Stimulus Package Shaping up Optimistically for Health IT
from Healthcare IT News
Details on the economic stimulus package are unfolding optimistically for healthcare IT, according to some of the first draft language available, obtained from those close to the process. A 250-page discussion draft by the House Appropriations Committee includes $2 billion dollars for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, while noting Congress plans to spend $20 billion for healthcare IT as part of the overall economic stimulus package. More

Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority Releases December Advisory
from PR Newswire
Reports show that healthcare providers, patients and their families may not understand the different meanings and consequences of living wills and DNR (do not resuscitate) orders. More than 200 events reported to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority in part show that healthcare providers, patients and their family members may not understand the different meanings and consequences of living wills and DNR (do not resuscitate) orders which may pose patient safety risks according to analysis provided in the 2008 December Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory. Potential patient safety risks related to the misinterpretation of living wills and DNR orders may inadvertently result in the delivery of unwanted care or the withdrawing or withholding of otherwise appropriate care that should have been given to the patient. More

Would Early Opt-ins to Medicare Be a Boost or a Burden?
from The Dallas Morning News
When Robert Barnhouse of Richardson lost his job in October, he tried to hold on to his health insurance but quickly found he couldn't afford the $500 monthly premiums. The 61-year-old engineer dropped the coverage after one month and is now taking his chances. "I'm paying more attention to my diet and exercising more, because I can't get sick," he said. So far, he's avoided any major health care expenses. But without insurance, he's had to postpone the exam and blood tests he schedules at the beginning of each year. More

Health Reform is Coming; Let's Work for a Good Outcome
from American Medical News
A recent worldwide study of physician attitudes revealed that U.S. physicians are by far the unhappiest, compared with physicians in other developed countries. So let's not fear a change in the status quo (about which we're unhappy), or let ideological differences keep us from participating vigorously and enthusiastically in the crafting of a new health care system -- hopefully one that will better serve our patients and give us more joy in our work. More

Home Health Agencies Prepare for Performance Plan
from Crain’s Detroit Business
Several home health agencies in Southeast Michigan are taking steps to boost quality of care in case a home health pay-for-performance program under Medicare becomes a reality. “We've been preparing for this for a couple years. It should improve quality of care,” said Linda Pekar, director of organizational quality for Oak Park-based Visiting Nurses Association of Southeast Michigan. Pekar is talking about the demonstration program being tested in seven states by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid. The seven states are Connecticut, Massachusetts, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and California. More

Health Insurance Options When You are Unemployed
from the Los Angeles Times
For people who've assumed they'll take the option of continuing their employer-based health insurance -- at their own expense -- if they lose their jobs during 2009, it was sobering news. For those who have lost their jobs, it was painfully unsurprising. In a report released earlier this month, researchers found that the average national cost of that coverage (an option known as COBRA, an acronym for the legislation that created the opportunity) eats up 30 percent of unemployment benefits for individual coverage and almost 84 percent for family coverage. More