April 21, 2009 - Idaho Governor C. L. "Butch" Otter (R) discussed difficult choices during our "troubled times" in his January 12 "State of the State" address. He proposed a 7.5 percent budget cut for the state's Department of Health and Welfare, along with even greater cuts in other state agencies.
State Profile
April 21, 2009 - Since early January, state governors have been discussing health care in their annual "State of the State" addresses, despite not knowing exactly what the federal stimulus package or CHIP reauthorization would look like. Among the 40 speeches made through mid-February, the health policy messages varied in content and tone. The health-related provisions are summarized in an interactive feature.
State Profile
April 21, 2009 - New York Governor David Paterson (D) outlined four key health reform initiatives in his State of the State address on January 7: public coverage expansion, enrollment reforms, private insurance expansion for dependents, and multiple efforts to combat obesity.
State Profile
April 20, 2009 - Implementing Change in Long-Term Care: A Practical Guide to Transformation is a manual for nursing home staff that offers evidence-based recommendations on preparing a nursing home to take the first steps toward clinical and cultural changes, as well as methods to implement and sustain those changes.
Tool
April 15, 2009 - A state employee health plan designated hospitals, and later primary care physician practices, that met certain performance criteria as "preferred" providers, and then gave employees incentives to use them. While this initiative appears to have improved the quality of care, its impact on costs has not yet been evaluated.
Case Study
April 14, 2009 - In 2005, under pressure to improve performance on indicators of financial well-being, patient satisfaction, and clinical quality, St. Mary's Health Center leadership made a deliberate decision to focus on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services process-of-care measures, or "core" measures.
Case Study
April 14, 2009 - Oklahoma Heart Hospital, a for-profit hospital in Oklahoma City, Okla., has consistently demonstrated high adherence to process-of-care or "core" measures and high patient satisfaction.
Case Study
February 24, 2009 - A new online guide from the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program provides state leaders in child health with step-by-step instructions to developing sustainable collaborations of public and private partners that are dedicated to improving the quality of children's health care.
Tool
January 23, 2009 - This case study examines the services offered by the Lillian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute, the palliative care program Meier founded and directs at Mount Sinai Medical Center. It also reviews the outcomes that the Institute, one of the largest academic palliative care programs in the country, has achieved both clinically and financially.
Case Study
January 23, 2009 - Arizona voters narrowly rejected a state constitutional amendment that would have banned laws restricting choice of health plans or mandating that people obtain coverage. The amendment would have been at odds with certain elements of President-elect Obama's health care proposal. Of 1.8 million votes, 50.2 percent voted against, and 49.8 percent voted for, the amendment.
State Profile
January 23, 2009 - Maine voters rejected a beverage tax in November designed to replace the current funding mechanism that supports the Dirigo Health Program.
State Profile
January 23, 2009 - In November, Montana residents overwhelmingly passed Initiative 155, which establishes the Healthy Montana Kids plan to expand and coordinate coverage for uninsured children under Medicaid and SCHIP.
State Profile
December 19, 2008 - Brigham and Women's Hospital is a leading hospital nationally on measures of patient satisfaction.
Case Study
December 19, 2008 - Duke University Hospital leaders say that ensuring patient satisfaction requires both organizational and tactical strategies.
Case Study
December 19, 2008 - Flowers Hospital, a community hospital located in southeast Alabama, climbed from average to exemplary on process-of-care, or "core" measures, across four clinical areas--heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, and surgical infection prevention--in just two years.
Case Study