Call for Safe Medicine at the State Capitol - CALPIRG
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It seems likely that the Obama administration and Congress will spend a significant amount on health IT by attaching it as a first-order priority to the fiscal stimulus package. We take the President-elect at his word when he recently said:
“...we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the Internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.” (December, 6, 2008)
I doubt anyone would disagree with the statement that America’s health care costs are too high, continue to grow at an unsustainable rate, and reform is critical to control costs, get everyone covered, and improve quality.
In the wake of the election, I see one positive and magnanimous press release after another coming from the health care special interests. The press is full of daily stories touting the coming health care reform efforts as different this time. The stakeholders understand things are different, know we have to do something, and are ready to cooperate, goes the reasoning.
I have been blogging and twittering from the World Health Innovation and Technology conference this week while waiting to present today. The keynote speaker before me was Scott McNealy, the Chairman and founder of Sun Microsystems. He has a long and storied history with Sun, and a well earned reputation as the “human quote machine."
He delivered.
His talk started with several examples of his health care experience (long time user as a hockey player and father of four boys) and business experience had so many corollaries. The fight for standards. The fight for common interfaces. The fight for privacy and security. The find for high quality, low cost, and transparency.
The New York Times published a story this month about one of the biggest medical trials ever organized by the federal government, a study that showed that the newest, most expensive drugs used to treat high blood pressure (a.k.a. hypertension) work no better than inexpensive diuretics—water pills that flush excess fluid and salt from the body. Moreover, the research revealed that the pricier drugs increase the risk of heart failure and stroke.
The Institute of Medicine just released its long-awaited report on trainee duty hours. It is well researched and balanced, and its recommendations appropriately reflect what we know vs. what we believe. Now the fun begins.
Let’s start with a little background, some of it drawn from my book Understanding Patient Safety:
Let’s be honest. Traditional resident schedules – on call every third night, staying up for 48 hours in a row, and working 120 hours per week – were both inhumane and immoral.
At least 40 health bloggers plan to post a notice about Engage With Grace: The One Slide Project this Thanksgiving weekend. The Health Care Blog thanks them for their support.
Matthew and Alexandra Drane, CEO of Eliza Corp., came up with the idea after discovering they shared a similar interest in improving end-of-life care. Watch the video below to learn more about Alex's sister-in-law's end-of-life journey that inspired this campaign.
Several stories in today's papers make it clear that the atmosphere for health reform today truly is different than when the Clinton Administration took over in the 1990s.
Here's the bullet points in support of that thesis:
Here's an attempt to recover from two mistakes yesterday. My post on our dismal prospects for real health care reform prompted a couple readers - thanks to Hal Andrews and Fred Goldstein - to take me to task for suggesting that lobbying ought to be abolished.
And Barry Passett - who was a lot closer to the events in question than I was - pointed out that I misstated the reason that the Clinton's reform effort was killed, and in doing so over-simplified the issue.
Max Baucus will be a key player in the health care debate the next two years. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee he has jurisdiction on many of the key issues including Medicare and provider payment reform.
He is also a leader in the true bipartisan spirit--something crucial to actually getting reform done.
Yesterday, he released a 98-page white paper, "Call to Action--Health Reform 2009."
Reading the executive summary, which given the news stories I have read is about all the press has looked at, the Baucus outline is pretty much Barack Obama's health reform plan. Obama's campaign health plan is 18 pages long and Baucus has tried to take it a distance further with 80 more pages.
