06-09-2012 19:13 "As a Catholic woman, I take reproductive health seriously," Kennedy said, "and today, it is under attack. This year alone, more than a dozen states have passed more than 40 restrictions on women's access to reproductive health care. That's not the kind of future I want for my daughters or your daughters."
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Caroline Kennedy Speaks to DNC on Health Care, Women's Health, Voting - Video
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, The Associated Press
Updated: 12:01 p.m.
WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. health care system squanders $750 billion a year roughly 30 cents of every medical dollar through unneeded care, byzantine paperwork, fraud and other waste, the influential Institute of Medicine said Thursday in a report that ties directly into the presidential campaign.
President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are accusing each other of trying to slash Medicare and put seniors at risk. But the counter-intuitive finding from the report is that deep cuts are possible without rationing, and a leaner system may even produce better quality.
"Health care in America presents a fundamental paradox," said the report from an 18-member panel of prominent experts, including doctors, business people, and public officials. "The past 50 years have seen an explosion in biomedical knowledge, dramatic innovation in therapies and surgical procedures, and management of conditions that previously were fatal ...
"Yet, American health care is falling short on basic dimensions of quality, outcomes, costs and equity," the report concluded.
If banking worked like health care, ATM transactions would take days, the report said. If home building were like health care, carpenters, electricians and plumbers would work from different blueprints and hardly talk to each other. If shopping were like health care, prices would not be posted and could vary widely within the same store, depending on who was paying.
If airline travel were like health care, individual pilots would be free to design their own preflight safety checks or not perform one at all.
How much is $750 billion? The one-year estimate of health care waste is equal to more than ten years of Medicare cuts in Obama's health care law. It's more than the Pentagon budget. It's more than enough to care for the uninsured.
Getting health care costs better controlled is one of the keys to reducing the deficit, the biggest domestic challenge facing the next president. The report did not lay out a policy prescription for Medicare and Medicaid but suggested there's plenty of room for lawmakers to find a path.
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WASHINGTON
The U.S. health care system squanders $750 billion a year - roughly 30 cents of every medical dollar - through unneeded care, byzantine paperwork, fraud and other waste, the influential Institute of Medicine said Thursday in a report that ties directly into the presidential campaign.
President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are accusing each other of trying to slash Medicare and put seniors at risk. But the counter-intuitive finding from the report is that deep cuts are possible without rationing, and a leaner system may even produce better quality.
"Health care in America presents a fundamental paradox," said the report from an 18-member panel of prominent experts, including doctors, business people, and public officials. "The past 50 years have seen an explosion in biomedical knowledge, dramatic innovation in therapies and surgical procedures, and management of conditions that previously were fatal ...
"Yet, American health care is falling short on basic dimensions of quality, outcomes, costs and equity," the report concluded.
If banking worked like health care, ATM transactions would take days, the report said. If home building were like health care, carpenters, electricians and plumbers would work from different blueprints and hardly talk to each other. If shopping were like health care, prices would not be posted and could vary widely within the same store, depending on who was paying.
If airline travel were like health care, individual pilots would be free to design their own preflight safety checks - or not perform one at all.
How much is $750 billion? The one-year estimate of health care waste is equal to more than ten years of Medicare cuts in Obama's health care law. It's more than the Pentagon budget. It's more than enough to care for the uninsured.
Getting health care costs better controlled is one of the keys to reducing the deficit, the biggest domestic challenge facing the next president. The report did not lay out a policy prescription for Medicare and Medicaid but suggested there's plenty of room for lawmakers to find a path.
Both Obama and Romney agree there has to be a limit to Medicare spending, but they differ on how to get that done. Obama would rely on a powerful board to cut payments to service providers, while gradually changing how hospitals and doctors are paid to reward results instead of volume. Romney would limit the amount of money future retirees can get from the government for medical insurance, relying on the private market to find an efficient solution. Each accuses of the other of jeopardizing the well-being of seniors.
