Jobhunting- MBA Healthcare Management- limited blogs until further notice.

I am currently unemployed and I have been spending most of my time jobhunting and haven't find any free time to blog.

I have recently joined two professional organizations and the word from one regarding my situation is no good. In addition to attending networking events, I am studying medical coding and billing and review the health care management topics through the metrix system courtesy of the New York State unemployment program.

The health care industry weighs in on the debt-ceiling negotiations

From Kaiser News
As the debt-ceiling negotiations loom, the healthcare provider industry is making its position known because of the proposed cuts to the medicare and medicaid programs.
The Home Health services industry is afraid they may see cuts that will put a squeeze on their already limited budget.

The hospital industry fears that cuts to medicare and medicaid would shift cost to public hospitals, states and individuals.

The Pharmaceutical industry which supported the health care law, opposes the current proposed measure that would require them to pay rebates for beneficiaries enrolled in both the medicaid and the medicare programs.

This week in the news..

From the New York Times: The U.S government in an effort to understand the problem with access to primary care physicians seek individuals to pose as mystery shoppers. Each physician will receive at least two calls from the fake patients. The study will track how long it takes for each fake patient to get an appointment if they are accepted and if they are not accepted,the study will keep track of the reasons.
I am not sure that the results from this study will be very useful to the problem America faces with the shortage of primary care physicians. The only way to fix the problem is to address the medicaid reimbursement problems and the low wages of primary care physician as compared to other specialties. But them maybe they data will led them to take a better look at the reimbursement structure for primary care treatments.

Helmets are for adults as well

The last time I Checked, adults are suppose to be wearing helmets as well. The culprits that bugs me the most are those who make their kids wear one and then ride around on their bicycle as if they are super people who are immuned to head injury.

click here for tips about bicylce helmet do's and don'ts

Healthcare news of the week June 5th

From Kaiser:Toolkit of prepared cell phone text messages for public emergency is available to the public through the department of health and human services.

Some program okay'd by the health care reform bill,lacks funding.

From WSJ heatlh blog;Physician's bonus based on quality are few and far between.

HHS said most unisured unable to pay hospital bill

Click below to read the latest press release for HHS, this one is regarding a study which proved that most of uninsured Americans are unable to pay their hospital bill. The article states that about $73 billion in unpaid hospital bills get past on to the insured and their employers.
The article also makes a comparison between auto-insurance and medical insurance, and this makes me wonder if the government is making a case for requiring us all to have medical insurance.

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/05/20110510a.html

from wsj: new CEO of changehealthcare on price transparency

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/05/03/incoming-ceo-of-changehealthcare-on-price-transparency/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_health

Interesting assessment of Obama and Ryan's Plan for Medicare.

I agree with this assessment
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/15/paul-ryan-medicare-reform-hocus-pocus/?section=money_topstories

Obama's plans for medicare

Obama seeks medicare savings but rejects the GOP's plan
Read more here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-13/obama-embraces-debt-panel-ideas-shuns-ryan-s-medicare-plan.html

HHS..announces "Partnership for Patients.

"Paternship for Patients" is a new initiative that aims to reduce to number of patient getting sicker as compared to the 2010 levels and to increase the number of patient that heal without complication by 2013. It was formed by The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in partnership with leaders of major hospitals, employers, physicians, nurses, and patient advocates along with state and federal governments in a shared effort to make hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly.

For more information see the links below:
http://www.healthcare.gov/center/programs/partnership
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/04/20110412a.html
http://www.cms.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/MD/itemdetail.asp?itemID=CMS1239313

HHS releases plan to curb Health Care Disparities

A great start:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/04/20110408a.html

In the news this week:Acountable Care Organizations

The new ACO rules will be profitable for some, not all, the article below from Kaiser news talks about the gains and risks for Doctors and hospitals.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/March/31/ACO-rules.aspx

The rules hope to guide Doctors and Hospital to better corporate and care delivery at a cheaper price.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/03/obama-administration-offers-rules-to-guide-hospitals-doctors-toward-more-cooperation.html#

By offering incentives such as allowing providers to keep a percent of the cost saved, medicare is hoping to get more providers to sign up.

I think this program is good start as it will allow better coordination of care for the patient which will lead to improved health, and lower health care costs.

Health car reform is a year old!

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/23/6327399-health-care-one-year-later?pc=25&sp=25#discussion_nav

Medicare Part D donut hole saving News from HHS

Nearly Four Million Seniors Received Cost Relief, 50 Percent Discount on Prescription Drugs Saves Seniors $38 Million in Just Two Months

http://www.healthcare.gov/center/reports/donuthole03222011a.html

Summary
The Affordable Care Act has strengthened the Medicare Part D prescription drug program by beginning to close the coverage gap (also called the “donut hole”). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has successfully implemented many of these provisions of the Affordable Care Act, allowing millions of people with Medicare to see reduced out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs. Many more will receive benefits as the coverage gap is further reduced over the next several years. This report summarizes the Affordable Care Act’s progress in reducing out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries and reports on how many individuals have received tangible benefits in the law’s first year.

