02-08-2012 10:53 Chief of Staff Jack Lew says Americans are tired of the debate
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White House ready to move on and implement health care law - Video
Category Archives: Health Care
Republicans grill IRS commissioner on health care
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans on Thursday grilled the head of the Internal Revenue Service on the agency's decision to apply the health care law's tax credits in states that decide not to carry out a key provision of the statute.
Commissioner Douglas Shulman defended the IRS rule that applies the tax credits to federal insurance exchanges, which are the bodies that will be developed to allow those without health insurance to buy it. He testified at a House hearing.
The issue is a new controversy over President Barack Obama's health care law. Several states already have decided not to establish their own insurance exchanges. In those states, federal exchanges would be created.
The credits would help consumers pay for private insurance beginning in 2014.
The IRS had to decide whether the credits would be available in the entire country regardless of whether states or the federal government ran the exchanges.
"Congress writes the laws and we interpret them. If you disagree, there's always the courts," Shulman told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Overall, Shulman said the tax agency will be ready in 2014 to fulfill its new role of providing tax breaks and incentives to help pay for health insurance. The IRS would impose penalties on some people who don't buy coverage and on some businesses that don't offer it to employees.
During the hearing, Shulman tangled with Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a physician. DesJarlais accused the IRS of bypassing Congress by trying to expand the subsidies when the law gave the tax agency no authority to do so. "You're trying to twist" the law, he said.
Shulman responded that IRS lawyers "look at the statute and come up with the best interpretation."
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation have interpreted the law in the same way as the IRS.
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Health care's new maverick
By Geoff Colvin, senior editor-at-large
Steward Health Care System's Ralph de la Torre
FORTUNE -- What's the future of American health care? Dr. Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward Health Care System, may represent the answer. Steward, owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, is a growing Massachusetts-based group of community hospitals, and industry analysts say de la Torre is one of the most dynamic and influential executives in the business. He's consolidating hospitals, finding efficiencies, investing big in infotech, and creating a new model that he says won't change much regardless of how Obamacare's future plays out. De la Torre, 46, is the son of Cuban immigrants and became the chief of cardiac surgery at Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at age 38, then gave up practicing medicine to become a CEO. He talked recently with Fortune's Geoff Colvin about why health care reform isn't about public health, how health care is like the auto industry, why costs must continue to rise, and much else. Edited excerpts:
Q: Assuming Obamacare is fully implemented, what are the most important ways in which it will affect our lives?
A: The guiding principles were to do two things. One is to expand coverage. The other is to change the fundamental way health care is structured. Right now we're a society that believes you lead life the way you want to, and then at the end when the wheels start falling off the cart, you pound it with resources and get interventions from medical specialists to keep you alive longer and healthier. It's a very back-ended -- and because of that a very expensive -- way of getting health care.
If we're going to increase access and engage people to get their health care in a different way, we have to get young people involved. We have to get people who for all practical purposes really don't need health care insurance. We're going to be suffering from the fact that we never paid for wellness or prevention in the past, and the baby boomers are now coming of age. We can't pay for it all without putting a tax on the young -- call it what you want to call it, it's the truth. But by getting the young involved in health care through an individual mandate, it also lets you begin wellness and prevention.
We need to understand as Americans that it's going to cost us more for the next five, six, seven years or more. There's no way around it. We've increased access, and we're shifting our care to include more prevention and more wellness, but we can't turn away the people who weren't part of that to begin with, so we're going to be double-paying for a while. In the long run we need to do that. We need to start that shift now.
Medical costs in the U.S. are growing faster than the economy. That trend can't continue. It's got to stop, so how is it going to stop?
It stops by attacking the culture, getting people to engage more in wellness and prevention, and also by challenging providers and caregivers to treat based not on hope but on reality.
A lot of us physicians went into medicine because we loved the art aspect of it. There wasn't a lot of real hard-core science when many of today's doctors went into medicine. It was your intuition, your abilities, the gestalt of what was going on. But something happened in medicine along the way. It started becoming a real science, and a lot of studies have come out that guide what we do and how we do it. We as a society need to understand that science has to guide our practice of medicine. Not everyone with a headache needs a CAT scan; not everybody with a sprained ankle needs an MRI.
