Two experts want to change hospital care in a way that may well rank as both the most commonsensical and most hopeless health reform proposal ever.
Jun 28, 2011
Newt Gingrich's relationship with the health policy community, which has been a critical component of his climb back to political prominence, appears to have been more rebranding than reinvention.
May 13, 2011
When writing the final ACO rules, CMS has the chance to spin the dross of the current regulations into something of genuine value to providers, even if it’s not quite Rumpelstiltskin-quality gold. If the feds fail, it is all of us, not just those on Medicare program, who could live unhappily ever after.
Apr 19, 2011
Although cynics may claim conservative credentials, their view of government is really nothing more than a quarrel about its cost. It brings to mind Oscar Wilde's immortal phrase, "The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
Mar 06, 2011
The launch of Medicare's Physician Compare website should have been a watershed event in the long campaign for health care transparency and patient empowerment. But, so far, it hasn't been.
Jan 27, 2011
A good story involves drama and conflict. It's a great story when a federal judge with Republican ties nixing the president's achievement in ensuring access to care for all. But a couple of reports about hospitals avoidably killing tens of thousands of Americans once they have that access to care apparently has little, if any, drama at all.
Dec 22, 2010
Come with me to the land of happy health reform. It is a place where Republicans and Democrats find common ground, a place where physicians, hospitals and health insurers sit together as partners, a place where criticism is respectful, not rancorous. It is the world of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
Oct 14, 2010
Twenty-seven years ago, President Ronald Reagan and a Congress split between Republican and Democratic control agreed to a radical new payment scheme for Medicare. The resulting legislation trimmed billions of dollars from the federal budget and caused medical inflation to plummet, yet still maintained quality of care.
Feb 16, 2010
Perhaps the political and media elite shouldn’t wait for an impending presidential election to pay attention to what Iowa has to say.
Nov 24, 2009
What the uninsured are missing, plain and simple, is a group of individuals with the passion to organize them around the issue.
Sep 03, 2009