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Yesterday, Aetna Inc. (AET)announced results of the Accountable Care Organization it formed with Portland, Maine, based NovaHealth. The results reflected the collaborations success in achieving its goal of improving health care quality, while at the same time bringing down the cost of care. Aetna started working with the later by forming an Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) back in 2008.
An ACO is a collaboration of healthcare providers, who voluntarily forge alliances to provide coordinated, high-quality care to patients. An ACO is accountable for the quality, cost, and overall care offered to members. By focusing on the needs of patients and linking payments to outcomes, this model of care is intended to improve the health of individuals and communities and curb the rising healthcare costs.
Some of the main result highlights of Aetna ACO model with NovaHealth show that, patients who were a part of the program witnessed a 50% reduction in their inpatient hospital days, 45% lower hospital admissions, and 56% fewer readmissions, compared with other Medicare population, throughout the state and outside the scope of the ACO.
The results also feature that 99% of the members taking Medicare Advantage service visited their doctors in 2011 to get preventive and follow up care. The report also shows a reduction in cost of the Medicare Advantage members who were served by Aetna-NovaHealth ACO by 16.5% to 33%, as compared with those who were not included in the service.
Aetnas provider collaboration with NovaHealth successfully delivered quality care to its members. It is basically a setup where insurance companies and health care providers work together to improve care while lowering expenses relating to it.
The results also reflect that there was an increase in the percentage of Aetna Medicare Advantage members, who visited the doctors office each calendar year. The members who were suffering from serious illness, such as chronic heart failure (:CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (:COPD) or diabetes were encouraged to go through a checkup once every six month.
Those who have diabetes were instructed to take blood glucose tests each calendar year. Moreover, the members were kept under observation for follow-up visits within 30 days of being discharged from hospital stay.
Through these tight control and follow-up measures on the early stages of illness, Aetna is focused on controlling health care costs, make patients healthier and create value for the health care system.
Another important feature of Aetna-NovaHealth Collaboration is the nurse case management. With this service Aetna strives to provide a continuum of health care services for defined groups of patients.
It is a dynamic and systematic collaborative approach wherein nurse case managers actively participate with their clients to identify the best options and services for meeting individuals' health related needs. Aetnas primary objective is to decrease fragmentation and duplication of care, enhancing quality and cost-effective clinical outcomes.
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With the Supreme Court ruling that the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is constitutional, the process of improving Colorado's health care system has revved up.
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Democrats, who have struggled for more than two years to fend off Republican attacks on health care reform, got off to a faltering start at using their national convention to mount a strong defense of the signature legislative accomplishment of President Obama’s first term.
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Congressman Dent talks to health care reform
Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent says if he's re-elected he'll push to change the nation's new health care law.
Dent made the pledge Wednesday to members of the Lehigh Valley Coalition for Health Care Reform.
Congressman Dent said the new law will result in loss of jobs, higher taxes and less medical innovation. While he agrees people should have insurance, Dent is looking at another way to provide it.
There are a lot of people with a lot of questions about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
"We decided to have these meetings to try and present more to the public about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act will affect people directly," said Dr. Christine Bongiorno, chair of the Lehigh Valley Coalition for health care reform.
The Lehigh Valley Coalition for health care reform invited Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent to address some concerns.
Dent says if the bill stays the way it is written Americans could have a lot more problems.
"The law as written is going to explode cost in healthcare, it's going to kill numerous jobs according to the congressional budget office, 800,000 by their estimate," said Dent. "It will add cost, there are over 20 taxes new or higher taxes in the law."
Outside the meeting supporters of the new health care law tried to get people to understand that reforming the law would leave a lot of people without insurance.
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South Carolina Congressman James "Jim" Clyburn speaks during a South Carolina delegate breakfast for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, Wednesday morning, 9-5-2012.
South Carolina's only Democrat in Congress implored the party faithful Wednesday to defend and promote President Obama's health care reform law.
"Do not be afraid to use the term Obamacare,' " said Rep. Jim Clyburn of Columbia. "You should be proud of Obamacare. I don't care what folks say."