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Health Care report ranks WV low
August1,2012 West Virginia once again doesnt fare well in a report on health care recently released by the federal government.
The 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is meant to help guide the state in making improvements. The report takes data submitted by all the states and summarizes how well they provide care.
It says West Virginia is best at providing care in the areas of advanced breast cancer diagnosis in women over age 40, colorectal screening and preventing prostate cancer deaths.
The state is weakest in areas like reducing hospital admissions for chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, and has a high mortality rate for patients on kidney dialysis.
Dr. Ernest Moy, medical officer with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Quality Improvement, says the report is intended to show the state where it needs to do better.
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Health IT Booming Due to Affordable Care Act and Electronic Health Records
BLOOMINGTON, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
While the U.S. labor market is still soft, health IT is booming in Minnesota and across the U.S. As the health care system goes digital to streamline delivery, reduce costs, and implement a new accountable care model, health IT (HIT) is growing -- creating an increasing need for highly trained professionals. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in medical records and health information technology are expected to grow by 20 percent through 2018. This is due to the recent passage of the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the federal mandate to implement electronic health records (EHRs) by 2015.
Since 2010, Normandale Community College has been at the forefront of training HIT professionals. Made possible by a $1.2 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the college has successfully provided HIT training to 300 health care, IT and related professionals. Eighty-five percent of professionals who completed the program during the first year are employed.
HIT is an ideal career for people who enjoy problem-solving and analysis, and are interested in working in the health care industry, said Sunny Ainley, Health IT Program Lead for the Center for Applied Learning at Normandale Community College.
It is estimated that one in nine U.S. jobs will be in health care by 2020, with a 66 percent increase in IT staff in the next year, according to HIMSS, a leading national health IT association. Despite this growing need, industry experts have predicted a hiring shortfall of thousands of HIT professionals over the next several years.
Normandale is the only college in Minnesota to offer a six-month, 100 percent online HIT training program. Providing professional level, industry-proven HIT training, the MnHIT program complements the education and experience of mid-career professionals with health care, IT, health information management, quality/process improvement and business analyst experience in metro and rural Minnesota.
The MnHIT program is now accepting applications through Sept. 17, 2012 for the third cohort of 200 participants. For more information on the MnHIT program and to apply, visit http://www.mnhealthit.com.
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Health IT Booming Due to Affordable Care Act and Electronic Health Records
Health Care Service Corporation Launches Duty Calls, Unique Mobile App Geared Toward Expectant Dads
CHICAGO, Aug. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --To help support expectant dads during the pre-natal process, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), operator of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, has launched Duty Calls, a mobile app that helps new dads stay engaged with their partner throughout pregnancy by providing detailed task lists and weekly development information, among other features, on baby and expectant mother.
Duty Calls is an extension to the company's 'Special Beginnings' maternity program that provides expectant members support and education, risk factor identification and ongoing communication/ monitoring from experienced program staff.
Research suggests that paternal support helps promote healthy prenatal behavior and may decrease the expectant mother's emotional stress, which has been linked to poor pregnancy outcomes. However, through HCSC's research, expectant fathers often admit that they are unsure of their role during the prenatal process. This app helps support the couple's pre-natal experience by providing state-of-the-art tools to help dads be more active during the pregnancy process.
"Through focus groups and research, we have found that dads were often confused during the prenatal process because they felt they lacked resources to understand how to participate," said Paul Nutting, senior director, electronic commerce, HCSC. "The Duty Calls app addresses this concern in a unique way. We're confident that Duty Calls will benefit expectant dads with the goal of enhancing the couple's pre-natal experience in a variety of ways."
Duty Calls, available exclusively on iTunes, is unique as it offers a robust set of features to assist expectant dads, including:
Additionally, as a way to help extend engagement to fathers after the prenatal process, HCSC recently launched another app, Tot Tracker, a free app that helps parents track and capture their child's growth and doctor's visits until the age of three. Features include a tracking tool for completed milestones, recommended vaccinations, and a growth tracking tool.
