Health Care Access in the News: december 04 - december 10, 2006
Consumer Health Coalition (CHC) has highlighted major news headlines and studies related to health care access from the past week. We hope you find this information INTERESTING AND useful!

HEALTH CARE QUALITY

MEDICARE LINKS DOCTORS' PAY TO PRACTICES
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
By Robert Pear, The New York Times

"After years of trying to rein in the runaway cost of the Medicare program, Congress has decided to use a carrot instead of a stick to change doctors’ behavior. To get the money, doctors will have to report how often they provide quality care, as defined by the government. Now, doctors can qualify for a 1.5 percent bonus in the second half of 2007 if they report data on the quality of their care, using measures specified by the government. For example, doctors could be asked to report how often they prescribe a particular drug after a heart attack or how well they control blood pressure in patients with diabetes. With these statistics, Medicare officials say, they will, in the near future, be able to reward doctors who follow clinical guidelines and perhaps penalize those who flout such standards without justification. For several years, Medicare officials have advocated a pay-for-performance system, noting wide regional variations in the practices of hospitals and medical specialists."

'PATIENT-CENTERED CARE' IMPORTANT IN EFFORTS TO MEASURE HEALTH CARE QUALITY, FORUM SPEAKERS SAY
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
By The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"Speakers at a forum hosted by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Commonwealth Fund on Monday said that "patient-centered care" is important in efforts to measure health care quality, CQ HealthBeat reports. At the forum, speakers said that patient-centered care measures can include the level of patient involvement in their health care, the effectiveness of coordination of care among different providers, routine feedback to hospitals, clinical information systems that support high-quality care and publicly available information on patient-centered care. A report recently published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement found that patients who received patient-centered care were less likely to experience complications and death than other patients, according to Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. Davis recommended that CMS include patient-centered care in efforts to link Medicare reimbursements with pay-for-performance measures."

"HEALTH LITERACY - A QUALITY AND PATIENT SAFETY IMPERATIVE"
December 2006
By Vida Foubister, The Commonwealth Fund

"'Health literacy' includes the skills patients need to communicate with providers, read medical information, make decisions about treatments, carry out care regimens, and decide when and how to seek help. Studies have shown that low health literacy, though more prevalent in disadvantaged populations, affects people of all ages and races and varying educational and income levels. A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, which defined health literacy as "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions," found that nearly half of all American adults have limited health literacy. Further, research has consistently shown that health literacy is associated with health care outcomes. "You can't have quality care unless you have health literacy woven throughout the program and the care that's provided," says Linda Johnston Lloyd, M.Ed., senior advisor and health literacy coordinator for the Health Resources and Services Administration."

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

OFF TO COLLEGE ALONE, SHADOWED BY MENTAL ILLNESS
Friday, December 08, 2006
By Lynette Clemetson, The New York Times

"The transition from high school to college, from adolescence to legal adulthood, can be tricky for any teenager, but for the increasing number of young people who arrive on campus with diagnoses of serious mental disorders — and for their parents — the passage can be particularly fraught. Standard struggles with class schedules, roommates, and sexual and social freedom are complicated by decisions about if or when to use campus counseling services, whether or not to take medication and whether to disclose an illness to friends or professors. Keeping a psychiatric disorder under control in an environment often fueled by all-night cram sessions, junk food and heavy drinking is a challenge for even the most motivated students. In addition, the normal separation that goes along with college requires new roles and boundaries with parents, the people who best know the history and contours of their illness."

ADS TARGET STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS AMONG YOUTH
Monday, December 04, 2006
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

"The federal government is launching a $1 million public service campaign beginning today aimed at reducing the stigma surrounding mental illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder. Health agencies say millions of U.S. adults go untreated for mental illnesses because they are too ashamed to tell friends and family. The government's campaign will use public service radio and TV ads to encourage young adults to stand by their peers. Later phases of the campaign will address older people and rural areas. In 2005, nearly 25 million people 18 or older had some type of serious psychological distress — about 11.3% of the adult population, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Of the 13.5 million adults who did not seek treatment, 26% cited as one of their primary reasons the stigma associated with mental illness."

MANY IMMIGRANTS HAVE PROBLEMS WITH ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Monday, December 04, 2006
By The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"According to a report released in 2001 by the Office of the Surgeon General, racial and ethnic minorities often fail to seek mental health treatment because of an inability to speak English and a lack of health insurance. The report noted that 37% of Latinos lack health insurance and that fewer than one in 20 with mental health problems sought treatment from mental health specialists. In addition, the report found that Asian-Pacific Islanders were less likely to seek mental health treatment or discuss mental health problems with friends or relatives than whites.”

