HWR’s latest and greatest

Return with us once again to the enlightened pens (ok, keyboards) of the policy wonks as they pass on their pragmatic, practical, and perspicacious prose to you, dear reader, in this publication of HWR.

We’ll start with an entry from the august journal Health Affairs., where Sarah Dine provides some political background on the state health insurance program for kids (SCHIP), the funding of which is the subject of current debate among governors, Senate Finance and Budget committees, and the administration.
My favorite health care economist, Jason Shafrin did us all a favor. He attended the Eastern Economic Conference so we didn’t have to (sorry, Jason, couldn’t resist) – check out his post for a summary of three intriguing topics.
Michael Cannon is one guy with whom I rarely agree; that’s not the case today. His entry for this edition of HWR makes an excellent point about limitations on para-professionals in the health care field.
HealthBlawg’s David Harlow brings to your attention some not-well-publicized happenings at the federal regulatory level. It seems OMB is concerned that certain federal agencies have been off the reservation when it comes to sub-regulatory guidance, and is reining them in a bit. Recent case in point: CMS guidance on IDTFs (independent diagnostic testing facilities) that went way beyond implementation of the regs and off into new rulemaking territory without all the process; it was quietly withdrawn once folks had a chance to read it.
The smartest man in health policy, Bob Laszewski, has been telling us for over a year that Part D is a financial boondoggle. Now comes word that the US’ Comptroller General agrees.
Staying in the governmental health policy milieu we now turn to the northeast, where Richard Eskow provides his usual trenchant analysis of health care data, this time of the Massachusetts reform initiative, to illustrate his lack of confidence in the single payer system.
Can’t leave the Commonwealth just yet, as Tom Lynch of Workers Comp Insider examines the reasons why Massachusetts is one of the lowest cost workers compensation states in America for employers while it continues to rank among the top 5 in terms of benefits awarded to injured workers. A success story worth study by such WC disasters as NY.
Continuing the smooth segues, Julie Ferguson of Workers Comp Insider looks at the emerging health literacy crisis and its implications for workers comp.
Hank Stern of InsureBlog is always informative – always fresh, Hank’s position in this post is contrary to the conventional wisdom is that Health Savings Accounts benefit only “the healthy and wealthy.
Not sure I agree with Hank, but I do know that some aspects of consumerism in health care do make sense. That said, the crude nature of today’s CDHP programs likely do more harm than good.
The Wal-mart discount drug model has generated a bit of press, none more insightful than the entry from David Williams of the Health Business blog.
An edition of HWR requires a solid leavening of tech talk. We’ll lead with Matthew Holt, who went to HIMSS; here’s the HWR co-founder’s “gonzo mash-up” assessment of what he saw. (Sounds like Matt’s been channeling Ken Kesey…)
Matt is joined by Tim Gee in today’s tech talk section. Tim’s taken a look at the different strategies of tech companies Microsoft and RedHat, as they confront the industry’s pressures to improve patient safety and reduce costs, pressures which continue to rage as health care vendors struggle to respond but not really change anything.
Roy Poses of Healthcare Renewal truly is the conscience of medical education. In his entry, Roy discusses a medical school dean criticized for signing up for the board of directors of PepsiAmerica. But she seemed to think that her role would be to advise the company about health policy issues, not to take fiduciary responsibility for the operations of the company. Could the apparent mini-epidemic of academic health care leaders who have signed up to be directors of big health care corporations be based on this sort of misunderstanding or rationalization of the role of a corporate director?
Illustrating why the blogosphere is home to research and writing that just can’t be found in the mass media, last year, Fard Johnmar published an eight-part series focusing on race and medicine on his blog Envisioning 2.0. The series featured commentary from NitoMed, the makers of the African American cardiovascular medication BiDil, and host of scientists, epidemiologists and physicians and others. Recently, the series has attracted attention from medical students at the University of New Mexico. They are currently debating the usefulness of using race as a proxy for identifying and treating illness, the health policy implications of race-based medicine and other related subjects.
Rita Schwab is always timely and topical; her entry concerning a recent court decision could be described as a lesson in unintended consequences. This is an interesting case on two levels – one the physician won his West Virginia Supreme Court case granting him the right to be self-insured, and secondly, the court opened hospital Governing Board and Medical Staff Executive Committee meetings to the public under West Virginia law. Should make for some interesting meetings!
And finally, a newbie to HWR has a great post about signs in doctor’s waiting rooms complaining about personal injury attorneys and tort reform. Well done Eric!
Sorry to leave you, dear reader, pleading for more, praying for the next HWR with pent-up pleas for more health care plans, whether they be problematic or polished, positive or pusillanimous, but practical matters of a pecuniary persuasion await your polemicist.