09-09-2012 15:54 Mitt Romney On Obamacare- 'I'm Not Getting Rid Of All Of Health Care Reform' WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney said on Sunday that if he were elected president he would keep portions of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, a seemingly abrupt turn on an early campaign promise. "Well, I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform," the former Massachusetts governor said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press." "Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company." The comments mark the latest chapter in Romney's tortured history with respect to federal health care reform. The Republican presidential nominee once envisioned the health care plan he passed in Massachusetts as a model for the nation. As a candidate for president in 2012, however, he has pledged to repeal the entirety of Obama's Affordable Care Act, a law very much based on Romney's Mass-Care model. In his "Meet the Press" interview, Romney again pledged repeal of the law. But the suggestion that he would pass some of its individual provisions later in his term ...

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Mitt Romney On Obamacare- 'I'm Not Getting Rid Of All Of Health Care Reform' - Video

The Progressive Conservatives are writing a new prescription for Ontario's cash-strapped health care system, starting with a change in who's making decisions about how billions of dollars are spent across the province.

The province should abolish regional organizations that decide where the money goes locally and instead rely on 30 to 40 "community hubs" created from existing hospital corporations and staffed by volunteer boards, the Tories said Monday.

The 14 Local Health Integration Networks set up by the Liberals, as well as the Tory-created Community Care Access Centres, aren't working and haven't been able to hit most of their targets, said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak.

The province should get rid of them, along with 2,000 "middle managers," and use that money to hire more doctors and nurses, he said.

"The sad reality is, if you have a loved one who's in the health-care system, far too often you've got to fight like hell to get anything done," Hudak said.

"We're going to change that. And we're going to put patients not bureaucrats at the centre of our health-care system."

Heath care now consumes nearly half of every dollar spent by the government, which is facing a $15-billion deficit.

More money is being spent on health care, but the government isn't achieving the results for the money it's taking, Hudak said. His party's "bold new ideas" would put patients first, create jobs and help grow the economy.

"This is not about a new coat of paint on an old system," Hudak said. "It's fundamental reform to take out layers of bureaucracy, invest in patient care instead and bring decisions closer to the communities where people actually live."

The Tories also want to accelerate patient-centred funding where hospitals get money for every service they perform and reduce the size of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

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Tories call for end to regional health organizations

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Patti Laughren has been hired as Regence's newest health care strategy executive. Laughren, a health care network executive with nearly 20 years experience, will lead the Regence Accountable Health Systems strategy and provider partnership innovation activities.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120910/SF71403)

In this role within the Health Care Services division, Laughren will direct the overall development and implementation of Regence's Accountable Health Systems strategy and oversee expansion opportunities of the company's network strategy initiatives. This newly established roleis critical to the company's long-term goals and reflects Regence's commitment to transformation of health care delivery systems.

"Patti's proven leadership and creativity will be tremendous assets as we expand our efforts to reduce overall health care costs and improve quality," said Steve Gaspar, senior vice president, health care services. "She has the vision and experience necessary to lead positive change within our network delivery systems as we work together to provide better care at lower costs."

Laughren comes to Regence from Humana, Inc., where she held the position of Vice President of Provider Engagement. There, she was responsible for leading and implementing physician pay-for-performance programs across Humana's central and western divisions and executing market-specific risk contracting strategies for Medicare Advantage initiatives. She has also held leadership positions in network management and contracting at UnitedHealthcare and Aetna.

Laughren holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Investments from Babson College and is relocating from Chicago to Portland.

About Regence affiliated companiesThe Regence affiliated companies serve more than two million members through Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield (selected counties in Washington). Each health plan is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The Regence affiliated companies are committed to improving the health of its members and communities and to transforming the health care system. For more information, please visit http://www.regence.com or follow us on Twitter.

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Patti Laughren appointed as Vice President of Accountable Health Systems and Provider Innovation

Opinion: Letter

September 10, 2012 2:00 AM

Sept. 6 To the Editor:

I am a physician volunteering for Jackie Cilley's campaign for governor. Jackie is not a health care specialist, but she knows how important the health care debate is to the people of New Hampshire. That's why she has already formed, and asked me to lead, a health care policy advisory team, which includes doctors and nurses, and specialists in the insurance industry, health care law, hospital administration, and employer and union benefits. We even have an expert on "RomneyCare" from Massachusetts.