About Health Care Service CorporationHealth Care Service Corporation, a Mutual Legal Reserve Company, is the country's largest customer-owned health insurer and fourth largest health insurer overall, with more than 13 million members in its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. HCSC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information, please visit http://www.HCSC.com, visit our Facebook page or follow us at http://www.twitter.com/HCSC.
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Health Care Service Corporation Launches Duty Calls, Unique Mobile App Geared Toward Expectant Dads
Preventive health care — a new Pearl Harbor?
As many as 47 million American women will become eligible to get cost-free preventive health care services under provisions of Obamacare that took effect on Wednesday.
The provisions of the Affordable Care Act provide for such co-pay free service as well woman visits, which include an annual checkup to get illness prevention care plus additional visits to a physician if deemed necessary.
Murray
The additional womens health services were applauded in a Senate floor speech by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., whose first major Senate speech in 1993 dealt with a friends death from ovarian cancer and lack of attention to womens health.
Women, for the first time today, have the safety and security of knowing their health coverage cannot be taken away . . . It is a huge step forward for womens health, Murray told SeattlePI.com
But a dozen House Republicans used the services taking effect to denounce the Affordable Care Act. Its requirement that health insurance plans offer contraception services is being challenged by Catholic dioceses and colleges who have filled numerous lawsuits.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Penn., declared: I know in your mind, you can think of the times America was attacked. One is December 7, thats Pearl Harbor Day. The other is September 11, and thats the day the terrorists attacked. I want you to remember August 1, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom.
That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other days.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic, tweeted about the basics of what the health care reform law requires. Women deserve to have control over their health care, she said. Too often they have gone without preventive services, worrying about what even a $20 insurance co-pay would mean to their families budgets . . .
The Affordable Care Act provides for a variety of services designed to prevent unwanted pregnancies and diseases that strike women. These include:
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New Health Care Benefits For Women Begin Wednesday
New plans will be required to cover a wide range of early detection services Laurie Ure CNN August 01, 2012 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New health care benefits kick in Wednesday requiring coverage of preventive services and screenings largely affecting women -- another facet of the Obama administration's controversial health care law.
Beginning August 1, all new and non-grandfathered insurance plans will be required to cover a wide range of early detection services, including mammograms and cervical cancer screenings, without co-payments or other cost sharing requirements.
"The top killers of women will now no longer go undetected," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, who spearheaded the push on Capitol Hill to include the requirement in the health care overhaul.
"We eliminate the barriers to care," Mikulski emphasized, arguing that the most important deterrent to women seeking medical attention has been the cost of insurance co-pays and deductibles.
While Americans remain sharply divided over the Affordable Care Act -- President Barack Obama's signature legislative accomplishment -- several specific provisions already in effect have proven to be popular with the public. Among other things, the law also allows children to remain on a parent's health plan until age 26. It also prohibits the denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and eliminates the maximum lifetime dollar limit for an insured individual's care.
While insurance plans in effect before the law was enacted in March 2010 are not required to follow the new rules yet, policies used by 90% of the largest U.S. companies will lose their grandfathered status by 2014, according to Mikulski's office.
Most health insurance plans, however, already cover preventive care, industry representatives tell CNN. Some do not require any co-pay for these services.
"In fact, not only do health plans cover these services, they encourage policy holders to get recommended preventive care, such as preventive tests/screenings and immunizations," said Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, the national trade association representing the health insurance industry. "Promoting prevention and wellness has always been a top priority for health plans."
The new policy requires insurers to cover a comprehensive set of set of preventive services, including both prenatal and postnatal care, breastfeeding supplies, domestic violence counseling, and screening for gestational diabetes.
But by far the most controversial aspect of the new policy is its contraception coverage.
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CORHIO Names Larry Wolk, M.D., Chief Executive Officer
DENVER, August 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
CORHIO, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, announced today that it has selected Larry Wolk, M.D., an experienced health care leader, to be its chief executive officer (CEO). CORHIO is the state designated health information exchange (HIE) and has connected to its network 23 hospitals, 73 office-based providers, 18 long-term and post-acute care facilities and a large, regional clinical laboratory. CORHIO is also in the process of expanding its network of health care providers and is actively working to connect six more hospitals, over 900 office-based providers, five behavioral health centers and four long-term and post-acute care facilities that are under agreement.