Clyburn addressed South Carolina Democrats in Charlotte Wednesday, the day after other speakers at the party's national convention also used and celebrated Obamacare.
Republicans have long used "Obamacare" as a derogatory term for the president's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
But Democrats sought to reclaim that word at their national convention, embracing the term and making yet another push to popularize the law Obama signed in March, 2010.
First lady Michelle Obama made the case for health care reform in her speech Tuesday night.
"When it comes to the health of our families, Barack refused to listen to those folks who told him to leave health reform for another day, another president," she said. "He didn't care whether it was the easy thing to do politically. No, that is not how he was raised. He cared that it was the right thing to do."
Speaking after Clyburn, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's grandson also touted Obamacare.
"I love to call it Obamacare," said Jim Roosevelt. "It is something we should be taking credit for."
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Clyburn defends, promotes president's health care reform law
04-09-2012 20:30 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, speaking about health care reform and how President Obama's views differ from Mitt Romney's and Paul Ryan's. "What's missing from the "Romney-Ryan health care plan is Medicare."
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Watch HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Talk President Obama and Health Care - Video
MELINDA DESLATTE Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Another top leader of LSU's health care system is being replaced, as Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration pushes the university-run network of hospitals and clinics to change its approach to providing services amid significant budget cuts.
Roxane Townsend will no longer work as CEO of the LSU Health Care Services Division, which runs seven of the 10 public hospitals overseen by the university system, including the largest facility in New Orleans.
LSU announced the leadership change Wednesday by naming Townsend's replacement, without explanation.
The move comes fewer than two weeks after the LSU System's top health care leader, Fred Cerise, was ousted from his job. Cerise clashed with the Jindal administration about deep budget cuts the administration made to the hospitals that care for Louisiana's poor and uninsured and that train many of the state's medical professionals.
Townsend was a close ally of Cerise, who was replaced Aug. 24 by Frank Opelka.
Townsend wouldn't say whether she was asked to leave or expected to be removed as Opelka assembled his own leadership team. But she said the LSU board, packed with nearly all Jindal appointees, was shifting from the public-hospital model championed by Townsend and Cerise.
"With Dr. Opelka, it's clear that the system is going in a different direction and he needs to have people surrounding him that he trusts and that the board and the governor's office will trust," she said.
Opelka said Townsend chose to leave the LSU HCSD job and that no one spoke with him about removing Townsend. He said Townsend "really wanted to take some personal time away," and he praised her work for the university.
While saying he didn't force Townsend out of the leadership position, Opelka acknowledged that Townsend "had been building something in a certain direction, but the direction is changing."
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By Charles Stein - 2012-09-05T17:18:09Z
Edward P. Owens, whose $22.4 billion Vanguard Health Care Fund (VGHCX) has outperformed every U.S. equity mutual fund since it was created in 1984, will retire at the end of the year.
The fund returned 16 percent a year since May 1984, better than any other stock fund, according to data from Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. (MORN) The Standard & Poors 500 Index gained 11 percent annually over the same stretch.
He has made people a ton of money, Daniel Weiner, editor of the New York-based newsletter Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, said in a telephone interview. The guy is a legend.
Owens, 65, is a senior vice president and partner at Boston-based Wellington Management Company LP, which manages about $234 billion for Vanguard across 20 funds, the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based firm said today in a statement. Jean M. Hynes, a Wellington senior vice president and partner, will take over the fund, Vanguard said. She has worked on the funds team for almost 20 years, and will continue to manage it in a similar style, Hynes said today in a telephone interview.
Eds long-term track record of excellent returns puts him in very select company in the investment management business, Vanguard CEO F. William McNabb said in the statement. Owens is Vanguards longest-serving outside manager.
Owens, in a telephone interview, said he had an advantage over peers because he was a value investor in a growth industry.
During the industrys high-growth years, small disappointments created huge declines in stocks prices, he said. We were frequently able to come in afterwards and buy good companies.
