Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, has introduced legislation he said would help make long-term care more affordable and accessible for older Americans and individuals with disabilities. "This legislation would expand access to health care services, create a system that promotes home- and community-based care, empower more individuals to fully participate in community life, and create incentives to help people afford the lifestyle they've worked so hard to achieve long into retirement," Grassley said in a statement. Senate Democrats Evan Bayh of Indiana and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York are co-sponsoring the bill (S 1602). Read more »
Fifty-seven health plans have agreed to adopt new care management standards for encouraging wellness and prevention among members, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced. Over the next few months, NCQA, a private non-profit organization that accredits healthcare organizations, will survey the health plans to assess their efforts in prevention, disease management, and complex case management. NCQA president Margaret E. O'Kane expects most health plans will act on the ideas behind the standards in five years. Read more »
About 8.4 million children are not covered by health care insurance—about 2 million fewer than in 1998, according to a report by the Urban Institute and the University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center. But 70 percent of uninsured children eligible for public programs such as Medicaid or State Children's Health Insurance Program are not enrolled, according to the report, released as part of a star-studded launch of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's sixth annual Covering Kids and Families Back to School Campaign. The report also says that a third of the uninsured children had no medical care in 2003. Read more »
The National Quality Forum has endorsed a set of standardized measures for gauging and publicly reporting the quality of physician care delivered in outpatient settings, the group announced. The voluntary standards represent the consensus of more than 260 health care providers, consumer groups, professional associations, purchasers, federal agencies, and research and quality improvement organizations. The standards could serve as tools to be used in the "pay-for-performance" movement on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers and health policy experts are eager to tie the level of provider payment to the quality of service provided. Read more »
Creating a "model" national health information network would require $156 billion in capital investment and $48 billion in annual operating costs over the next five years, according to a study. The study renews the debate over how much the federal government should contribute toward those costs. National Health Information Technology Coordinator David Brailer was among the panel of experts that compiled the estimates. Brailer supported the Department of Health and Human Services' funding of $86.5 million in fiscal 2005 and the administration's $125 million request for fiscal 2006 to create a nationwide "health IT" network. The study was funded jointly by the Harvard Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement and The Commonwealth Fund. Read more »