In addition to being recognized as one of Colorado's most respected physicians, Dr. Wolk is a successful entrepreneur and has 15 years of leadership experience in various aspects of health care. He is the founder and executive director of the Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, a position he has held as a volunteer for nearly 20 years. The organization is one of the largest safety-net clinics in Colorado, providing more than 50,000 patients visits each year at over 40 clinic sites.
Dr. Wolk is also currently a clinical professor in the department of pediatrics with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and recently served nearly five years as president and chief operating officer at Correctional Healthcare Companies, which provides services to corrections agencies in 27 states and employs more than 2,500 staff. Dr. Wolk has also served as the senior medical director of both Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Colorado and Prudential Healthcare of Colorado, and served in a regional and national role as senior health care executive at CIGNA HealthCare. He was also the medical director of ambulatory pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center for five years.
Over the last two decades, Dr. Wolk has received many honors, including Colorado Pediatrician of the Year, National Philanthropy Day Volunteer of the Year, Denver Business Journal Healthcare Executive of the Year, a "Channel 7 Everyday Hero," and he is a recipient of the University of Vermont's Award for Service to Medicine and Community. Most recently, Dr. Wolk received the Lifetime Healthcare Achievement Award from the Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Outstanding Clinical Faculty Community Service Award from the University of Colorado. Dr. Wolk also served as an officer on the board of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the Rocky Mountain Center for Health Promotion and Education.
"Dr. Wolk is not just a respected physician who has worked tirelessly to ensure individuals get access to high-quality health care, he is also an entrepreneur with a deep understanding of why health information exchanges like CORHIO are critical to improving the quality of care that is delivered," said CORHIO Board Chair James Shmerling, president and chief executive officer of Children's Hospital Colorado.
With his unique and varied expertise in the health care field, Dr. Wolk will help to accelerate the adoption of HIE among providers in Colorado and will ensure that CORHIO stays true to its mission of improving health care for all Coloradans.
"Working for CORHIO presents an exciting opportunity for me, advocating for and implementing health information exchange for health care providers and patients alike. I look forward to the day when CORHIO includes every health care entity in the state and gives the opportunity to every Colorado citizen to experience better health."
About CORHIO
CORHIO is dedicated to improving health care quality for all Coloradans through health information exchange (HIE). As the state designated entity for HIE, CORHIO collaborates with health care stakeholders including physicians, hospitals, clinics, public health, long-term care, laboratories, health plans and patients to improve care collaboration through secure systems and processes for sharing clinical information. CO-REC, a CORHIO initiative, assists primary care providers in adopting, implementing and becoming meaningful users of electronic health record (EHR) systems. CORHIO is a not-for-profit supported in large part by grants, including awards from the Colorado Health Foundation and from federal ARRA HITECH funds. CORHIO's technical infrastructure is built on industry-leading HIE technology developed and maintained by Medicity. For more information about CORHIO, please visit http://www.corhio.org.
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Mass. lawmakers approve health care cost bill
Massachusetts lawmakers have given final approval to a bill designed to save up to $200 billion in health care costs over the next 15 years.
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Health care law gives women control over their care
Washington, D.C. - (AP) Forty-seven million women are getting greater control over their health care and access to eight new prevention-related health care services without paying more out of their own pocket beginning Aug. 1, 2012, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Wednesday.
Previously some insurance companies did not cover these preventive services for women at all under their health plans, while some women had to pay deductibles or copays for the care they needed to stay healthy. The new rules in the health care law requiring coverage of these services take effect at the next renewal date on or after Aug. 1, 2012for most health insurance plans. For the first time ever, women will have access to even more life-saving preventive care free of charge.
According to a new HHS report also released today, approximately 47 million women are in health plans that must cover these new preventive services at no charge. Women, not insurance companies, can now make health decisions that will keep them healthy, catch potentially serious conditions at an earlier state, and protect them and their families from crushing medical bills.
