By Hope Ditto. That’s right – your weekly blog roundups have returned after a lovely summer vacation. Check in every Friday for your weekly dose of health care news you can use.

The top headline this week is President Obama jumping into the ring for round 1000 (at least) of the fight to reform health care. Bloodless so far, Obama said he was “cautiously optimistic” after meeting with Senate Democrats on Tuesday this latest bill would pass without the drama of another all-out, gloves off floor fight. As he told the Post: It’s clear that we are on the precipice of an achievement that’s eluded Congresses and presidents for generations, an achievement that will touch the lives of nearly every American. There are still some differences that have to be worked on. This was not a roll call. This was a broad-based discussion about how we move forward.

Meanwhile, Health on the Hill  sought out to debunk rumors about this latest legislative push. Watch their myth-buster roundtable here for a final answer on the legality of taxing health care benefits and much, much more!

Coming at the same time as Obama’s latest push is this report that government spending on health care will go UP, not DOWN like Obama insisted that it would back in March. Though experts forecast that the increase will be modest, the political fallout is expected to be intense. According to AP reporter Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “for critics, the numbers show that the law didn’t solve the cost problem, although Obama repeatedly said he wanted to bend the spending curve down.” Read the full article here.

And, according to this piece from the Fiscal Times, it isn’t just the federal government feeling the cost effects of health care reform. State governments – many of which are already in dire shape thanks to that pesky recession – are collapsing under a mountain of Medicare bills, an unfortunate consequence of soaring unemployment. And some analysts say the only solution is for the federal government to shoulder a larger portion of the financial burden. (more…)

Once again I have the privilege of introducing the newest group of Disruptive Women, all of whom are acomplished in their fields.  These women are not afraid to take chances, to cross boundaries, to look beyond what exists today and think creatively.

Please help me welcome our newest Disruptive Women:

• Debbie Myers, Founder, VirtuArte
• Estee Solomon Gray, Self-described Inveterate Boundary Straddler
• Grace Bender, President, infinisity, inc.
• Julie Murchinson, Founder, Health 2.0 Accelerator & Managing Director, Manatt Health Solutions
• Mary Grealy, President, Healthcare Leadership Council
• Rozalynn Goodwin, Director, Policy Research, South Carolina Hospital Association and Founder, the Motherhood Priority

Take a moment to read the bios of these amazing women and prepare to be dazzled.

It is with much pride and great pleasure that I write today’s post–Disruptive Women held its launch event at the National Press Club in Washington DC one year ago.

I am very proud to share that our blog has been named one of the Top 100 Health Care Blogs and has been nominated by readers of the Huffington Post as one of the 100 People Who are Using New Media to Change the World.

Today, I am pleased to say that our network consists of 40 incredible, very diverse, Disruptive Women bloggers, including our 4 newest:

• Diana Long, Developer of BrandDance TM & Principle, DML Consulting
• Diane Jones, President, Camden Counsulting
• Lisa Korin, Masters of Public Health Candidate, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Stephanie Cohen, Co-Founder, Golden & Cohen

In addition, we have our own You Tube Channel, Facebook Fan Page with hundreds of fans, thousands of Twitter followers and have hosted several briefings and events and published an e-book on Comparative Effectiveness Research.

As we look ahead to the coming year, we have many interesting briefings in the works, new e-books underway, and more Men of the Month who will be contributing.

We welcome your feedback and input, suggestions and ideas as we continue to disrupt health care.

Congress has almost hit recess, and already policymakers and stakeholders are shifting their persuasive energies from Washington, DC to the general public. So, this week we’re doing a video-themed Roundup, starting with the Administration’s Office of Health Reform’s response to the video featured on Drudge of the President saying “His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance.”

Brave New Films, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and Herndon Alliance, have produced a new video, “450,000 Can’t Be Wrong About Health Care Reform,” that features family doctors voicing support for health care reform:

Meanwhile, Americans United for Change, an organization dedicated to supporting President Obama’s health care initiatives, has released a new TV ad called “GOP Rx”: (more…)

At the end of June 2009, Disruptive Women in Health Care ran a series of posts that explored the issue of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) from a variety of viewpoints and perspectives:

• Patients
• Providers
• Innovators
• Caregivers
• Policymakers
• Rare Diseases
• Minorities
• Gender

While there is tremendous potential in the power of CER, there remain a number of troubling issues and difficult questions.  The promise and the pitfalls are reflected in the new CER ebook we put together, which encapsulates each of the posts.  To download a free copy, please click here.

