By Dr. Jaan Sidorov

First Posted at Disease Management Care Blog on 5/14/2013

Dr. Jaan Sidorov, host of Disease Management Care Blog

Dr. Jaan Sidorov, host of Disease Management Care Blog

Kudos to JAMA for tackling what the Disease Management Care Blog has been saying for years: now that the Washington DC’s camel nose is under the tent, there is no way health insurance coverage – and the care it pays for – isn’t going to become politicized.

That’s the bigger issue in this just-published article by Steven Wolf and Doug Campos-Outcalt. They’re focusing on the political pressure that is being brought to bear on US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). As readers may recall, the Affordable Care Act requires health insurers to fully cover screening services that are deemed effective by the USPSTF. Drs. Wolf and Campos-Outcalt point out that politics rudely intruded on the USPSTF’s determination that the evidence supporting mammography for women under age 50 years was lacking. The resulting firestorm not only prompted Congress to not only waive the USPHSTF recommendation, but led some of its members to question the Task Force’s integrity. [click to continue…]

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By David Harlow

First Posted at HealthBlawg on 5/19/2013

David Harlow, host of HealthBlawg

David Harlow, host of HealthBlawg

When CMS recently released hospital chargemaster and payment data for the 100 hospital codes most frequently billed to Medicare, there was much written and said about the significance of the data release.

Some found this to be significant; others (including your humble HealthBlawger), not so much.

Leonard Kish summed up and addressed the critiques of the value of the CMS open data, and others whose judgment I also respect found that the release was overall a good thing. Gilles Frydman, for one, in a listserv exchange, opined that the release was a net positive because it thrust the irrationality of hospital pricing into the public eye, and that “[i]f enough people get angry, a public push for more transparency will follow.”

I can accept the proposition that data will be valued differently by different parties. However, I want to throw something else into the mix: We are collectively trying to move away from fee-for-service medicine. As the saying goes: the future is already here; it just isn’t evenly distributed. Some are further down the path than others. I think that our time and effort is better spent on ensuring that value-based purchasing systems are up and running, rather than on improving the pricing transparency of FFS medicine. [click to continue…]

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There’s No Such Thing as Schizophrenia? Really?

May 19, 2013

By Rhona Finkel First Posted at HealthWorks Collective on 5/19/2013 On Monday, the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) is going public with their statement about mental illness (which is a wee bit confusing, as I already know what they’re going to say, and if I know it, it’s fair to say at least a few other [...]

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Vitamin D screening: few pros, many cons

May 19, 2013

By Dr. Kenny Lin First Posted at Common Sense Family Doctor on 5/18/2013 The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently announced its intent to review the evidence and issue recommendations about screening for vitamin D deficiency, after finding insufficient evidence to recommend routine supplementation for the prevention of fractures in adults. According to a 2009 review published in American Family [...]

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Angelina and Abercrombie: connecting the dots for healthy body image

May 18, 2013

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn First Posted at Health Populi on 5/17/2013 This has been a week of shocking contrasts for women’s body image: from the triumphant, empowering public health role model of Angelina Jolie, whose op-ed column, My Medical Choice, appeared in the New York Times on May 14th, to the marketing message snafu of Abercrombie & Fitch. First, the [...]

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Declining Trend? Look a little closer

May 18, 2013

By Thomas Emerick First Posted at Cracking Health Costs on 5/14/2013 An Op/Ed in the WSJ describes how “American health-care spending appears to be slowing down.”  Of course much or most of the decline in trend is caused by the weak economic conditions today. Some writers are saying this may be part of an underlying [...]

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High Quality, Low Cost HealthCare Video Interview Series: Dr. Joseph Valenti Talks About The Physicians Foundation

May 18, 2013

By Joan Justice First Posted at HealthWorks Collective on 5/14/2013 Last week we heard Ivana Schnur tell us about Sense.ly and the remote assessment hub that diagnoses and treats and helps those with post-discharge activities.  This week, Dr. Joseph Valenti, a practising physician in Texas, talks about The Physicians Foundation, an non-for-profit organization founded in 2003 [...]

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Why it is called the Affordable Care Act?

May 18, 2013

By Paul Levy First Posted at Not Running a Hospital on 5/18/2013 Sometimes when something is right in front of you, you don’t see it. A friend who serves on a Boston hospital board writes: Great cover story in the New York Times today on how the new private owners of Bayonne Hospital made it [...]

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Population Health Must Include Social Determinants: The Approach in the Patient Centered Medical Home

May 17, 2013

By Dr. Jaan Sidorov First Posted at Disease Management Care Blog on 5/16/2013 The Disease Management Care Blog’s primary care colleagues are undoubtedly aware of how “social determinants” can undermine the best care planning. So, if you’re going to rely on the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) to increase health care quality and reduce costs, [...]

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The physician-consumer health IT chasm: most doctors lagging in online patient support tools

May 17, 2013

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn First Posted at Health Populi on 5/16/2013 In the long-run, health information technology (HIT) will improve the quality of health care, according to 73% of U.S. physicians. However, about the same number (7 in 10 physicians) believe that the ROI on health IT is inflated and that implementing EHRs will cost more, [...]

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