Health Care Access in the News:  Sunday, June 15, 2008
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

WESTERN PA PHYSICIANS GET INCENTIVES TO KEEP DIGITAL RECORDS
Thursday, June 12, 2008
By Luis Fabregas, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"Federal health officials have picked Western Pennsylvania to participate in a project to help small physician practices switch from paper to digital record-keeping. About 100 practices in urban, rural and underserved parts of the region are expected to participate in the project, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced Wednesday."

DOCTORS MISS CULTURAL NEEDS, STUDY SAYS
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
By Kevin Sack, The New York Times

"As researchers ponder growing evidence that blacks have worse outcomes than whites in the treatment of chronic disease, they often theorize that members of minorities suffer disproportionately from poor access to quality care. Now a new study of diabetes patients has found stark racial disparities even among patients treated by the same doctors."

KAISER BACKS MICROSOFT PATIENT-DATA PLAN
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
By Steve Lohr, The New York Times

"The two big technology companies bring the potential to hasten the adoption of electronic health records, which are seen as an important tool in improving the quality of medical care and containing costs. And the Microsoft and Google health offerings give individuals control of their own health records, as well as responsibility for them."

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

HOPE & HEALING: LAYING OUT A GAME PLAN TO RAISE MONEY TO CURE ALS
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By M. Tinsley-Crabb, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Hundreds of people with ALS, their families and caregivers joined together May 11-13 in Washington, D.C., for the 2008 National ALS Advocacy Day and Public Policy Conference. While together, we also held the fifth annual candlelight vigil for ALS awareness."

TEEN WITH ASPERGER'S SYNDROME PREPARES FOR LIFE AFTER GRADUATION
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By Jill Daly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The Squirrel Hill 18-year-old, a recent graduate of Winchester Thurston, knows he has a particular challenge: "Getting used to change." He has Asperger's syndrome, a condition thought to be on the milder end of the autism spectrum."

MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN ALLEGHENY COUNTY SHIFTS TO OUTPATIENTS
Friday, June 13, 2008
By Kris Mamula, Pittsburgh Business Times

"Allegheny County is preparing to receive $22 million in state funding from the shutdown of Mayview State Hospital, the biggest cash infusion for the county's department of human services in 15 years and a bump equivalent to one-fifth of its $110 million budget. But the significance of closing the mental hospital, expected by the end of the year, is far more than financial. Behavioral health experts say it marks a philosophic shift in how a community cares for its mentally ill residents."

PUBLIC HEALTH/HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

SENATE REVERSES COURSE, PASSES SMOKING BAN
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By Brad Bumsted, State Capitol Reporter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"State senators from Allegheny County swallowed hard Tuesday and voted in favor of a statewide smoking ban that doesn't allow the county to have a separate ordinance like Philadelphia's. Approved 41-9 by the Senate, the bill goes to Gov. Ed Rendell, who said he will sign it into law."

US LIFE EXPECTANCY REACHES RECORD
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By The Associated Press, The New York Times

"For the first time, U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years, the government reported Wednesday. The increase is due mainly to falling mortality rates in almost all the leading causes of death... However, the United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span, according to World Health Organization data."

HEALTH CARE POLICY & MARKETPLACE

GOP, DEM HEALTH PLANS DIFFER
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
By Joe Fahy and Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"State Senate Republicans unveiled a health plan yesterday that is similar in some ways to a plan favored by House Democrats and Gov. Ed Rendell but strikingly different on a key issue: providing health care to more uninsured people."

NONPROFIT HEALTH COSTS REFLECT SMALL BUSINESS WOES
Saturday, June 14, 2008
By Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"At a time when groceries and gasoline are getting more and more expensive, workers for a local community services agency learned this week about another challenge: a big increase in their health insurance costs. There were a few gasps at a lunchtime meeting as administrators for two Focus On Renewal groups, the Sto-Rox Neighborhood Corp. and the Sto-Rox Family Health Center, outlined to about 40 employees just how much those costs will be going up."

UPMC TO MOVE SOUTH SIDE HOSPITAL UPTOWN
Friday, June 13, 2008
By Rick Stouffer and Luis Fabregas, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center announced Thursday it will consolidate UPMC South Side into its recently acquired UPMC Mercy property Uptown, spending $75 million to $90 million to relocate services over three to five years. UPMC said the reorganization will expand physical rehabilitation services at Mercy to create "a center of excellence" to treat illnesses that include brain and spinal cord injuries and strokes."

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