In 1993, Owens bought shares in Immunex Corp., a biotechnology firm, after the failure of one of its drugs caused the stock to plummet. Amgen Inc., (AMGN) a Thousand Oaks, California company, agreed to buy Immunex in 2001 for $16 billion, a deal that gave shareholders in Owens fund an estimated gain of about $1 billion, he said.
A billion dollars is something, Owens said.
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VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Vanguard announced today that Edward P. Owens, CFA, portfolio manager of Vanguard Health Care Fund, plans to retire on December 31, 2012.
Mr. Owens, a senior vice president and partner of Wellington Management Company LLP, has managed the Health Care Fund since its inception in 1984 and is Vanguards longest-tenured external portfolio manager. The fund is the largest fund in the global health/biotech category with $22.4 billion in assets and the second largest sector fund in the mutual fund industry behind the $27.3 billion Vanguard REIT Index Fund (source:Lipper Inc.).
Associate portfolio manager Jean M. Hynes, CFA, will assume managerial responsibility of the fund upon Mr. Owens retirement. Ms. Hynes, senior vice president and partner at Wellington Management, joined the firm in 1991 and has served on the Health Care Fund management team for nearly 20 years. She was named associate portfolio manager in 2008.
Eds long-term track record of excellent returns puts him in very select company in the investment management business. We are indebted to him for his decades of distinguished service to our clients, said Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb. Eds long-time colleague, Jean Hynes, is a well-qualified successor and speaks to the deep and talented team of investment professionals at the Wellington organization.
The performance of the funds Investor Shares is compared with its peer group average, benchmark, and the U.S. stock market in the accompanying table (Source:Vanguard and Lipper Inc.).
Average Annual Total Returns
(As of June 30, 2012)
Vanguard Health Care Fund*
Lipper Global Health/Biotech Funds Avg.
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Long-Time Manager of Vanguard Health Care Fund to Retire at Year End
Nyaya Health nominated to compete in Chase Community Giving grant contest to bring medical care to remotest region of Nepal.Boston, MA (PRWEB) September 05, 2012 Beginning tomorrow, Sept. 6 and continuing through Sept. 19, Nyaya Health will compete in the annual Chase Community Giving program, an online contest where supporters’ votes could translate into expanded health care for people living ...
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Health Care Group Serving Some of World’s Poorest in Global Contest for Funds
HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
As groups throughout the health care system begin to create Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced results of a collaborative relationship with NovaHealth, the independent physician association founded by InterMed, based in Portland, Maine. The September edition of Health Affairs, which focuses on payment reform in the health care system, features the results.
Since 2008, NovaHealth doctors participating in Aetnas Medicare Provider Collaboration program haveprovided care to approximately750 Aetna Medicare Advantage members. Through the program, Aetna and NovaHealth have achieved two main goals of ACOs: improving quality of care and lowering health care costs. The most recent results from 2011 show that:
We are working more effectively and efficiently with outstanding health care providers like NovaHealth. Now, we have demonstrated that we can help improve the coordination and quality of care and reduce health care costs, said Randall Krakauer, MD, FACP, FACR, Aetnas national Medicare medical director. Aetna believes patient-centered collaboratives are a stepping stone to Accountable Care Organizations, which further align financial incentives with high quality, more efficient care.
Coordinated Care Helps Improve Health Outcomes
Aetnas Provider Collaboration program has also demonstrated positive results with population health management. Through the Provider Collaboration program, NovaHealth has met a number of clinical quality metrics agreed upon by both sides, including:
Aetna provides NovaHealth with reports showing quality and efficiency measures at the individual member and population level.
By aligning our clinical goals and sharing data, we can help improve health outcomes for the patients that we serve, said Thomas Claffey, M.D., the medical director of NovaHealth. Working together, we can help confirm that our patients are receiving the right care at the right time and support them as they try to be as healthy as possible.
Program Improves Member Experience
The role of the Aetna nurse case manager is a major component of the collaborative relationship with NovaHealth. This nurse case manager is embedded with NovaHealth, serving as a single point of contact and working directly with NovaHealths clinical staff to help coordinate care for Aetna Medicare Advantage members.