Based on our discussions and my own experience of more than 30 years in health care, I believe there are two primary ways a governor can lead on health care: by holding an effective conversation on federal-state initiatives, such as the Affordable Care Act and the evolution/reform of Medicare and Medicaid, and by supporting the innovation and partnerships that are already improving health care service delivery in our state. I also believe Jackie Cilley is the candidate best positioned and equipped to provide this leadership.

As a fundamental principle, Jackie Cilley believes that our state will make its best decisions on complex subjects only through open conversations with everyone affected having a seat at the table. From her academic and business experience, Jackie understands transformation and recognizes the power of creativity and innovation to bring it about.

Jackie Cilley is already prepared to use the leadership of the governor's office to highlight as best practices what is already working very well in health care delivery in our state.

This is why I support Jackie Cilley for governor, and I hope you will join me in voting for her on Sept. 11.

Martin D. Merry, M.D.

Former senior medical adviser

Link:

Jackie Cilley 'gets it' on health care reform

By Lisa Lerer and Margaret Talev - 2012-09-10T04:01:00Z

Republican Mitt Romney said he would keep parts of President Barack Obamas health care law, shifting his focus to independent voters as polls showed the president gained support after the Democratic convention.

Both candidates focused on health care yesterday as Obama wrapped up a two-day bus tour across the swing state of Florida by attacking Romneys proposal to change Medicare.

Romney, speaking in an interview on NBCs Meet the Press, said he would replace Obamas health care law with his own plan while keeping some popular provisions including coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. The Obama administration contends that requiring insurers to cover those people, without also mandating that almost everyone have insurance, would cause prices to soar.

Im not getting rid of all health care reform, said Romney. Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that Im going to put in place.

Obamas post-convention Florida bus tour showed signs of a gain in intensity at the rallies. His audience in heavily Puerto Rican Kissimmee was so fired up that he said he was tempted to just say thank you and leave the stage.

An audience of 6,000 at his final stop in West Palm Beach broke into a sing-along before he took the stage, as the speakers played Al Greens Lets Stay Together. He told the crowd that while he knew he was preaching to the choir, now he needed them to go out and preach to the unconverted.

Romney, 65, has made opposition to the health care law a central theme of his campaign, saying one of his first actions in office would be to seek to repeal it.

On coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, Nobel- prize winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote yesterday that such a requirement, without an insurance mandate, would lead healthy people to opt out of insurance, leaving behind a high risk, high cost pool.

Its not as easy as keeping some of the pieces without a requirement that individuals obtain insurance, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. Romney needs to explain his proposal with details and math, she said.

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Romney Says He Would Keep Parts of Obama Health Care Law

Mitt Romney said he would retain some popular parts of the new health care law he has pledged to repeal, while President Barack Obama focused attention in all-important Florida on the Republican ticket's stand on Medicare, an issue that's been more favorable to Democrats.

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Obama vies for health care edge in Florida

Illustration by Bloomberg View

By the Editors 2012-09-09T22:30:27Z

As the dust settles from the political conventions in Florida and North Carolina, one issue important to the health care of older Americans is rising into the sunlight and finally getting some of the attention it needs.

We dont mean Medicare; for months, the campaigns have taken regular shots at each other on that.

We mean Medicaid, the program generally thought of as health insurance for poor families. Yet one-third of Medicaids budget -- about $120 billion -- goes to fund long-term care for the disabled and frail elderly, most of it in nursing facilities.

People who need custodial care often fall back on Medicaid after theyve used up their own resources and can qualify for the programs very low income and wealth limits.

Even though President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, have said little specifically about long-term care, its clear from their general views on Medicaid that they differ on how much to continue this support. Obama intends to preserve Medicaid as an entitlement program -- which means it promises to pay all acceptable expenses that arise for qualified beneficiaries. He even plans to expand the program, starting in 2014, to cover 11 million more Americans, including people with income as much as 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Presumably, then, if Obama is re-elected, support for nursing-home care would continue -- though it could be squeezed a bit by budget constraints, especially after 2020 when the federal government stops financing 100 percent of Medicaids expansion.

Romney has endorsed his running mate Paul Ryans proposal to change Medicaids structure entirely, so that it would no longer be an entitlement program at all. Instead, the federal government would give the states block grants to spend on health care as they please. (The idea is to make the program work better by giving states more control.)