"President Obama is moving our country forward by giving women control over their health care," Secretary Sebelius said. "This law puts women and their doctors, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of health care decisions."
The eight new prevention-related services are:
The health care law has already helped women in private plans and Medicare for the first time gain access to potentially life-saving tests and services, such as mammograms, cholesterol screenings, and flu shots without coinsurance or deductibles. Today's announcement builds on these benefits, generally requiring insurance companies to offer, with no copay, additional vital screenings and tests to help keep women healthy throughout their lives.
These services are based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which relied on independent physicians, nurses, scientists, and other experts as well as evidence-based research to develop its recommendations. These preventive services will be offered without cost sharing beginning today in all new health plans.
Group health plans and issuers that have maintained grandfathered status are not required to cover these services. In addition, certain nonprofit religious organizations, such as churches and schools, are not required to cover these services. The Obama administration will continue to work with all employers to give them the flexibility and resources they need to implement the health care law in a way that protects women's health while making common-sense accommodations for values like religious liberty.
For women who are pregnant or nursing, the new preventive services include gestational diabetes screening as well as breast-feeding support, counseling and supplies. Health services already provided under the health care law include folic acid supplements for women who may become pregnant, Hepatitis B screening for pregnant women, and anemia screening for pregnant women.
Women Medicare beneficiaries may already receive such preventive services as annual wellness visits, mammograms, and bone mass measurement for those at risk of osteoporosis and diabetes screening. Approximately 24.7 million women with Medicare used at least one free preventive service in 2011, including the new annual wellness visit.
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CPMA: Podiatrists- An Important Part of the Health Care Team
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire -07/31/12)- The Canadian Podiatric Medical Association applauds the first report of the Health Care Innovation Working Group, entitled "From Innovation to Action," but encourages the working group to consider the many facets of health care practitioners that comprise the primary health care team.
"It is encouraging that the Health Care Innovation Working Group includes "innovation" in its name, however, that sense of innovation should also be used when determining the spectrum of practitioners within the primary health care team," said Dr. Joseph Stern, President of the Canadian Podiatric Medical Association (CPMA).
"Using examples from the report, such as foot ulcers and leg amputations, the working group should be expanding its team to include podiatrists, who are specialists in preventing, diagnosing and treating foot pain and foot disorders, both medically and surgically," added Stern. "Although the education, training and scope of practice of podiatrists differs somewhat across Canada, practitioners in this profession all focus specifically on the foot and ankle. Of particular note are Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPMs) who have considerable experience and significant success in healing ulcers of people with diabetes and helping to avoid amputations.
"People with diabetes are individuals who share a common disease with wide ranging effects," noted Dr. Timothy Kalla, an operative podiatrist in Vancouver, B.C. who specializes in preventing, diagnosing and treating diabetes-related foot problems, one of the leading causes of hospitalization for people with diabetes. "Some people with diabetes are at a very high risk for foot complications where others are not. As a result, foot care needs to be tapered to the individual, based on his or her risk status and presentation. Foot care may range from regular preventative foot care visits to emergency operations. "Diabetes management necessitates a team approach and podiatrists in Canada have the training and the ability to provide the full spectrum of foot care for people with diabetes."
"As the report states, about 85% of all leg amputations are the result of non-healing foot ulcers and research on best practices in prevention suggests that most diabetic foot ulcers and amputations can be prevented," advised Stern. "These statistics stress the importance of dealing with the epidemic of diabetes and the need to include podiatrists, who are specialists in the foot and ankle, to be part of the primary health care team. Amputation is always a last resort and with proper management, including a team approach to health care, Canadians can live well with diabetes."
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CPMA: Podiatrists- An Important Part of the Health Care Team
Part Two of Why a Mother Left Her Daughter Behind: National Family Voices Examines the Necessity of Having More …
Strange fact of the day: services for children with special health care needs and disabilities vary dramatically from state to state. What are some examples, and how can parents find the services they need? This story is Part Two of a two-part story from National Family Voices which examines some of the questions raised when Eva Cameron, a mother of three from outside Chicago, dropped off her 19 ...
