A key cost bending feature of PPACA (Obamacare) is comparative effectiveness research (see http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cer/index.html).
This research is designed to apply statistical, economic and clinical analysis to care and treatment to encourage effective care and block ineffective treatments.
It is highly likely, based on current research, the statisticians will recommend less screening and much less treatment for prostate cancer. As one doc said, "almost all old men die with prostate cancer, almost none of them die from prostate cancer." Screening will likely be focused on younger men and more aggressive forms of the cancer.
With men being somewhat nonchalant about such matters, and prostate cancer being something less than a celebrity telethon issue, it is unlikely there will much of a fuss. Money can be saved and the resulting increased mortality will be slight.
At the same time, current recommendations about breast cancer are suggesting a lot less mammography, and there is an uproar.
Breast cancer hits many women, hits many younger women, and the results are horrifying. The blowback from advocacy groups has been and will be fierce.
So can we get past gender and emotion to become more efficient and effective? Whatever sounds good in the abstract, many of us will go with emotion.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Obama Administration Gets "Tough" With Insurers
DHHS Secretary Sebelius has lambasted the private health insurance industry in a letter to the industry's trade association (I'm not a big friend of health insurance companies, FWIW). From the letter:
"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases."
The issue is premium increases and the cause of the premium increases. Most of us are not in love with insurers, but we should stay connected to reality.
PPACA (Obamacare) requires more lives on some policies and more coverage broadly, so no wonder premiums will be going up in the short and near term (some of us predicted this).
There is little likelihood of bending the cost curve for at least five years, as the various and numerous programs in Obamacare phase it and ramp up. And then, who knows.
Understanding that politicians must be nature take care of politics, this seems a little shrill and over the top.
The official version.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/20100909a.html
"There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases."
The issue is premium increases and the cause of the premium increases. Most of us are not in love with insurers, but we should stay connected to reality.
PPACA (Obamacare) requires more lives on some policies and more coverage broadly, so no wonder premiums will be going up in the short and near term (some of us predicted this).
There is little likelihood of bending the cost curve for at least five years, as the various and numerous programs in Obamacare phase it and ramp up. And then, who knows.
Understanding that politicians must be nature take care of politics, this seems a little shrill and over the top.
The official version.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/20100909a.html
Friday, September 3, 2010
Nursing Shortage
As Labor Day approaches it is a good time to think about health care labor issues, some good news, some bad news.
A phenomena many of us have noticed over the years (hard to exactly quantify though) is that recessions pull nurses back into the labor market. Nurses (about 94% female) often have husband or significant others who lose jobs or hours.
Also, some of the staffing pressure is off at the hospital level because elective procedures are down and that takes pressure off the nursing staffing.
Recessions are not the desired means of correcting the shortage though.
The discussions of shortages go back at 20+ years, and amazingly little progress has been made during that time.
There are some new and expanded programs, but a big problem now is the lack of nursing faculty. Unlike many PhD qualified professors, nursing professors are in big demand for management positions, usually in hospitals and health systems. So we are cannibalizing our own nursing pipeline.
University nursing programs are labor intensive, resource intensive and not nearly as prestigious as producing more MBAs, lawyers and economists.
While universities will get into bidding wars over top flight business, science or law professors, the willingness to play in the nursing salary market seems muted (perhaps if nursing was 94% male???).
The shortage will persist; the average age of RNs is climbing, the boomer nurses are heading for the exit while the boomer patients are becoming seniors, clinical skill requirements are accelerating, tighter reimbursements leave providers with less flexible budgets, and at times up to half of all licensed nurses are not working in direct care nursing - - all which seems to be a perfect storm.
We can send a man to the moon, but we can't figure out how to solve this problem in a country where lots of people need new careers (and yes, lots of people are not suited for nursing). Maybe when we have to shut a lot of hospitals?
A phenomena many of us have noticed over the years (hard to exactly quantify though) is that recessions pull nurses back into the labor market. Nurses (about 94% female) often have husband or significant others who lose jobs or hours.
Also, some of the staffing pressure is off at the hospital level because elective procedures are down and that takes pressure off the nursing staffing.
Recessions are not the desired means of correcting the shortage though.
The discussions of shortages go back at 20+ years, and amazingly little progress has been made during that time.
There are some new and expanded programs, but a big problem now is the lack of nursing faculty. Unlike many PhD qualified professors, nursing professors are in big demand for management positions, usually in hospitals and health systems. So we are cannibalizing our own nursing pipeline.
University nursing programs are labor intensive, resource intensive and not nearly as prestigious as producing more MBAs, lawyers and economists.
While universities will get into bidding wars over top flight business, science or law professors, the willingness to play in the nursing salary market seems muted (perhaps if nursing was 94% male???).
The shortage will persist; the average age of RNs is climbing, the boomer nurses are heading for the exit while the boomer patients are becoming seniors, clinical skill requirements are accelerating, tighter reimbursements leave providers with less flexible budgets, and at times up to half of all licensed nurses are not working in direct care nursing - - all which seems to be a perfect storm.
We can send a man to the moon, but we can't figure out how to solve this problem in a country where lots of people need new careers (and yes, lots of people are not suited for nursing). Maybe when we have to shut a lot of hospitals?
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