School-based health centers make a difference

By Laura Rehrmann, President , Group Health Foundation

 

Today I joined Mayor Mike McGinn at West Seattle High School to encourage the community to vote “Yes” on the Families & Education Levy so the City can continue providing successful “wrap around” services, including student health centers, to Seattle’s public school students.

Some 1,748 students made 11,066 visits to the seven health centers that Group Health operates in the 2010 school year. Group Health receives grant funds from Seattle’s Families and Education Levy and provides in-kind resources to operate the health centers.  Continue reading ‘School-based health centers make a difference’

Published on November 2, 2011 in Health Safety. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Performance Matters

By Michael Soman, MD

Only nine Medicare Advantage plans in the country earned 5 stars overall, and Group Health Cooperative’s plan is one of them.

Numbers are the currency of the land—the best way we have to demonstrate accountability and transparency regarding how we take care of people. But over the years our concept of quality has evolved beyond just scores and numbers. Continue reading ‘Performance Matters’

Published on October 27, 2011 in Medicare and Quality Health Care. 0 Comments Tags: .

HHS Releases Final ACO Rules

By Megan Howell

After much anticipation and an outpouring of feedback on the proposed rule released last March, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its final rule on the Accountable Care Medicare Shared Savings Program late last week. This program was created by one of a few key delivery system reform provisions in the health care reform law, to better align financial incentives in Fee-For-Service Medicare to strive for cost savings while protecting and improving quality of care. Provider groups had many concerns with the proposed rule, largely stemming from the lack of flexibility in initial funding that is required to develop a new ACO model and keep it running. The general analysis was that the potential upside offered through the program would not be sufficient to support the development of ACOs in the Medicare Fee-For-Service market – and the potential downside risk too great. Continue reading ‘HHS Releases Final ACO Rules’

Published on October 24, 2011 in Accountable Care Organization, Affordable Care Act, Health Care Reform and Medicare. 0 Comments

If less is more, which health care should be cut?

By Eric Larson, MD, MPH

In a national survey of primary care physicians that the Archives of Internal Medicine published last month, nearly half agreed: Their own patients are getting too much care.

The study drew widespread attention as Americans struggle with health care’s drag on our economy. At Group Health’s Annual Membership Meeting, Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, PhD, said the United States is paying twice as much per capita for health care as other industrialized countries. Yet 15 nations outrank us in quality of care. Clearly, we could do better with less. But how do we decide which care to eliminate? Continue reading ‘If less is more, which health care should be cut?’

Published on October 11, 2011 in health care costs and Health Care Reform. 4 Comments

IOM releases report on the essential health benefits package

By Karen Merrikin, JD

 

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its recommendations for the essential health benefits (EHB) package this morning.  Continue reading ‘IOM releases report on the essential health benefits package’

Published on October 7, 2011 in Affordable Care Act. 2 Comments Tags: .

IOM report on essential health benefits expected this week

By Karen Merrikin, JD

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced that its report on recommended essential health benefits will be released October 7. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to delineate the essential health benefits that must be offered by all carrier participants in the state health insurance exchanges. All health plans must cover these health benefits to be certified and offered in the proposed state health insurance exchanges. In addition, Medicaid state plans must cover these services by 2014. Continue reading ‘IOM report on essential health benefits expected this week’

Published on October 5, 2011 in Affordable Care Act. 0 Comments Tags: .

King County has the data that shows the way

By Scott Armstrong

King County made the recent stunning announcement that it will save $60 million in health care costs in the next two years over earlier projections. The single biggest reason for the savings? Healthier employees.

With seven years of health care cost data to support the report, King County Executive Dow Constantine delivered a treasure trove of information that provides insight into best practices for managing healthcare costs across an organization. The data shows encouraging trends for King County and points at what may be possible nationally to make health care reform work.  Continue reading ‘King County has the data that shows the way’

Published on October 3, 2011 in health care costs and Health Care Reform. 0 Comments Tags: .

Health care’s elusive big idea: Less is more

By Eric Larson, MD, MPH

Americans are drowning in data while starving for transformational ideas. So writes Neal Gabler in his August 13 New York Times piece, “The Elusive Big Idea.”

Think Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, Marshall McLuhan’s “medium is the message,” and Betty Friedan’s “feminine mystique.” Concepts like these let us “get our minds around our existence and attempt to answer the big daunting questions of our lives,” wrote Gabler, of the University of Southern California. Such visionary ideas could once “ignite fires of debate, incite revolutions, and fundamentally change the way we look at and think about the world.”  Continue reading ‘Health care’s elusive big idea: Less is more’

Published on September 9, 2011 in Access to care, Health Care Reform and Research. 0 Comments

IOM report confirms immunizations are safe

By John B. Dunn, MD, MPH, Co-chairman, Immunization Population Management Team, Pediatrics and Preventive Care, Group Health Cooperative, Affiliate Investigator, Group Health Research Institute

Parents’ concern about the safety of the immunizations given to their children has been rising steadily for the past decade-and-more. Although immunization against selected infectious diseases has long been an important element of health care for children – and has, in fact, truly changed the face of illness-in-childhood in sweeping ways – there is a growing concern among some parents that the risks associated with immunization may exceed their substantial benefits. Continue reading ‘IOM report confirms immunizations are safe’

Published on September 6, 2011 in Health Safety, Preventive Care and Research. 1 Comment Tags: .

11th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on individual mandate

By Karen Merrikin, JD

The legal battle over the constitutionality of the health care reform law continues at various levels in the federal court system. This past week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its opinion, deeming the individual mandate requirement of the Accountable Care Act (ACA) unconstitutional. This is in contrast to the 6th Circuit, which upheld the law in its entirety. A ruling from the 4th Circuit is expected shortly. There, two lower court cases came to opposing conclusions; one upheld the individual mandate and one struck it down. Oral arguments in another ACA challenge will be heard in the D.C. Circuit Court in September, and many other cases are pending in the district courts.  Continue reading ’11th Circuit Court of Appeals rules on individual mandate’

Published on September 1, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments