Health Care Access in the News:  March 26 - April 1, 2007
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

PROBLEMS WITH PATIENT COMMUNICATION INCREASE RISK FOR INJURY, DEATH
Monday, March 26, 2007
By Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"Problems with communication between patients and health care providers can increase risk for injury or death for those who require medical care, according to a report recently released by the Joint Commission, USA Today reports. The report found that cultural and language barriers, as well as low literacy skills among patients, can affect communication between patients and providers. According to the report, "When literacy collides with health care, the issue of health literacy -- defined 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 -- begins to cast a long patient safety shadow." The report added that 'even those who are most proficient at using text and numbers may be compromised in the understanding of health care information when they are challenged by sickness and feelings of vulnerability.'"

ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

DOCTORS BAFFLED BY PATIENTS NOT TAKING PRESCRIPTIONS
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Rita Rubin, USA Today

"Former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop often is quoted as saying, "Drugs don't work in patients who don't take them." Yet, study after study shows that in the USA and other developed countries, only about half of people with chronic health conditions continue to take medication as directed. Doctors say the problem cuts across all socioeconomic groups, and the problem often goes unrecognized. Reasons for this lack of adherence - the term doctors use - are complex, and quick fixes are few. Not surprisingly, patients with chronic conditions who quit taking their medicine don't fare as well as patients who take their pills religiously."

HOUSE COMMITTEE HOLDS HEARINGS ON MENTAL HEALTH PARITY
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"Lawmakers and witnesses on Tuesday at a House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing discussed the costs of competing legislation in the House and Senate that would require insurers to cover mental health care at the same level as physical health care, CQ HealthBeat reports. The House mental health parity bill (HR 1424), co-sponsored by Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), would require equal coverage to be provided for conditions listed in the DSM-IV, the manual of mental disorders for the mental health profession. Subcommittee chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) also at the hearing on Tuesday said the panel soon might mark up separate legislation (HR 1663) that would require mental health parity in Medicare (Reichard , CQ HealthBeat, 3/27). The bill would reduce the copayment for outpatient mental health benefits from 50% to 20%, which is the rate charged for most physical health services. It also would eliminate a 190-day limit on inpatient mental health treatment (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/27)."

PUBLIC HEALTH/HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

SCIENTISTS HOPE VIGILANCE STYMIES AVIAN FLU MUTATIONS
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
By Donald McNeil, The New York Times

"Just exactly what is the bird flu virus doing? The virus, H5N1, which was first isolated in humans in 1997, has not started a pandemic in a full decade of trying, so a few flu experts think it never will. But the mainstream view is less optimistic. Viruses mutate constantly, many experts point out. And when one has already acquired the ability to jump species, occasionally spread from human to human and kill 60 percent of the people who catch it, it is far too early to dismiss it. Today’s H5N1 flu is probably changing more slowly, because health officials have been vigilant about attacking clusters of cases, which presumably wipes out the most dangerous strains. Whenever several human cases appear, even in remote villages in Indonesia or Egypt, local officials and World Health Organization teams move in to kill all the local poultry and dose all the humans with antiviral drugs — the so-called Tamiflu blanket strategy. Each stifled outbreak robs the virus of the chance to carom wildly through dozens of human hosts as it does in a flock of chickens or ducks. That fends off what virologists most fear: gene-swapping in people infected with both human and avian flu."

STUDY SAYS JUNK FOOD STILL DOMINATES YOUTH TV
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Elizabeth Olson, The New York Times

"For years, health officials have warned that bombarding children with junk food commercials has contributed to the problem of childhood obesity. Food conglomerates, eager to fend off federal regulation, have made various commitments to improve, including a pledge in December to meet goals for promoting fitness and healthier foods. The Kaiser Family Foundation released a study yesterday that it said provides a way to measure the companies’ progress. The foundation, a nonprofit group that focuses on health care issues, found that 50 percent of ad time on children’s shows is devoted to food. Among the ads aimed at children and teenagers, 72 percent are for candy, snacks, sugary cereals or fast food. Growing awareness of childhood obesity has galvanized health-related groups to press big food marketers to cut back on junk food advertising to children."