Interesting article of the week 3-16

The article speak about loneliness. It is an interesting read especially for people like me who cherish solitude. I love being around people as much as I love my time to myself.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219322.php

More American Uninsured in 2010 as compared to 2001

If I do not find a job by May 2nd I will not have insurance, I just will not be able to afford it on unemployment income and me and my unemployed colleagues are not the only ones. Our Unemployment income will be around $1200 and insurance via cobra will be around $800. That leave 400 for rent, grocery, utilities and debt.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219322.php

Favorite Health care sites/ blogs

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/

http://www.healthaffairs.org/

http://www.heritage.org/Issues/Health-Care

www.who.org

In the news today 2/23/2011

From HHS:
State will be able to get support in moving medicaid beneficiaries out of institutions into their own homes or to community homes. I think living at home will help beneficiaries improve their ADLs ( activity of daily living) which might get them to be less reliant on the medicaid programs. And shared-cost, a practice practice by community homes will reduces medicaid's bill and foster the use of organized care by provider care.

From NPR's morning edition:
A Pennsylvania program that helps low-income adults who do not qualify for medicaid pay for insurance will close due to lack of funds. The funds was originally funded by a tobacco sentiment.
The only alternative available for those affected between now and 2014 is the high risk pool mandated by the new health care law. But since its enactment, enrollment has been slow probably because it is costly and also potential enrollments have to be without insurance for 6 months before they can enrolled. This will not be plausible for the couple featured in the story because it will be difficult for them to pay the $283 monthly fee. In the low-Income adult program, their cost was $36.

Retire's Health Insurance face scrutiny

Face with growing budget deficit some state at taking a second look at retire's health insurance, they are considering amongs other measures,having retirees pay co-pays, and eliminating benefit for future retirees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/business/14retirees.html?_r=1&hp

HHS announces regulations aim at improving Student Insurance

HHS releases a new proposed regulation today as part of the affordable care act, to help improve school’s health insurance. The new regulations includes, no lifetime limits on coverage, no arbitrary rescissions of insurance coverage and no pre-existing condition exclusions for students under age 19. This regulation aims to stabilize the student insurance market, by making insurance affordable to student.

This regulation is much needed, I was one of those students who had to buy one of these student health insurance policies, and I use to have to pay most of my medical cost, which ended on my credit card of course.


http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/02/20110209a.html

The voice, some cannot hear

God speaks to us all but only few hears him.
The non-stop chatter of the voice drowns his voice,
the non-stop chatter in our mind does the same.

Blogginghead.tv discuss health care reform

http://www.bloggingheads.com/diavlogs/34068

Interview with "Individual Mandate" Creator

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/an_interview_with_mark_pauly_t.html

HHS secretary outlines Federal support for State's Medicaid program.

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/01/20110203c.html

The type of cost saving cited in the article is very doable and It will improve the efficiency of the medicaid programs. The suggests are as follows:

-Modifying benefits- by limit for example length of stay at hospital or optional treatment such as dental services.
- Managing Care for High-Cost Enrollees More Effectively- adopting a medical home model for chronically ill children
-Purchasing Drugs More Efficiently- Get accurate information regarding drug pricing when setting State's pharmacy pricing.
- Assuring Program Integrity- police the system to curb fraud.

$4 billion Recovered From Defrauded Health Programs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/24/AR2011012405939.html

House passes vote to Repeal Health care law

The vote to repeal the health care law passed in the house with a vote of 245-189. Two house democrats voted with all the republicans to repeal the bill signed into law last March. I am glad that the government is doing something to fix the health care system. While I support some parts of the bill for instance, the one that extends coverage to children up to age 26 and the one that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing condition, I wish they could get rid of the part that will force people to buy insurance. They need to come up with a better method to fund the system.

Yes, the law has in place provisions that will exempt some people from facing the penalty for not carrier health insurance, but the criteria use for the exemption is flawed. The federal poverty level is not a good way to measure whether someone will be able to afford insurance. Some of the people who are uninsured earn above the federal poverty level can barely keep their head above water because of enormous college and credit card debt, and none of this is taken into account when deciding who to penalize.


According to covertheuninsured.org 78.5% of the uninsured have some or no high school education, and I am certain if we take a more in-depth look into these figures we will see that these people make up a great percentage of those earning at or under the federal poverty level. Most of them will qualify for Medicaid as per the new law, but as income does not raise with inflation, they will likely stay in the program indefinitely, just like they do in the government temporary assistance for needy family programs, which will result in increase cost to the deficit not decrease.

It is also ridiculous to forces those who can afford to and want to pay out-of-pocket for there medical costs, to buy insurance.

http://covertheuninsured.org/content/quick-facts-uninsured

U.S SUES NEW YORK STATE for unwarranted Medicaid billing

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1113376620110111

On January 11, 2011, U.S attorney general for Southern New York State Preet Bharara, sued New York City for civil penalties and damages of over 10 million dollars for having Medicaid paid for services that was not warrant from the period 2000 to 2010. He said that Medicaid was paying for 24 hours home health care service for some patients who did not need it, whiles some that needed the extra help went without it. According to Attorney Preet Bharara, some patients were giving extra help without any medical evaluation and in some cases administrators had overrule the medical findings and had authorized the services.

Breaking news

From Kaiser news update- A health reform agency charged with overseeing Insurance agency will become part of the Medicare federal agency, which is a major organizational shift.


From HHS- Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner sent a letter to Members of Congress to provide an update on implementation of the Affordable Care Act and discuss how the law will continue to give Americans more freedom in their health care choices as implementation continues in 2011.
Click here to read the letter

GOP will hold early vote to repeal OBAMACARE

USA today reports that the house of representative plans to vote to repeal obamacare. Some GOP have vowed that if the vote fail, they will go after the bill piece by piece. Since the GOP have the majority house, they will pass the repeal but it is likely to fail in the Senate where they are the minority.