These grants would increase every year at a rate of 1 percentage point more than inflation, but this would be significantly less than Medicaids budget is expected to expand under the current structure along with the changes set in motion by the 2010 health-care law. By 2022, the difference would add up to a budget cut of about $1.26 trillion, a new analysis by Bloomberg Government shows. That would mean considerably less money for long-term care -- and everything else Medicaid pays for.

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Insurance That Would Serve Seniors Better Than Medicaid

BOSTON With swing voters in his sights, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is tacking toward the center on health care and defense spending now that he's put his final partisan hurdle behind him and the sprint to Nov. 6 is underway.

Romney said in an interview that aired Sunday that he would retain some popular parts of the 2010 health care law he has pledged to repeal, saying the features he would keep are common-sense measures in what he calls an otherwise costly, inefficient plan.

The former Massachusetts governor also faulted congressional Republicans for going along with the White House on a budget deal that has set up automatic spending cuts that include huge reductions in defense spending a deal his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, helped steer.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama focused Floridians' attention on the Republican ticket's stand on Medicare, an issue that's been more favorable to Democrats.

Romney's campaign dismissed the idea that the comments were a lurch toward the middle now that the Republican convention, the last partisan event of the campaign, has passed, even as Romney was visiting the most competitive states on the election map.

"I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course, there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place," Romney told NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview taped Friday and Saturday. He cited coverage for people with medical conditions and new insurance marketplaces.

Romney's aides said that was consistent with his previous position that those who haven't had a gap in coverage shouldn't be denied coverage.

But the comments brought renewed attention to the similarities between Obama's plan and the one Romney championed when he was Massachusetts governor, which included protections for health conditions and an individual mandate that the Republican has since railed against.

The GOP nominee, who attended church in Boston before debate practice sessions Sunday, didn't offer specifics for how he'd deal with the affordability of insurance, but suggested competition would help bring down costs. For seniors, Romney has called for restructuring Medicare by giving retirees a government payment that they would use to choose between traditional Medicare and private insurance.

Romney aides dismissed the idea that the candidate's comments about the defense cuts or health care were an effort to appear less partisan with the race for undecided voters now under way.

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Obama, Romney aim at swing voters on health care

With swing voters in his sights, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is tacking toward the center on health care and defense spending now that he's put his final partisan hurdle behind him and the sprint to Nov. 6 is underway.

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Romney, Obama aim at swing voters on health care

Gary Feuerberg Epoch Times Staff Created: September 9, 2012 Last Updated: September 9, 2012

(L to R) Gail Cassell, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School; Craig Jones, M.D., Vermont Blueprint for Health; Mark Smith, M.D., California HealthCare Foundation; Rita Redberg, M.D., editor, Archives of Internal Medicine; and T. Berguson Jr., M.D., Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C. The panel discussed Sept. 6 an Institute of Medicine report, Best Care at Lower Cost. (Gary Feuerberg/ The Epoch Times)

WASHINGTONOur health care delivery system needs to be fundamentally reformed, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine, titled Best Care at Lower Cost.

In the past 50 years, there has been an explosion in biomedical knowledge and impressive innovations in therapies and surgical procedures, as well as new capabilities in improving the survival of patients. Yet in terms of quality of care, cost, and meeting patient needs, American health care is falling short.

How is it possible that we spend much more on health care and at the same time we do not attain in health care outcomes and performance that [other countries] are able to achieve? asked Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of Institute of Medicine (IOM). Fineberg was speaking at a press conference, Sept. 6 on the release of the report.

The 331-page Institute of Medicine report was written by an 18-member committee, five of whom were present at the news conference.

The findings are staggering. About $750 billion or 30 percent of health spending in 2009 was wasted, according to the report. Moreover, if the quality of care were raised to the level of the best performing state, an estimated 75,000 fewer deaths across the country would have occurred in 2005, according to one estimate cited in the report.

One reason for inefficiencies is the ever-increasing complexity of the health care system. From diagnostic and treatment procedures, to the care management options available, and even administrationso many aspects of the system are more complicated than ever before.

