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Can for-profit health insurance companies be trusted to take care of the vulnerable, expensive patients who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid? In Arizona, a state that has been known to resist federal health programs, private companies have been doing just that for many years.
In a KHN interview, David Hebert, CEO of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, says lawmakers should allow advanced practice nurses to practice more independently to make sure the nation’s 27 million newly covered will be able to get timely and quality care.
Although Medicare and Medicaid will be largely unscathed in the March 1 sequestration, other health-related efforts including medical research, mental health treatments and drug approvals face reductions.
The kiosks are part of a technology boom targeted at consumers seeking instant health data and cheaper, more convenient care.
The health law specifies that birth control is a covered service in many plans ending the burden of a high up-front cost for IUDs and hormonal implants.
STAR, a program designed to offer cancer survivors rehabilitation therapy after treatment, is growing, as is research showing that many of the quality-of-life problems cancer survivors have are physical and can be helped with rehab.
“We’re in the midst of a mania right now,” Dr. Scot Silverstein warns, speaking of the race to adopt electronic health records. “We know it causes harm, and we don’t even know the level of magnitude. That statement alone should be the basis for the greatest of caution and slowing down.”
Friday deadline passes and states largely bypass the option to work with the federal government in setting up new online health insurance marketplaces that open for business Oct. 1.
The Affordable Care Act will usher at least seven million more Americans into Medicaid next year, but the question of whether enough doctors will be there to welcome them is keeping some state health policymakers up at night.
Ex-cop-turned-Scripps Health CEO Chris Van Gorder roots out ‘unnecessary variation’ to make care more cost-effective.