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Mass. lawmakers give initial OK to health bill
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Massachusetts Aims to Cut Growth of Its Health Costs
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Key health care act benefit for women starts today
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Margot Kingston, a women's health nurse practitioner at Families First and Harbour Women's Health of Portsmouth is pleased about the Affordable Care Act's comprehensive coverage for women's preventative care, which goes into effect today.Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com
Beginning today, comprehensive preventive care coverage for women goes into effect as part of the latest rollout of reforms under the Affordable Care Act. Under the law, almost all new or renewed private health care plans issued after Aug. 1 must cover comprehensive women's preventive services with no cost sharing, or co-payments.
One local health care practitioner believes the elimination of a co-pay requirement for preventive care is an important shift toward healthier outcomes that will decrease the number and cost of chronic illnesses.
"We have seen there are many women who don't come in for an appointment because of a $10 to $25 co-pay," said Margot Kingston, a women's health nurse practitioner who works at the Families First Health and Support Center in Portsmouth and at Harbour Women's Health. "More women need routine health care but they don't get it because they can't afford the co-payment. No woman should die of cervical cancer because they can't afford a checkup."
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2011 an estimated 20.4 million American women with private health insurance gained expanded no-cost sharing preventive services, including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, flu and pneumonia shots, and regular well-baby and well-child visits. DHHS estimates that more than 253,000 women in New Hampshire on private insurance plans are now covered by the expanded preventive care provisions. By 2014, all Americans with private insurance will have a wide range of no co-pay, preventive care services as part of their basic coverage.
This new expansion of preventive services with no cost-sharing will cover so-called well-woman visits, which include contraceptive services and screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence and sexually transmitted infections.
"This is an important part of the work to improve access and will include all preventive care," said Lisa Kaplan Howe, policy director for the advocacy organization N.H. Voices for Health. "It's incredibly important for women to be able to maintain their health and monitor their health without increasing cost sharing. Frankly, it's also good for insurers because patients who stay on top of preventive health don't cost as much money as those who don't."
Kingston said contraceptive services coverage will also be important as the up-front costs can be prohibitive for many women. In a conference call with New Hampshire journalists, Jennifer Frizzell of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said that reducing the co-payment cost of preventive services is a critical step in challenging economic times. "We see this every day. Whether to pay for birth control or pay for groceries these are very real choices for New Hampshire women," Frizzell said. "That burden will get easier."
While the new guidelines go into effect today, Kaplan Howe said it can be confusing because actual comprehensive coverage doesn't begin for many with existing policies until they are renewed, which usually happens in the fall and winter. The provisions are also not impacted by the declining number of "grandfathered" group plans that were in effect when the ACA became law in 2010 and are expected to lapse in the next couple of years.
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Benefits of Contraceptive Use in the United States – Video
30-07-2012 15:29 Contraception is basic preventive health care for women—a simple truth that is too often lost in our political discourse. This video puts key facts front and center: Proper timing and spacing of births leads to healthier pregnancies; contraception, when used consistently, is highly effective; and cost can be a barrier to a woman using the contraceptive method that's right for her. This video was created by the Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and policy organization on sexual and reproductive health. Full transcript available: COMMENT POLICY: Comments reflecting the spectrum of opinion are welcomed. However, we ask that they be constructive and respectful in tone and content. Comments containing profanity, abusive or inflammatory language, misinformation or that are otherwise inappropriate will be removed. Comments appearing on this site are not endorsed by the Guttmacher Institute nor should they be taken to reflect the Institute's point of view.
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Consumers bracing for tax hikes from the health care law – Video
30-07-2012 22:50 Report: ObamaCare expected to cost taxpayers $805 billion
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Consumers bracing for tax hikes from the health care law - Video
Digesting the health care compromise bill
By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff
Lawmakers are expected to vote Tuesday on a 350-page bill that would make Massachusetts the first state to impose limits on how much health care providers can spend on medical costs. Its a complicated, far-reaching bill that depends on the states ability to collect massive amounts of data and to make it usable by regulators and consumers.
Leaders in the House and Senate prepared summaries of key provisions in the bill. Below, see some early reaction from consumer advocates and others.
