"If Barack Obama has a BLT sandwich tomorrow…": Alan Grayson on Health Care Reform – Video


"If Barack Obama has a BLT sandwich tomorrow...": Alan Grayson on Health Care Reform
The West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie based the character of Matt Santos (portrayed by Jimmy Smits) on Obama. At the time the politician was only a sta...

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"If Barack Obama has a BLT sandwich tomorrow...": Alan Grayson on Health Care Reform - Video

New Book Highlights Baylor Health Care System's Quality Journey

Newswise Reaching Americas true potential to deliver and receive exceptional health care will require not only an immense and concerted effort, but a fundamental change of perspective from medical providers, government officials, industry leaders, and patients alike.

Achieving STEEEP Health Care, a new book published by CRC Press, highlights Baylor Health Care Systems (BHCS) efforts to improve health care quality along the six aims of health care improvement outlined by the Institute of Medicine and embraced by BHCS leadership: safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and patient centeredness (STEEEP).

This is the future of health care, says Joel Allison, president and CEO for BHCS. These aims and strategies are not only making it better for our patients, they are helping us remain a leader in health care during this time of uncertainty.

Achieving STEEEP Health Care features perspectives of senior leaders in the areas of corporate governance, finance, and physician and nurse leadership; strategies for developing and supporting a culture of quality, including systems and tools for data collection, performance measurement, and reporting; service-line examples of successful quality improvement initiatives such as reducing heart failure readmissions; and approaches to accountable care and improved population health.

This book offers practical strategies and lessons for other organizations in the areas of people, culture, and processes that have contributed to dramatic improvements in patient and operational outcomes at Baylor Health Care System, says David J. Ballard, MD, PhD, BHCS senior vice president and chief quality officer, president of the STEEEP Global Institute, and the books editor. We hope that sharing the challenges and successes we have encountered in our STEEEP care journey will educate and encourage other health care delivery organizations embarking on their own quality improvement endeavors.

For more information, visit http://www.achievingsteeephealthcare.com

About Baylor Health Care System Baylor Health Care System is a not-for-profit, faith-based supporting organization providing services to a network of acute care hospitals and related health care entities that provide patient care, medical education, research and community service. Baylor recorded more than 2.8 million patient encounters, $3.8 billion in total net operating revenue, $5.3 billion in total assets and $539 million in community benefit in fiscal year 2012 (as reported to the Texas Department of State Health Services). Baylors network of more than 360 access points includes 30 owned/operated/ ventured/affiliated hospitals; joint ventured ambulatory surgical centers; satellite outpatient locations; senior centers and more than 200 HealthTexas Provider Network physician clinics.

About STEEEP Global Institute The STEEEP Global Institute is a division of Baylor Health Care System dedicated to helping other organizations improve health care quality. For more information, visit http://www.steeepglobalinstitute.com

STEEEP is a registered trademark of Baylor Health Care System.

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New Book Highlights Baylor Health Care System's Quality Journey

Patrick's health care narrative skips over some blemishes

Gov. Deval Patrick is bullish about the 2006 health care access law, the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act and a 2012 state law to control cost increases.

In a Huffington Post op-edMonday, Patrick, a Democrat finishing his second term and considered a potential national office seeker, unsurprisingly focused on the upsides of Massachusetts experiments with health care reform without addressing some of the more recent, gloomier developments. Patrick described Massachusetts as the first state to achieve universal health care, the model for the ACA. And he ticked off other achievements in a piece targeted for a national audience and intended by the governor to let people know how Obamacares prototype has been doing.

Patrick wrote that the insurance expansion added only 1 percent of spending to the state budget, that unemployment in Massachusetts has remained lower than the national average and economic growth higher, that more private companies are offering insurance to employees than ever before, that virtually every resident is insured, and that average base rate increases are less than 2 percent today after rising more than 16 percent three years ago.

As the ACA is implemented this month, the entire country will begin to enjoy the benefits that we have seen from health care reform here in Massachusetts, and much more, Patrick wrote.

The governor did not mention some of the other storylines that have been playing out in Massachusetts.

Small businesses fearful of sharp health insurance rate hikes remain opposed to ratings factors being forced upon states under Obamacare. At the direction of the Democrat-controlled Legislature, Patrick sought a waiver from the ratings rules, but the Obama administration rejected it, allowing a three-year phase-in period instead. One major business group said it was mulling legal action.

As the state and nation crawled out of the Great Recession, Patrick administration officials maintained a faster and stronger mantra to distinguish growth in Massachusetts from other states, a narrative that has since been abandoned following mixed economic reports and data showing the state growing more slowly compared to the nation from April through June after a strong first quarter.

Last week, economists who are part of the University of Massachusetts Benchmarks project reported, After coming out of the recession more quickly than the nation, in recent months the Massachusetts economy has been growing sluggishly. The state unemployment rate has been rising even as the national rate has been falling.

The state unemployment rate held steady at 7.2 percent in August, a hair below the nation's 7.3 percent unemployment rate. The government shutdown prevented the release of an updated national rateon Friday. A year ago August, the national jobless rate was 8.1 percent and the Massachusetts rate was 6.8 percent.

The state Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) reported in August that based on 2011 data, 97 percent of Massachusetts residents were insured, with nearly 200,000 uninsured. Massachusetts has consistently registered a high insured rate, a fact that policymakers say has made insurance expansion efforts more achievable and the job of keeping together a broad coalition behind reform more doable.

