Americans Doubt Health Care Reform Will Improve Quality, Cost
from Health Leaders Media
Most Americans are satisfied with the status quo for their own healthcare and are doubtful that reforming the system will create affordable or better quality medical care, according to a Thomson Reuters study released Aug. 25. More

The High-Tech Hospital of the Future
from U.S. News & World Report
The investment hospitals are making in change has basically two goals: to improve clinical care and slash error rates, and to reduce patient stress, encouraging healing. Ironically, one of the most anticipated developments is that technology will allow hospitals to do a better job of keeping people out of them. More

WHO Predicts 'Explosion' of Swine Flu Cases
from the Denver Post
The global spread of swine flu will endanger more lives as it speeds up in the coming months and governments must boost preparations for a swift response to a coming "explosion" of cases, the World Health Organization said Friday. Many countries could see swine flu cases double every three to four days for several months until peak transmission is reached, once cold weather returns to the northern hemisphere, said WHO's Western Pacific director, Shin Young-soo. More

New Jersey Hospitals to Pay Doctors for Savings
from LoHud.com
A dozen New Jersey hospitals are about to conduct a major experiment in a new way to encourage doctors to cut costs. The three-year Medicare program will allow hospitals to pay doctors for saving them money. More

Solving the Medicare Payment Structure Riddle
from The Hill’s Pundits Blog
The New England Journal of Medicine released an article this week, "Building a Bridge from Fragmentation to Accountability -- The Prometheus Payment Model," which attempts to solve perhaps the most vexing problem in healthcare: How do you change the payment structure in Medicare to better incentivize healthier outcomes, while reducing costs? The current fee-for-service structure in Medicare simply encourages more tests and procedures without the guarantee or evidence these steps are in the patient’s best interest. More

Medicare Reform's First Step: Revise Physician Pay Formula
from American Medical News
There are many aspects of the Medicare physician payment formula that are unfair to doctors and patients. But the Obama administration recently took a big step toward correcting one of the more egregious inequities. More

Many Visits to ER Not Urgent
from the Abilene Reporter-News
A hospital’s emergency department the ER is a place most don’t want to visit, yet collectively about 120 million times a year, some visit the ER more frequently than others. Only about a quarter of us go even once in a given year. But the role of the emergency department in our health-care lives varies greatly depending upon our age, our health status and our insurance coverage, or lack of it, among other things, researchers are finding. More