HEALTH CARE POLICY & MARKETPLACE

TOP PA HEALTH INSURERS MERGING
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The state's two biggest health care insurers, Pittsburgh-based Highmark Inc. and Philadelphia-based Independence Blue Cross, are joining forces, creating one of the biggest health insurers in the country. The merger of the two nonprofit giants, which together control more than 50 percent of the state's insurance market, was unveiled yesterday but was two years in the making, officials said. The new company will operate dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, executives said. The potential merger of the two companies has been talked about for years, sparking concerns among industry observers that the considerable clout of the combined company would further diminish competition in Pennsylvania and lead to higher insurance premiums for employers and consumers. Concerned about the potential impact on competition, the state Senate yesterday approved a bill that would give the Insurance Department more power over mergers involving nonprofit health care insurers like Highmark and Independence Blue. The department, which helped draft the bill, already regulates Highmark and Independence Blue subsidiary companies, but the law currently exempts holding companies from state scrutiny."

FINANCES OF STATE HOSPITALS IMPROVE
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By Joann Loviglio, The Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The financial picture is looking brighter for most of the state's general hospitals, but many facilities in smaller communities and rural areas continue to struggle, according to a state report being released today. The improved finances are helping to spur economic growth and ensure continued access to health care, said Carolyn Scanlan, president of the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania. However, not all of the news was good at the 170 hospitals included in the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council's tally. Fifty-five hospitals -- nearly a third of the state's total and mainly in rural areas, where they were the main source of care in their communities -- reported negative operating margins for 2006. Still, the overall percentage of hospitals posting negative margins has been falling, as nearly half the state's hospitals posted losses just three years ago."

FEDS WANT A CHECK-UP FOR UPMC, MERCY DEAL
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
By Luis Fabregas, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

"Federal regulators have asked the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for more information about its proposed merger with Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh because they want to examine in greater detail the competitive implications of the deal, UPMC officials said Tuesday. The tougher-than-anticipated scrutiny has pushed back state and federal approvals of the $120 million merger, which was announced in September. Officials had expected to finalize the deal late last year. The possibility of increased costs and limited choice for patients is at the heart of a campaign by West Penn Allegheny Health System, UPMC's chief rival, to block the merger."

EXPANDED HEATLH PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN CAUSES CLASH
Sunday, April 01, 2007
By Robert Pear, The New York Times

"The Bush administration says it will strenuously resist Democratic plans for a threefold expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, ensuring a clash with Congress over the most important health care legislation being considered this year. Administration officials said that much of the new government coverage proposed by Democrats would simply replace private insurance, and they expressed concern about a sharp increase in the proportion of children covered by public programs in the last decade. Democrats want to expand the children’s health program as a first step to universal coverage, a goal endorsed by all the party’s major candidates for president."

LOW-INCOME, MINORITY PATIENTS FACE SEVERAL BARRIERS TO DENTAL CARE
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
By Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report

"The Washington Post on Tuesday examined how the recent death of a 12-year-old Washington, D.C.-area boy "is drawing renewed attention to the barriers to oral health care facing the nation's poor" and minority populations. The boy, Deamonte Driver, was black, homeless and had trouble finding a dentist who would accept his family's Medicaid coverage, the Post reports. Driver died after an infection that started in his tooth spread to his brain. According to the 2006 National Survey of Children's Health, which was released by HHS, white children overall have better oral health than black and Hispanic children. In addition, the report linked good oral health with good overall health. Children who are enrolled in Medicaid face several barriers to dental care, including limited English proficiency, low reimbursement rates for providers, bureaucracy and lack of transportation, according to the Post. Poor and underserved patients seeking dental care generally can obtain services through clinics."

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