This week, after the Senate confirmed Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) as HHS Secretary, HHS announced the establishment of two new health IT committees in the department. Jason Miller of FederalNewsRadio reported:

HHS announced [Wednesday] in the Federal Register that the Health IT policy committee would recommend a policy framework to develop and adopt nationwide infrastructure to permit the electronic exchange of health information.
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The Health IT standards committee would make recommendations around data and technology standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria for the electronic exchange and use of health records.
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Previously, HHS had similar committees addressing policy and standards. But the Recovery Act, which included more than $19 billion for health IT, required HHS establish these new committees with a different makeup.

(See the complete article for more details about membership of the committees.)

The HHS Department’s focus on health IT this week also included a two-day hearing on “Meaninful Use” of Health Information Technology, hosted by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. It’s no surprise, then, that Health IT and the “meaning of meaningful use” have dominated health discussions around the Web this week.

Josh Seidman on the Center for Information Therapy blog highlighted two organization’s issue statements regarding meaningful use:

The [Markle Foundation] statement appropriately highlights patient access to clinically relevant electronic information. It could further by clarifying that such information should be accessible to consumers in a way that they can understand and use it, and also that facilitates action on their part, or as [the Consumer Partnership for eHealth (CPeH)] puts it, “access their personal health information, receive prompts and reminders, and use patient decision support without sacrificing privacy.”

These patient-centered definitions of meaningful use are critically important for ensuring that ARRA HIT provisions actually change how health care is delivered in this country.

(more…)

Debate surrounding health information technology, particularly electronic health records (EHR), has become increasingly dominant among health care-related discussions around the Web. Forbes.com chatted with Geoff Brown, CIO at Inova Health System (a Virginia-based not-for-profit health care service provider system consisting of hospitals and other health care centers), about the significant role health IT could play “in improving medical care, cutting costs and speeding up treatment.”

The health-care industry is a study in contrasts. On one hand, it employs the best that medical science has to offer. On the other, it is one of the least automated sectors from an IT standpoint.

All of that is about to change, however, spurred as much by the federal government’s push for cost control and accountability in health care as the industry’s own need for modern information exchange. The task for implementing those changes will fall on CIOs at hospitals and clinics, as well as the companies that outsource records and information for doctor’s offices and outpatient facilities.

Read the interview with Geoff Brown about health IT and hospitals

Matthew Holt conducted and posted three interviews relevant to two sides of the current health IT/EHR debate about, to use Holt’s words, “whether the HITECH act should pay for and dictate a specified, certified type of EMR product use OR pay for data and outcomes and not specify how providers get there.” Holt spoke with Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, Mark Leavitt, Chair of CCHIT, and Jonathan Bush, CEO of AthenaHealth during HIMSS09. Describing his take on the two sides of the debate highlighted in these three interivews, Holt explained:

The “cats” support certification and EMR mandating (more or less). The “dogs” think that existing EMRs are often counterproductive and that a mix of other data sources, processes, and patient outreach technologies will get us where we need to in terms of improving outcomes much quicker.

Below is Holt’s interview with “cat” Mark Leavitt:

Find all three interviews on The Health Care Blog

(more…)

The Boston Globe reported this morning that President Obama has chosen David Blumenthal, MD as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS. Dr. Blumenthal, who will replace current ONC Robert Kolodner, is a “Harvard Medical professor who is director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.” From the Globe’e Political Intelligence blog:

In his new post, he will be in charge of nearly $20 billion in the economic stimulus package to build health IT, including encouraging more doctors and hospitals to use computers.

Also among Blumenthal’s responsibilities, Healthcare IT News reported:

Blumenthal will lead the implementation of a nationwide, interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure, as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act…

For more on Blumenthal, check out his National Journal Health Care Experts blog biography, and for more about his future position at HHS, see the HHS News Release.

Reacting to the news, Life as a Healthcare CIO blogged: (more…)

It’s been a big week for health care, women, and women in health care, with significant news events such as the creation of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Obama’s choice for FDA commissioner.