PUBLIC HEALTH/HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

AREA DINERS TESTED FOR E. COLI STRAIN
Sunday, December 10, 2006
By Anita Srikameswaran, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Four people in Western Pennsylvania may have become infected with E. coli after eating at Taco Bell restaurants, an Allegheny County health official said yesterday. Health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon said the four went to emergency rooms recently with diarrhea and fever. None required hospitalization. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 62 cases in six states, predominantly in New Jersey and New York, as of Friday."

ALLEGHENY COUNTY COUNCIL OKs NEW BUDGET, TAX STEADY
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
By Anita Srikameswaran, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Allegheny County Council last night approved a 2007 budget that includes increased funding for the Health Department. Department managers recently told council members that public health programs were suffering because funds were being shifted to cover cost overruns in inmate health. In response to the concerns, council "increased the money for the jail overage that we've always had and they've given us about another $500,000 to $600,000 to use within the Health Department," said county health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon. 'We're very appreciative of what they've done.'”

PA SLIPS IN NATIONAL HEALTH RANKINGS
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
By The Associated Press, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"An annual report released today put Minnesota at the top of its health rankings for the fourth straight year, while concluding that the nation's health improved slightly. Pennsylvania was ranked at No. 28, down from 25 last year. The report is based on factors such as personal behaviors, the environment people live and work in, decisions by public and elected officials, and the quality of medical care delivered by health professionals. The report was produced in partnership with the American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention.”

HEALTH CARE POLICY & MARKETPLACE

CONGRESS LOOKS TOWARD SCHIP REAUTHORIZATION AND POSSIBLE EXPANSION
Saturday, December 09, 2006
By Serafini, National Journal

"Congressional Democrats, in what many see as "the only opportunity before the 2008 presidential election to inch closer to their goal of ensuring universal health care," will try to expand health care coverage to more uninsured children and possibly more adults through the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), reports the National Journal. However, they face obstacles from President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request last February, which proposed freezing federal allotments to the federal-state program at about $5 billion for each of the next 10 years. With 17 states expecting to face federal funding shortfalls in their programs in fiscal 2007, placing 630,000 SCHIP participants at risk of losing coverage, Democrats argue that 'a budget freeze would be devastating for children.'"

MEDICARE DRUG PLANS REQUIRE STUDY: CHOOSING A PROGRAM NOT SO EASY
Thursday, December 07, 2006
By Lorinda Bullock (NNPA), The New Pittsburgh Courier

"Open enrollment has taken on a more literal meaning for the Medicare Prescription Drug program, now in its second year. Unlike last year, everyone on Medicare-regardless of income, health status or the kinds of drugs taken-is now eligible to change their plan or keep the one they have. But Medicare beneficiaries only have from now until Dec. 31 to choose from a number of plans during the open enrollment period that started last week. For the people who stick with their plans, they do not have to re-enroll or fill out new paperwork, but the AARP suggests they contact their current drug plan provider to make sure the plan hasn’t changed. This enrollment season the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is hoping to add about 3 million more eligible people to the Medicare part D program."

PA SUPREME COURT RULING REVIVES CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT AGAIN INDEPENDENCE BLUE CROSS
Monday, December 04, 2006
By Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"Advocacy groups will be able to proceed with a class-action lawsuit alleging that Philadelphia-based insurer Independence Blue Cross keeps excessive surplus funds after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned a commonwealth Court decision that the courts had no jurisdiction in the case, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. The lawsuit accuses Independence Blue Cross of having an excessive surplus in 2001 and using the money for purposes conflicting with its not-for-profit status, including acquisitions and investments in for-profit subsidiaries. Michael Campbell, director of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, said that "the principle contained in the [Pennsylvania] Supreme Court ruling against Independence Blue Cross would apply to the other" four Blue Cross insurers in the state, adding, 'Whether the state insurance commissioner has absolute power when it comes to rates and surpluses held has been decided by the Supreme Court, and by a 5-1 vote it said no.'"

THE UNINSURED AND THE AFFORDABILITY OF HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
Thursday, November 30, 2006
By Lisa Dubay, John Holahan, Allison Cook, Health Affairs

"The 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS) is used to estimate what share of uninsured Americans are eligible for coverage through Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), need financial assistance to purchase health insurance, and are likely able to afford insurance. Twenty-five percent are eligible for public coverage, 56 percent need assistance, and 20 percent can afford coverage. This varies across uninsured populations: 74 percent of children are eligible for public programs, and 57 percent and 69 percent of parents and childless adults, respectively, need assistance. A central conclusion is that a large percentage of uninsured adults need help purchasing health insurance."

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