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Patrick's health care narrative skips over some blemishes

Health Care Reform Insurance Marketplaces Add New Options and Questions for Employees as Open Enrollment Season Begins

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), consumers will be making history this fall as the first generation mandated by the government to have individual health care coverage. One market segment, the working insured, will now have more choices beyond their employer-funded health care plans as insurance marketplaces come online. However, before making any choices, HighRoads, the leading benefits plan management system provider for Fortune 1000 employers and key payers, suggests consumers thoroughly research all options to make sure their new choices meet their health and financial needs.

We first suggest employees read their Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) documents as a benchmark from which to compare all options in employer-provided plans and marketplaces, said Cynthia Weidner, vice president, HighRoads. SBCs, which HighRoads provides through its benefits plan management system, are ACA-required documents detailing essential benefit coverage and distributed to each participant. SBCs will help consumers pinpoint what exactly theyre getting in coverage, and will help in making comparisons, said Weidner.

HighRoads recommends these tips for consumers as they make open enrollment choices:

About HighRoads

For more than 14 years, HighRoads has been an industry leader in benefits plan management and health care compliance. Its patented SaaS-based technology, The Source, streamlines dynamic data management, optimizes workflow across the enterprise and ensures regulatory compliance. The privately held company is headquartered in Woburn, Mass. For more information, visit HighRoads.com, become a fan on Facebook, a follower on Twitter (@HighRoadsHR), or read the HR Compliance Connection Blog http://hrcomplianceconnection.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20131008005165/en/

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Health Care Reform Insurance Marketplaces Add New Options and Questions for Employees as Open Enrollment Season Begins

Missing Inaction: The National Health Care Workforce Commission – Health Stew – Boston.com

Way before the fight over creating the Affordable Care Act, broad agreement existed on one vital national health reform issue: the nation's health care workforce shortages. Even without the ACA, America faced serious problems with deficits of physicians, dentists, pharmacists, mental health professionals, and many more. With passage of the ACA, these issues assumed more urgency because of the pending expansion of health insurance to 30+ million formerly uninsured Americans.

The ACA sought to address these needs. Title V of the law is devoted entirely to measures to address America's health care workforce needs. No other title of the law received such broad support and so little controversy as did Title V. During the legislative debate on the ACA, I heard condemnation of nearly every part -- except for Title V. Here's the description of the Title from healthcare.gov:

"The Act funds scholarships and loan repayment programs to increase the number of primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants, mental health providers, and dentists in the areas of the country that need them most. With a comprehensive approach focusing on retention and enhanced educational opportunities, the Act combats the critical nursing shortage. And through new incentives and recruitment, the Act increases the supply of public health professionals so that the United States is prepared for health emergencies.

"The Act provides state and local governments flexibility and resources to develop health workforce recruitment strategies. And it helps to expand critical and timely access to care by funding the expansion, construction, and operation of community health centers throughout the United States."

The marquee provision of Title V is the establishment of a National Health Care Workforce Commission to be composed of 15 non-governmental health workforce experts and professionals to do data collection, analysis, and recommendations to help the nation to meet its ever-growing and changing workforce needs. The Commission was the brainchild of former Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). The ACA directs the U.S. comptroller general to appoint the 15 members and he did so in the fall of 2010, six months after the ACA was signed. And it is an impressive group -- here's the list:

Not too shabby, ready, willing and able to get to work.

Today, nearly 30 months after their appointment, the Committee has been unable to hold its first meeting. As Robert Pear reports in today's New York Times, the Commission is legally prohibited from convening -- and members are legally prohibited from communicating with each other -- because the Republican-controlled House of Representatives refuses to release the $2 million or so necessary to fund the commission's operations.

Why? Because the Commission was established in the ACA, (aka: ObamaCare) and Republicans in Congress are unwilling to support anything that is part of ObamaCare, even if everyone of them agrees that workforce shortages represent an urgent national, state, county and local need.

If the political temperature on the ACA can moderate so much that at least 7 Republican governors can embrace a huge expansion of Medicaid, is it too much to hope that Congressional Republicans can allow the National Health Care Workforce Commission to get to work?

(Correction -- original text modified to delete reference to workforce shortage of nurses. Out of date reference, my error.)

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Missing Inaction: The National Health Care Workforce Commission - Health Stew - Boston.com

Futurist asks the right questions

Topics: futurist, sohail inayatullah

SPEAK to Sohail Inayatullah for 46 minutes, and don't be alarmed, firstly, if your head hurts.

Also, try not to be surprised by the impressive list of people and organisations he has worked with, a sort of name-dropping on humble steroids.

The Singapore Prime Minister's office, Interpol, Australian Federal Police, BUPA, Victorian Museum, Boeing, Queensland Libraries, Victoria Health, Islamic scientists in Pakistan, Gold Coast council, the Hawaii State Judiciary, a "large cola company" and the Dubai Ministry.

Who is he?

Born in Pakistan, Sohail moved countries every two years due to his parents' work, living in Geneva, Malaysia, New York, Hawaii and Brisbane. He moved to Mooloolaba in 1999, lured by beachy promises from a QUT academic who heard him deliver a speech in Finland.

He has a PhD in political science and macro history, the study of big patterns of change going back thousands of years. He is an adjunct professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is a Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation and part of the International Advisory Council of the World Future Society.

Aged 55, he has two children, a daughter in Year 12 at Mountain Creek and a son studying linguistics in Barcelona. He became a vegetarian in 1975. He travels overseas delivering speeches four months of the year, and is home in Mooloolaba for the remaining eight months.

What does he do?

It can be hard to get your head around, but the question probably should be: what doesn't he do? He travels the world running foresight workshops. He says his job is not to predict but to "help with scenarios" to create a preferred future.

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Futurist asks the right questions