The Obama Administration has chosen former NYC health commissioner Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg to head up the FDA. The White House wants the new FDA commissioner to be “somebody who will focus the agency on its core mission of public health,” according to the Wall Street Journal. From Sarah Rubenstein’s profile of Hamburg at the WSJ Health Blog:

In New York, [Hamburg] instituted a needle-exchange program to help prevent the spread of HIV. She also set up a program, later mimicked by health departments around the world, in which health workers went to tuberculosis patients’ homes to help them manage their drug regimens.

Hamburg, a Harvard Med School grad, was an assistant secretary of health and human services during the Clinton administration and now works at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which tries to cut the threat from nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons… Among other things, she opposed a “morality oath” demanded by the Board of Education in 1992 while the city was debating abstinence-focused sex education in schools.

On Wednesday, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Council on Women and Girls. Valerie Jarrett will be the council Chair, with Tina Tchen as Executive Director. The official press release explains, “The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.” One of the council’s main objectives is to improve women’s health care.

Watch President Obama’s announcement here:

On Essential Estrogen, Lynda provided text of Obama’s remarks, and lists of female members of Congress and representatives from advocacy groups in attendance.

On the Care2 Women’s Rights blog, Ximena R. presented a few advocacy groups’ reactions, as well as her own: (more…)

The Obama Administration is unveiling its budget today. His remarks, released this morning, regarding health care included:

Because of crushing health care costs and the fact that they drag down our economy, bankrupt our families, and represent the fastest-growing part of our budget, we must make it a priority to give every single American quality, affordable health care. That’s why this budget builds on what we have already done over the last month to expand coverage for millions more children, to computerize health records to cut waste and reduce medical errors, which save, by the way, not only tax dollars, but lives.

With this budget, we are making a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform. It’s a step that will not only make families healthier and companies more competitive, but over the long term it will also help us bring down our deficit.

Yesterday news had already broke about a major componant of the Administration’s proposal. The New Republic‘s Jonathan Cohn reported from the Hill:

Officials from the Obama administration on Wednesday briefed both members of Congress and advocates from the health care community about the budget proposal they’ll unveil formally on Thursday… they are proposing to allocate $634 billion over ten years towards health care reform, the bulk of it to expand insurance coverage. And since that won’t fully fund universal coverage, they propose to work with Congress on finding the remaining money.

At the WSJ Health Blog, Sarah Rubenstein detailed some of the policies expected to be included:

Medicare Advantage: Democrats have been vocal critics of these private plans within Medicare, claiming they’re taxpayer-subsidized profit centers for insurers… The administration is expected to proposed cutting federal payments to insurers that run the plans by requiring them to competitively bid to offer plans.
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Drugs: The generics industry’s trade group tells the WSJ it’s hearing the proposal will set up a regulatory pathway for companies to create generic versions of biotechnology drugs, which currently can’t be made into copycat versions… The administration also wants to curb a practice by makers of traditional branded drugs by which they extend the patent-protected life of existing products by changing them slightly… Finally, Obama wants upper-income seniors to pay more for Medicare drug plans…
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Hospitals: Obama wants to create one bundled Medicare payment to cover both a hospital stay as well as care for the patient for 30 days after release, a change estimated to save $17 billion over 10 years… The administration is also proposing to cut payments for hospitals that routinely readmit patients after they have been discharged. It’s meant to save $8.4 billion over 10 years…

Ezra Klein presented further details about the plan: (more…)

On the New Health Dialogue blog, Paul Testa analyzed the ongoing public debate about comparative effectiveness research:

The New York Times‘ Robert Pear examines the content and contentiousness of the comparative effectiveness provisions of the $787 billion stimulus package. HR 1 provides $1.1 billion (pdf starting on page 156) to AHRQ, NIH and the HHS to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different health care services and treatment options. The goal is to create a process of funding and disseminating comparative effectiveness research that is transparent, professional and free from conflicts of interests. As the Dartmouth Atlas’ Elliott S. Fisher, MD, tells Pear, the funding would be used to try to answer questions such as:

… What is the best combination of “talk therapy” and prescription drugs to treat mild depression?
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Is it better to treat chronic heart failure by medications alone or by drugs and home monitoring of a patient’s blood pressure and weight?