The bill comes after more than a year and a half of negotiations on Beacon Hill. But the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, which has served as a consumer advocate on health costs, urged people not to see the bills expected passage as an end to the debate.
We invite all stakeholders to meet with us publicly at a gathering of GBIO leaders on Tuesday September 17th, 2013 -- one year from now -- to evaluate the progress in controlling costs and assess the effectiveness of this legislation, President Rev. Burns Stanfield said in a press release.
The group lauded the bills allocation of $60 million for public health programs and its setting of a spending target:
Specifically, per person health care spending is targeted to grow no more than the Gross State Product during the years of 2013-2017. Then a more aggressive target of GSP minus .5% is established for the years 2018-2022.
These targets have the potential to establish a clear incentive to make real changes that will reduce costs; eliminate waste; and improve patient care. However, to accomplish these aims an enhanced enforcement mechanism will likely be necessary.
Eric Schultz, chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, congratulated lawmakers on the bill, in an e-mailed statement:
While we continue to review its many complex elements, it is clearly a meaningful step forward in the effort to control health care spending. We look forward to working with our partners in state government and other key stakeholders to fully implement the law so that we, as a Commonwealth, are able to fully realize its potential to improve care and control the rate of increase in health care costs for Massachusetts consumers and businesses.
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Water Street Closes $750 Million Private Equity Fund
CHICAGO, July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Water Street Healthcare Partners, a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry, announced today the closing of its third private equity fund, Water Street Healthcare Partners III, L.P. ("Fund III"). The fund closed at its cap of $750 million of investor commitments, exceeding the original target of $650 million when fundraising began in early June. Investors in the fund include leading domestic and international pension funds, endowments and financial institutions, most of which have invested in Water Street since the firm raised its first fund in 2006.
"We are very pleased with the value Water Street has built in its group of health care companies, and the strong results its team has achieved over the past six years," said Investment Director Brian Welker, Allianz Capital Partners, an investor in Water Street since 2006. "What we appreciate most about Water Street is how it engages its entire team in the value creation process. It leverages the vast experience of its operating partners with the financial expertise of its investment partners to proactively source and invest in attractive companies, strategically expand their products and services, and build them into market leaders."
Water Street has completed more than 30 strategic acquisitions and mergers, the majority of which were privately negotiated, to build 16 market-leading health care companies in six years. The firm has acquired and grown its companies through partnerships with the world's premier health care corporations including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Inc. and Gentiva Health Services, Inc., as well as founders and executives of middle-market companies. In the past three months, Water Street acquired Breg, Inc. from Orthofix International, N.V., divested its dental pharmaceutical company, OraPharma, to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., and divested Physiotherapy Associates after building into a national outpatient rehabilitation services leader.
"We are deeply grateful to our investors for their overwhelming support of Water Street. Their recognition of the results our team has achieved and enthusiasm for our strategy enabled us to raise this fund efficiently. Importantly, by extending our partnership, investors continue to support our strategy of building market-leading companies of greater long-term value in targeted growth segments of health care. We will continue to invest our team's deep health care expertise, extensive operating experience and network of industry relationships to create transformational growth for our companies and deliver outstanding results for our investors," said Tim Dugan, managing partner, Water Street.
With Fund III, Water Street's total capital under management increases to nearly $2 billion. Water Street will continue to pursue proprietary investments in four segments of health care: medical and diagnostic products and devices, specialty distribution, outsourced health care services, and specialty pharmaceutical products and services. Target investments range in size from $50 million to $500 million in value. Water Street will continue to grow its companies through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic initiatives.
Water Street closed its inaugural equity fund of $370 million in 2006 and its second equity fund of $650 million in 2008.
About Water Street
Water Street is a strategic private equity firm focused exclusively on health care. The firm has a strong record of building market-leading companies across key growth sectors in health care. It has worked with some of the world's leading health care companies on its investments including Gentiva, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Smith & Nephew. Water Street's team is comprised of industry executives and private equity professionals with decades of experience investing in and operating global health care businesses. The firm is headquartered in Chicago. For more information about Water Street, visit waterstreet.com.
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