. In 2014 alone, 6 million Americans will get tax credits, making health insurance more affordable.

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Nancy-Ann DeParle: Health care reforms proving critics wrong

Health Care Reform Brings Michigan A New, Consumer-Owned Insurer

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EAST LANSING Michigans newest health insurance company, Consumers Mutual Insurance of Michigan, is preparing to deliver health insurance that is focused on the needs of consumers, particularly low-and moderate-income residents and small businesses in need of high quality, low-cost insurance options.

Consumers Mutual received $72 million in a federal loan as part of the Affordable Care Act to become a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) health insurer operating much as a statewide credit union where interests of members control company decisions. Members, including individuals and small businesses, will be owners of the new company.

Health insurance co-ops were created by Congress to enhance competition in the new state-based competitive health insurance marketplace and provide options in markets that have been dominated by an individual or a few insurance companies.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to fix health care in Michigan by creating consumer-focused health care products aimed at wellness, evidence-driven care and transparency, said Dennis Litos, CEO of the new operation, headquartered in East Lansing. We intend to be full and vigorous players in the health insurance marketplace exchange when it opens for business, and are already preparing to offer very competitive products to individuals and small businesses who are in need of high quality but affordable health insurance on and off the exchange.

Litosis an experienced health care executive with 35 years of experience in health care administration, including 18 years at the CEO level for two large hospital systems Ingham Regional Medical Center of Lansing (now McLaren Lansing) and Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, Calif.

Litos comes to Consumers Mutual after serving as a principal consultant with Lansing-based Health Management Associates, where he spent time developing an integrated health care delivery system for Californias Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties in preparation for health coverage expansion due to 2014 health reform changes.

Consumers Mutual has opened offices at 2601 Coolidge Road, Suite 200, in East Lansing. It has about 23 staff today, working with physicians, insurance agents and others to develop products to meet market needs. The company will be ready to offer insurance later this summer through insurance agents, and on Oct. 1 of this year through the health insurance marketplace when it opens.

Consumers Mutual believes its members will have the right to: * A healthy partnership between their doctors, hospitals, and Consumers Mutual * Coverage of a wide range of responsible health care services * Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses * Open transparency between patients, physicians and Consumers Mutual * Easy access to medications that reduce illness and disabilities * Development of health care data and delivery of that data to physicians to assist decision making * Prompt, plain language explanations and opportunities for discussion with Consumers Mutual professionals

This pledge will drive our company toward creating smart insurance options for consumers that will help keep them healthy, empower medical providers to do the right thing, and help hold down costs, and then deliver those options to our owner-customers, said Litos. We have a passion to succeed in this unique mission and in doing so, will help create a healthier Michigan.

For more information, visit http://www.consumersmutual.org.

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Health Care Reform Brings Michigan A New, Consumer-Owned Insurer

Health care providers talking more to each other

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BREMERTON From Harrison Medical Center to pharmacies, dozens of local health organization are banding together to meet health care reform head on.

A new effort tasked with pulling it off is the Kitsap County Cross Continuum Care Transitions Project, or KC4TP for short.

One of its biggest goals: reduce the rate of hospital readmissions within 30 days for Medicare patients.

The benefit for patients: care thats more attentive to detail as the patient is moved from hospital to nursing home, assisted living or home.

Right now, 20 percent of Medicare patients nationally are readmitted to hospitals within a month after being discharged. Their follow-up care, in some instances, hasnt been all that it could be.

This represents a failure in either the care of the patient thats given or the discharge, said Lauren Newcomer, director of quality and operational improvement at Harrison and one of the KC4TP leaders.

Unnecessary readmissions are a no-no under federal health care reform, because it costs more money to put patients back into the most expensive settings.

Currently under reform, hospitals are penalized 1 percent of total Medicare reimbursements for having too many readmissions. That jumps to 3 percent by 2017.

Its a huge amount of money thats at stake, Newcomer said.

Harrison hasnt had to pay any penalties. If it had, 1 percent would have amounted to $650,000; 3 percent would have been $1.95 million, according to Harrison spokeswoman Jacquie Goodwill.

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Health care providers talking more to each other

Small businesses mull health care overhaul's impact

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Health care reform by Elizabeth Stawicki, Minnesota Public Radio

May 13, 2013

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ST. PAUL, Minn. Organizations representing small business have been among the sharpest critics of the federal health care overhaul. But the opposition is not universal. Some small business owners in Minnesota hope they'll find new health insurance options thanks to the law and MNSURE, the new state new online insurance marketplace it created.

Although businesses with fewer than 50 employees don't have to provide insurance to their workers under the federal health care law, business owners like Melissa Martinson nevertheless want to.

Martinson, president of Technomics Research, a small health care consulting business in Medina, Minn., began shopping for a company health plan for the firm's five employees about 10 years ago.

"Every year I'd go to a number of insurance brokers and say, 'what can you do for the company?'" she recalled. "And they would do some analysis and come back and say, 'well I'm sorry' but because of, you know, my age, they were unable to do anything better than we could get as individuals."

At 56, Martinson is a decade or two older than her youngest workers. She is healthy and has no pre-existing conditions, but her age alone raised the premium rates for a group plan.

As a result, it made more sense for the employees to buy individual plans, because they were less expensive. The business helped them shoulder the cost with profit sharing.