In health care, though, simple questions rarely have simple answers. Nor will answers be static; biomedical science changes at a pretty astonishing clip. We wrote about this topic twice last week, and we expect to hear more about it as the health reform debate intensifies. Last week Kyle Noonan wrote about some of the alarmist rhetoric surrounding the issue, and Joanne Kenen wrote a longer piece about how comparative effectiveness fits into “health” as well as health care reform. We also want to point out Bob Laszewski’s posts at the Health Care Policy and Market Place Review, which has provided interesting coverage on this topic.
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Beginning to measure what works best for what patients or populations under what circumstances can provide a baseline. Providers and patients will have access to information that will help them better understand their choices and the likely consequences. Providing that information in a manner that is transparent, credible, and easily understood will go a long way to ensuring that all Americans receive the most effective care whether they live in Florida or Nebraska or California.

At Science-Based Medicine, Peter Lipson shared his perspective on comparative effectiveness research: (more…)

As members of the House and Senate work to craft a mutually acceptable economic recovery plan, everyone is talking about the good and the bad of the health care provisions in each version of the bill. MedPage Today correspondent Emily P. Walker explained:

The Senate version would provide $1 billion less for technology upgrades than the House version, but $19 billion is still a significant outlay to make upgrades in the medical record system that many healthcare providers have long been calling for.
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The Senate bill allocated about $19 billion to upgrade hospitals’ electronic records systems and limited how much an individual hospital could receive to $1.5 million. The House version allocated $20 billion and contained no cap on individual hospitals’ share.
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The Senate’s stimulus package also includes $8 billion more for the National Institutes of Health than the House version, a total $10 billion. It would go toward facility upgrades, equipment, and research.
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The Senate version dropped nearly all the money contained in the House version that would have gone toward preventing illness through health screenings, education, immunizations and nutrition counseling.
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One area where the Senate was more generous was a provision allowing higher payments to hospitals who take in a disproportionate number of low-income, Medicaid, and uninsured patients. This provision was not in the House bill.

At Talking Points Memo DC, (more…)

Tuesday, Senator Tom Daschle withdrew himself as President Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee, saying, “I can’t pass healthcare if I am too much of a distraction.”

Jacob Goldstein offered analysis of this news on the Wall Street Journal Health Blog:

The president had said he planned to move quickly on health reform, in spite of the financial crisis. Tom Daschle’s departure will likely make that pledge more difficult to keep. Daschle was more than just the nominee to run Health and Human Services; he also had a desk in the White House, where he was to run the Office of Health Reform. Now he says he’s withdrawing from both jobs.

It’s unclear whether Daschle’s replacement will also hold both jobs. That kind of dual role is pretty rare, and Daschle brought a hard-to-find combination of qualifications…

On The Treatment blog (TNR), Jonathan Cohn underscored this point: (more…)

As Mark Senak noted on his Eye on FDA blog, in effort “to distinguish itself quickly,” the 111th Congress is officially on YouTube. The House and Senate each launched their own channels (The Senate Hub and The House Hub) earlier this week. A number of video clips of Representatives’ floor statements about the SCHIP bill (that ultimately passed in the House) can be found at The House Hub. (more…)

It’s already been a big week for anyone interested in health care, and as such, the blogosphere has been buzzing over all the news and developments. Last week was HHS Secretary nominee Tom Daschle’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee hearing, yesterday President-elect Barack Obama announced his pick of William Corr to be Daschle’s deputy, and all week, Congress has been working on health care funding legislation, as Jacob Goldstein reported on the WSJ Health Blog:

…the House of Representatives is likely to vote today on a bill that would add about 4 million kids to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which already covers some 7 million kids in poor families. A companion bill is moving through the Senate. The program would be funded largely by a hike in cigarette taxes.
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Since Obama backs the expansion, the only remaining bone of contention seems to be whether states should have the option of covering the children of legal immigrants. The SCHIP plan will cost about $33 billion over four years. A bigger, quicker infusion of cash is likely to come from the big stimulus package Obama hopes to sign not long after he takes office. Word is, that plan will have $100 billion in aid to states to prop up Medicaid.

(more…)