Today, a clinician cannot keep up with the expanding volume of new discoveries in treating disease. The number of research publications on health care topics per year has grown from slightly over 200,000 in 1970 to more than 750,000 in 2010, said Mark Smith, M.D., committee chair. The sheer volume of new discoveries stresses the system to manage the knowledge and effectively apply it to regular care.

Care delivery has increased in complexity. Clinicians in intensive care units, who care for the hospitals sickest patients, must oversee about 180 activities per day ranging from replacing intravenous fluids to administering drugs.

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Institute of Health: Health Care System Needs Change

Boston — Mitt Romney said he would retain some popular parts of the new health care law he has pledged to repeal, while President Barack Obama focused attention in all-important Florida on the GOP ticket's stand on Medicare, an issue that's been more favorable to Democrats.

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Health care in election spotlight

Mitt Romney says there are parts of President Obama's health care reform that he likes.

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The Caucus: Romney Has Conciliatory Remarks on Obama and Health Overhaul

Mitt Romney says there are parts of President Obama's health care reform that he likes.

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Romney Has Conciliatory Remarks on Obama and Health Overhaul

Published: Saturday, September 8, 2012, 12:01 a.m.

Elders across our state have managed, more than their parents did, to keep their teeth. That's good news. But they're also finding it harder and harder to get the support they need to keep their mouths in working order.

Left untreated, their teeth and gums face the same hazards as those of people of all ages: needless pain and suffering as well as difficulty speaking, chewing and swallowing.

That's a problem not just for their mouths. A mountain of evidence has shown that untreated dental problems increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke -- serious, chronic health conditions that cut our lives short. The mouth is connected to the rest of the body.

Why can't they get dental care? Paying out-of-pocket for a dental visit is a sacrifice for most of us -- especially anyone on a fixed income. As a result, about a third of adults age 65 years and older have untreated tooth decay.

Medicare does not cover routine dental services. But coverage alone doesn't help if dentists don't take your coverage. Even before the recent cuts that removed coverage of routine dental services for adults on Medicaid, too few dentists would see these patients.

People who can't get routine dental care end up in the emergency room -- suffering from an infection or other problems that require costly treatment. That's the most expensive place to receive any type of health care.

In a recent 18-month period, 54,000 dental-related visits to several dozen Washington hospitals consumed $35 million scarce health-care dollars. If we had access to more affordable options for dentistry, those millions would have been better spent elsewhere -- treating problems before they wreak havoc.

And this decayed oral health care system is hurting some more than others. A study by the Snohomish County Long Term Care & Aging agency identified lack of dental care as one of the greatest areas of need among seniors -- and Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and Hispanic elders reported special difficulty accessing care.

But this inequality in our oral health care system isn't felt only by adults and seniors. Low-income children in Washington are 44 percent more likely to have untreated cavities and children of color are 18 percent more likely to have untreated decay by the third grade.

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Elderly face shortage of dental care

Elizabeth Busler tests her blood sugar level in Cedar Rapids. Busler, who is diabetic, goes to a primary care physician in Iowa City and receives insulin from the Community Health Free Clinic in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Iowans who rely on government health care programs often turn to free clinics for basic care when they fall through the systems cracks.

Elizabeth Busler, 35, works odd jobs when she can and needs five insulin shots daily to control her diabetes.

She found help as a recent enrollee in IowaCare the states health care program for adults with limited income who are ineligible for Medicaid but even before she moved to Cedar Rapids last week, traveled from Vinton for medications at the Community Health Free Clinic.

I get spells when its too high or too low, she said of her blood sugar levels, adding that without her injections, I could go into a diabetic coma or it could be fatal.

Busler drove nearly 80 miles round-trip to the free clinic every three months because IowaCare doesnt cover the cost of the shots, she said.

IowaCare has more limitations on medications and mental health, for example than Medicaid, which covers low-income people who are blind, disabled or pregnant, as well as certain children or a parent with a child under age 18.

Elizabeth Busler pricks her arm to test her blood sugar level in Cedar Rapids. Busler, who is diabetic, goes to a primary care physician in Iowa City and receives insulin from the Community Health Free Clini in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Busler doesnt have to look far to see the differences. Her boyfriend, Robert Purvine, 40, of Cedar Rapids, is disabled due to schizophrenia and has Medicaid coverage.

Medicaid covers the weekly injection for his condition, which, Purvine said, would be unaffordable for him at $937 each, but is less expensive than the alternative.