Martinson is hoping the new online insurance marketplace, MNSURE, will offer a small business health insurance plan that's more affordable than the current arrangement.

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Small businesses mull health care overhaul's impact

Health care exhibition attracts global players

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Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah will open the Saudi Health Exhibition and Conference 2013, the largest international health care event in the Kingdom, at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center today. The three-day show has attracted more than 300 exhibitors from 34 countries. The show will provide a dedicated platform for key industry players to focus on the leading trends and developments within the $ 20 billion Saudi health care industry. With a net exhibition space of 5,500 square meters, the exhibition will concurrently host seven Continuous Medical Education-accredited conferences, which would include a Saudi Radiology Technologists Conference, Medical Laboratories Conference, Cardiology Conference, Biomedical Engineering Conference, Executive Nursing Conference, Imaging Administration Conference and Non-Communicable Diseases Conference. Over 1,000 delegates are expected to attend the exhibition, which is being jointly organized by Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, organizers of the worlds most important health care exhibition Arab Health, and Riyadh Exhibitions Company (REC), organizers of the Saudi Medicare Exhibition for the last 15 years. Dr. Saleh Al-Mazrou, undersecretary to the Ministry of Health for supplies and engineering affairs, said the event aims to support the health sector through the participation of specialists, and provide opportunities for networking and accessing products, services and solutions offered by international companies. He said the conference will have several sessions and lectures by experts and specialists to highlight various topics. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties has approved 30 hours of continuing medical training for the delegates taking part in the conference, he added. He said the conference was an opportunity to review the systems and infrastructure and facilities for the health care sector. The presence of many visitors and exhibitors from all over the world would also facilitate the development of joint business opportunities. It would also allow direct access to the latest developments in the field of medical industries around the world, establish strategic partnerships between specialized medical sectors at local and international levels, and bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers. Kamil Al-Jawhari, project manager of the show, said: Saudi Health will gather the biggest names and organizations in the Saudi health care industry, making it the definitive networking platform among health care professionals in the Kingdom. Moreover, specialists, suppliers and other key global industry players will be attending the event to discuss the latest market insight, technological breakthroughs and best practices. The event will surely be a major boost to the Saudi health care sector, complementing the Saudi governments continuing thrust to enhance the quality of health care services across the Kingdom. We are inviting all medical professionals and health care companies and investors in the Kingdom to take advantage of this exclusive opportunity to meet and interact with industry giants in the regional and global health care sector. In line with Informa Life Sciences and RECs philosophy of exhibition with education, he pointed out that Saudi Health offers a comprehensive multi-tracked congress including a diverse range of conferences covering a broad range of specific medical disciplines. Key global issues that will be debated at the conferences include imaging and diagnostics, medical laboratories, biomedical engineering, nursing, primary health care, rehabilitation and trauma.

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Health care exhibition attracts global players

Nurses pivotal to health care system: President

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President Pranab Mukherjee today said nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system."Nurses form a large part of the health workforce and are the backbone of the health care system. They are pivotal in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," the president said while presenting the National Florence Nightingale awards...

Sunday said nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system."Nurses form a large part of the health workforce and are the backbone of the health care system. They are pivotal in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," the president said while presenting the National Florence Nightingale awards to nursing personnel...

New Delhi, May 12 : President Pranab Mukherjee...

on Sunday presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards to nursing personnel on the occasion of International Nurses Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan.Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee said the National Florence Nightingale Awards are a befitting recognition of the extraordinary services rendered by nurses who have served the sick and the ailing, with compassion, patience and courage.Nurses form a large...

Sunday said nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system."Nurses form a large part of the health workforce and are the backbone of the health care system. They are pivotal in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," the president said while presenting the National Florence Nightingale awards to nursing personnel...

Sunday said nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system. "photo: PIB of India / Photo Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Government of India.to discuss results will be held on May 22, 2013 My news for Investors AtLeast one of the check box should be selected You are following news aboutand related...

nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system."Nurses form a large part of the health workforce and are the backbone of the health care system. They are pivotal in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," the president said while presenting the National Florence Nightingale awards to nursing personnel here on the...

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Health care heroes sought

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Crain's is seeking nominations for Health Care Heroes, a special report on health care professionals that will run in the Aug. 12 issue.

The program will honor top-notch medical innovators and patient advocates. Our winners will be chosen in five categories:

Corporate achievement in health care: Honors a company that has created an innovative health benefits plan or has solved an administration problem.

Advancements in health care: Honors a company or individual responsible for a discovery or for developing a new procedure, device or service that can save lives or improve quality of life.

Physician: Honors one whose performance is exemplary.

Allied health: Honors an individual from nursing or allied health fields who is deemed exemplary by patients and peers.

Trustee: Honors leadership and distinguished service on a health care board.

Make nominations, due by May 15, at crainsdetroit.com/nominate. Statewide nominations accepted.

Questions? Contact Bill Shea at bshea@crain.com or (313) 446-1626.

If you enjoy the content on the Crain's Detroit Business Web site and want to see more, try 8 issues of our print edition risk-free. If you wish to continue, you will receive 44 more issues (for a total of 52 in all), including the annual Book of Lists for just $59. That's over 55% off the cover price. If you decide Crain's is not for you, just write "Cancel" on the invoice, return it and owe nothing. The 8 issues are yours to keep with no further obligation to us. Sign up below.

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Health care heroes sought


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