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04-09-2012 22:38 First lady Michelle Obama talks about health care and a woman's right to choose at the DNC.
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By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff
The September issue of Health Affairs is focused on new ways of paying for health care, and it is chock-full of contributors from Massachusetts.
A major piece of payment overhaul today is the idea that doctors will change the way they manage care for their sickest patients if they get to share in some of the financial benefits of doing so. Ultimately, they could also lose money if they cost insurers more than expected.
A group of Boston researchers have created a primer for doctors and policymakers considering such shared-savings programs, which lead author Joel Weissman, Harvard professor and deputy director of the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Womens Hospital, called weigh stations on the road to a fuller health care overhaul.
Many large doctor or hospital groups already have the infrastructure and know-how to assume some of the risk in caring for their patients, or to accept the possibility of losing money. Five hospital systems in Massachusetts are taking steps to do that as part of the Medicare Pioneer program.
Small practices just need to be brought along gently, Weissman said in an interview. Even the benefits-only programs are very complicated and very difficult to negotiate, he said.
Along with Needham health care consultant Michael Bailit and others, Weissman laid out a set of principles for policymakers and physicians to consider. Payers and providers must agree on the point at which they will share savings, because smaller variations in costs could be related to chance and not actual changes in how doctors treat patients, they wrote.
As often as possible, they said, payers should join forces so that doctors are not trying to meet different goals on cost and quality for each insurer.
The lack of a coherent and unified program works at cross purposes with true system redesign, they wrote. If only a minority of payers participate, then the size of the incentive may not be big enough for provider participation to be worthwhile. As a result, providers find themselves with one foot in the accountable care world and another foot in the volume-based world.
Austin Frakt, Boston University assistant professor and health economist at VA Boston Healthcare, compared accountable care organizations with the failed capitation model of the 1990s, when doctors were put on a strict budget for each patients care.
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On a recent trip to Africa, former President Bill Clinton discussed a range of topics - from health care and the political climate in Washington to the shooting in Aurora, Colo., to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's plans.
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The Caucus: Excerpts From Conversations With President Clinton
Elder said that being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005 while uninsured was "the most honest feeling of powerlessness."
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
The Elder family tragedy
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
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First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
First Lady Michelle Obama addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
First Lady Michelle Obama waves to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Sept. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs Elaine Brye before speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, left, and his brother Joaquin Castro, wave at delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and his brother Joaquin Castro, right, wave to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. The Republicans call them the #ReplaceObamacareDemocrats.
Here in Charlotte, they might be called the No-Show Health Care Caucus.
They are 10 Democrats running for Congress whom the National Republican Campaign Committee has identified as particularly vulnerable on President Barack Obamas health care reform law.
So vulnerable that they opted to stay home and campaign this week rather than come to their partys convention.
So vulnerable that most of them wouldnt even talk about the health care law by phone.
One of the Democrats California Rep. John Garamendi was at least willing to speak up for the law long-distance. Im not backing away from it. This is an issue I want to talk about, and do talk about, he said by telephone from his northern California district. Hes home, he says, because redistricting has forced him into a tough and expensive reelection race.
The rest, though, are keeping their silence.
Their absence from the convention is a counterpoint to the messaging thats likely to come out of Charlotte, where at least some of the speakers are expected to remind viewers of the popular parts of the law and hit Republicans for trying to take them away. It may also be a commentary on the declining relevance of the huge national political gatherings: The voters arent in Charlotte, either.
Garamendi and the other nine Democrats identified by the NRCC dont have all that much in common, other than the fact that the House Republicans want to beat them and think antipathy to the health care law in these districts can help woo voters and raise money.
Heres the deal: These 10 Democrats are against the full repeal of Obamacare, an NRCC website says. In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision, Republicans must retire each of them. But we need your help. Even $3 will go a long way. The ReplaceObamacareDemocrats site also promises matching funds, up to $5,000 per candidate in these contested races.NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay said television ads have gone up against three of them so far.
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