Continued here:

Free clinics fill insurance gaps for East Iowans

A new study found that health care costs would rise for future Medicare recipients under Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's plan. President Barack Obama will focus on the study's numbers as he campaigns for reelection in Florida.

President Barack Obama is drawing new attention to Medicare in the all-important battleground of Florida, taking on his Republican challenger Mitt Romney on an issue that has been more favorable to Democrats.

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Campaigning for a second day in Florida, where older voters and workers approaching retirement hold sway, Obama on Sunday was expected to highlight a study by a Democratic leaning group that concluded that on average a man or woman retiring at age 65 in 2023, would have to pay $59,500 more for health care over the length of their retirement under Romney's plan.

The numbers are even higher for younger Americans who retire later, the study found. A person who qualifies for Medicare n 2030 today's 48-year-old would see an increase of $124,600 in Medicare costs over their retirement period.

While Romney's changes to Medicare would affect future retirees, the study also said that Romney's plan to get rid of Obama's health care law could raise health care costs in retirement by $11,000 for the average person who is 65 years old today by reinstating limits on prescription drug coverage.

The study was conducted by David Cutler, a Harvard professor and health policy expert who served in the Clinton administration and was Obama's top health care adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign. Cutler conducted the study for the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund.

A senior administration official said Obama would draw attention to the study on Sunday as part of an overarching economic message as he takes his two-day Florida bus tour to Melbourne and West Palm Beach on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

Romney would seek to contain Medicare costs by giving retirees voucher-like government payments that they could use to either buy regular Medicare or private health insurance. But Cutler says older Americans would have to pay more out of pocket to cover the rising costs of health care.

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Obama spotlights new Medicare study in the Sunshine State

Al Maghazehe rarely stops moving or talking. The president and CEO of Capital Health speaks in fast, clipped tones, dishing out orders and jokes to secretaries and doctors with the same self-assured ease. I wasnt born president and CEO, but maybe I should have been, he says.

Since Helene Fuld Medical Center and Mercer Medical Center merged in 1998, Maghazehe has been at the helm of Capital Health. Iranian-born, Maghazehe arrived in Trenton in 1979, working as an administrative resident at Helene Fuld before climbing the ranks of the Trenton-based health care organization.

Over the past 14 years, the hospital system has shed one hospital the aging Mercer campus. It has also grown Regional Medical Center, formerly Fuld, into a high-tech urban hospital with one of the most sophisticated neuroscience programs in the region, and built a $530 million community hospital in Hopewell to appeal to suburban patients looking for medical care in an upscale setting.

In a conversation with The Times in August, Maghazehe spoke about transforming and building the Capital Health brand, about preparing for health care reform years ago, and about the challenges Capital Health has faced opening a new hospital, including the decision to lay off 175 employees this summer.

How has Capital Health changed as an organization in the past few years, the past decade?

Capital Health has been transformed from a community health care system to a regional health care system.

Where do you see Capital Health in five to 10 years?

In 10 years, I see Capital Health being the leader, as it is today. Our job is to become the health care destination and absolutely maintain a certain level of standards in terms of the status of the communitys health care.

Does that mean more expansions, more primary care doctors offices? How do you continue to build on what Capital Health has already done?

To build upon that, we must accept responsibility for the well-being of the people that live in the communities we serve.

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Capital Health CEO discusses Affordable Care Act, challenges of new hospitals

Cynthia Houston poses at the Community Health Center in Columbus Junction. Houston is uninsured and visits the clinic regularly for medical and dental care.(Brenna Norman/Brlington Hawk Eye)

About this project: IowaWatch.org, the Burlington Hawk Eye, The Gazette, Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Dubuque Telegraph Herald worked together this summer to report on the need for health care facing Iowans who do not have insurance. They reviewed more than two dozen documents and interviewed two dozen people.

Cynthia Houston didnt panic when she lost her job at the Mount Pleasant school district in 2008. She looked for another job and paid the extra money to keep insurance through COBRA.

She found work but couldnt afford insurance there. That was when she had a breakdown.

I guess youre in that nowhere land of: you dont really qualify for help with this, youre not old enough to get offered (insurance) for senior citizens, said Houston, 60, of Winfield. Youre kind of out there on your own.

