Viewpoints: Can New Medicare Pay Improve Quality?; Kyle Bass’ Patent Challenges

Dallas Morning News: Congress Makes An Amicable Repeal Of Medicare Formula
Under the new law, doctors treating Medicare patients will get half a percent raises for each of the next five years. Most physicians are expected to use the time to transition to a payment model moving from fee-for-service to one that rewards value over volume in care delivery. Between 2020 and 2025, the amount they’re paid will be tied to performance. ... [Rep. Michael] Burgess is less enthusiastic than the president about moving physicians away from traditional fee-for-service payments, and made sure the law keeps that option available. “It’s impossible to know at this point, but of those who select an alternative payment model, where you are paying for value over volume, there may be savings,” he said. “To date, the data are not all that encouraging.” (Jim Landers, 4/27)

Boston Globe: Patent Crusade Benefits Whom?
Is it possible that an aggressive hedge fund manager could be out to make the world a better place for patients who depend on crazy-expensive medication to battle serious illnesses? Don’t be ridiculous. The hedge fund manager in question is Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital Management in Dallas. Bass has been making waves lately by challenging the patents that drug and biotech companies hold for some of their most important and lucrative medicines. ... So how does that work? Bass doesn’t talk about it (I got only an e-mailed copy of his company’s statement on the subject) but stock analysts who follow the drug industry believe Hayman Capital attempts to drive the company’s stock price down with the patent challenge and profit on that decline. (Steven Syre, 4/28)

The New York Times' The Upshot: Federal Push For Privacy Hampers Addiction Research And Care
Researchers who want to study Medicare or Medicaid patients with substance-use disorders — and illnesses disproportionately affecting them like H.I.V. and hepatitis C — are, at best, working with biased data. At worst, they’re flying blind. That’s because agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, without public notice and because of patient privacy concerns, decided in 2013 to remove researchers’ access to certain types of Medicare and Medicaid data. (Austin Frakt, 4/27)

Bloomberg: Obamacare, Assessed
No single statistic can cover all of [the federal health law's] many aspects. But there are some data sources than can shed some light. It’s helpful to step back from the day-to-day partisan battle and recall the sweeping goals of the law: to give more people health insurance while reshaping a medical system that spends more and delivers less than that of any other wealthy country. (Alex Wayne, 4/27)

Tampa Bay Times: Why The Florida House Opposes Medicaid Expansion
We oppose expanding Medicaid because it is a broken system with poor health outcomes, high inflation, unseverable federal strings, and no incentive for personal responsibility for those who are able to provide for themselves. Under current law, Florida provides for our most vulnerable: low-income children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled people. ... Those who claim we should expand Medicaid to get Florida's money back should note that we already receive over $15 billion more each year than we send to Washington. It's deficit spending. The national debt burden today is $145,000 per household. Medicaid expansion would not be financed with the hard-earned dollars we have already sent to Washington — it would be financed by mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's future. (Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, 4/28)

Modern Healthcare: Rating A Politician's Claim That Medicaid Kills
One of Florida's most powerful Republicans reportedly is using the results of a narrow study focusing on surgical outcomes to insinuate that extending Medicaid to more Americans increases their chances of dying. Rep. Richard Corcoran is leading the battle in Florida to block a bill approved by the GOP-led state Senate to expand Medicaid to low-income adults. ... when his constituents email him about the expansion issue, PolitiFact Florida reported, Corcoran sends this reply: "The largest national study, conducted by the University of Virginia, found that Medicaid patients were 97% more likely to die than those with private insurance." PolitiFact Florida rated Corcoran's statement to his constituents as “mostly false.” “Mostly false” seems charitable. (Harris Meyer, 4/27)

Tampa Bay Times: This Is A Pivotal Time For Tallahassee Lawmakers
The Senate sees the budget as inseparable from the questions of whether to expand Medicaid and how to help hospitals, who face the loss of a federal program that helps pay for the cost of treating the poor. The House views the budget and those health care questions as completely separate, which suggests that the House would never agree to an extended or special session where Medicaid expansion is on the agenda. ... Something's got to give. It will. It always does in Tallahassee, because time is running out. (Steve Bousquet, 4/27)

Alaska Dispatch News: When You Do The Homework, Medicaid Expansion Makes Sense For Alaska
As a guest on the Glen Biegel show during my campaign for lieutenant governor, I was surprised by the certainty and conviction of callers that described Medicaid expansion as “welfare” and thought that improving health care for 40,000 Alaskans was somehow “taking away their dignity.” My dad’s top logging salary was $26,000 a year and he spent a considerable sum of money on catastrophic high-deductible insurance. Health care shouldn’t be treated as a luxury item that is not deserved by Alaskans that work hard but don’t make a lot of money. We will actually be honoring the dignity of our neighbors when we improve the quality of life and the health of 40,000 Alaskans. (Bob Williams, 4/27)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: How Obamacare Is Helping Fix A Problem With Mammograms In Bucks County
There’s a big problem with mammograms in Bucks County. Four out of every ten women who should be getting a yearly mammogram aren’t. They’re forgoing a chance to detect a serious health problem early on, when it’s easier to take care of and recover from. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) helped bring this problem to the attention of hospitals there. Now they are working together, through their long-standing participation in the Bucks County Health Improvement Partnership, to do something about it. (Andy Carter, 4/27)

Boston Globe: A United Front In The Opioid Battle
Last month, one North Shore community was rattled by the news of six heroin overdoses, three of those resulting in death, in just 48 hours. Sadly, this is just more evidence indicating that we are in the midst of an opioid epidemic. The numbers are staggering. Figures that will be released Tuesday estimate there were 1,008 deaths from opioid overdoses in the Bay State in 2014, a 33 percent jump from 2012. Opioids kill more people in Massachusetts than car accidents and guns combined. ... The prescription opioid and heroin epidemic requires coordinated and comprehensive action from federal, state, and local leaders. It requires multi-faceted efforts in the area of prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery — and a dedicated focus on public awareness and education. (U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia M. Burwell, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker and Mass. Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders, 4/28)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: The Scientific Consensus On Guns
I decided to determine objectively, through polling, whether there was scientific consensus on firearms. What I found won’t please the National Rifle Association. ... it’s possible to find researchers who side with the NRA in believing that guns make our society safer, rather than more dangerous. As I’ve shown, however, they’re in the minority. Scientific consensus isn’t always right, but it’s our best guide to understanding the world. Can reporters please stop pretending that scientists, like politicians, are evenly divided on guns? We’re not. (David Hemenway, 4/27)