She eventually found help. But state efforts to help Iowans without health insurance pay for doctor visits and other medical care fail to reach all who could use the assistance, a review by five Iowa news organizations of the states health care delivery systems for uninsured Iowans reveals.

Geographic limits ensure that one program to which Houston was referred IowaCare does not reach all Iowans who need it, even though it is considered to be a last resort for Iowans ineligible for other programs that fund accessible, affordable health care.

One in 10 Iowans lives without health insurance. Estimates range from 312,600 by the Kaiser Family Foundation to 342,000 by the U.S. Census Bureau. They live in a state where some health care professionals predict fewer available primary care providers to handle growing demand for health care from aging baby boomers, working people with inadequate insurance coverage and others entering the health care market.

It seems to me, from my perspective, to be a perfect storm, Wendy Gray, executive director of Free Clinics of Iowa, said about that anticipated convergence of trends.

The health care workforce, which includes specialists, physician assistants, nurses and others, is a concern, said Dr. Stephen Eckstat, board president of Free Clinics of Iowa and CEO at Mercy Clinics Inc. of Des Moines.

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Health care coverage for all Iowans difficult to attain

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is making a hard push into the northern suburbs, planting its flag firmly in a market dominated by a pair of established competitors before President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is implemented.

Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group, the hospital system's wholly owned primary-care doctors' group, plans to open nine new clinics by spring 2013 from Chicago's North Side to near the Wisconsin border.

Four of the clinics already are open, including sites in Grayslake, Highland Park, Lake Forest and a combination primary care and urgent care center in Lakeview that started accepting patients late last month. Another in Evanston is projected to open in October.

Administrators expect to add as many as 100 new physicians over the next two years, roughly doubling the number of doctors in the Physicians Group today.

The expansion, estimated to cost about $20 million, comes on the heels of the system's 2010 acquisition of Lake Forest Hospital, its first acute-care outpost beyond its core offerings in the city. It also places Northwestern in direct competition with a pair of deep-pocketed rivals: NorthShore University HealthSystem and Advocate Health Care.

Although Northwestern officials insist the move is not an attempt to wrest market share away from its competitors, Ed Giniat, who leads the consulting firm KPMG's health care sector, said the hospital "is starting to throw the gantlet down on a fairly fractured market."

The Northwestern expansion also comes in advance of the 2014 implementation of the health care overhaul, which already has spurred changes in how and where health care is delivered.

The new model places greater importance on primary care physicians, who will take on additional responsibilities in managing patient groups. That has led to a spending spree by hospital systems, which are competing to align with doctors' groups that will be counted on to act as a feeder network of patients.

In Northwestern's case, it is seeking to widen the pipeline of patients to its flagship Streeterville hospital.

"People keep rediscovering the fact that (primary care doctors) are probably the best, most efficient and economical entree into the system," said Dr. Daniel Derman, president of Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group.

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Northwestern Memorial expands into northern suburbs

Yesterday at 8:30 PM GOP convention speakers seek to humanize Romney, and Democrats stand up for health care reform.

By SANDHYA SOMASHEKHAR The Washington Post

This year, the political conventions got personal. Extremely so.

click image to enlarge

Stacey Lihn addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte last week as her husband, Caleb, listens with daughters Zoe, left, and Emerson. Lihn credited the Affordable Care Act with saving one daughters life.

The Associated Press

From heart-rending tales of premature babies to tactfully described female disorders, the organizers of the Republican and Democratic conventions featured deeply personal stories of health struggles that in previous years might have been more at home on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" than at the podium of a national political event.

There's no mystery as to why. For months, the presidential race has been fought at 30,000 feet, with the candidates spouting off on esoteric ideas about the role of government and who has better ideas about health care and the economy. Voters have had little opportunity to connect with those ideas -- or the men espousing them -- on a personal level.

That changed when Republicans gathered in Tampa to formally choose Mitt Romney as their nominee and to introduce him to a voting public that has been slow to warm to him personally. The trend continued last week, as Democrats assembled in Charlotte tried to solidify their advantage with female voters and cast as positively as possible President Obama's signature health-care law.

"It humanizes and personalizes the politics, that it's not just about policy it's also about people," said Frank Luntz, a Republican media consultant. "Whenever policy is put in people terms, that's when it succeeds."

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Both parties highlight personal health struggles