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Patients Are The Sun: The Imperative For Consumer Engagement In Transforming Health Care

On January 15, Community Catalyst , a national consumer health advocacy organization, launched its Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C. The event drew more than 150 leaders in health care...

Published Thu, Feb 02 2016 2:17 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Consumers, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Quality, Medicaid, Innovation, Aging, Health Philanthropy, GrantWatch, Health Care Delivery, Organization and Delivery, Costs and Spending, Medicaid and CHIP, Equity and Disparities, health equity

An Interview With George Halvorson: The Kaiser Permanente Renaissance, And Health Reform’s Unfinished Business

For decades, health policymakers considered Kaiser Permanente the lode star of delivery system reform. Yet by the end of 1999, the nation’s oldest and largest group model HMO had experienced almost three years of significant operating losses, the first...

Published Tue, Sep 09 2014 10:44 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Public Health, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Physicians, Health IT, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Quality, Disparities, Medicaid, Innovation, Health Care Delivery, Business of Health Care

The 125 Percent Solution: Fixing Variations In Health Care Prices

Summer vacation’s finally here. You’re strolling along the beach, not a care in the world when – ouch – you step on a piece of broken glass and need a few stitches at the local hospital. Such routine procedures are painless enough, but depending on where...

Published Tue, Aug 08 2014 9:00 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Physicians, Health Care Costs, Medicare, Competition, Quality, Hospitals, Innovation

A Lifetime Value-Based Proposal For Medicare Payment Reform

urrent Medicare reform policy proposals mainly focus on lowering annual cost or cost increase per capita, but they fail to recognize Medicare as a lifetime plan that covers each beneficiary from age 65 to death. I propose a Lifetime Value-Based Payment...

Published Fri, Mar 03 2014 9:53 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Insurance, Payment, Chronic Care, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Innovation

Reducing Hospital Readmissions: It’s About Improving Patient Care

The issue of unnecessary hospital readmissions is now front and center in the national conversation about the quality of health care. Thanks to Medicare’s readmissions reduction program , hospitals are working hard to bring their readmission rates down...

Published Fri, Aug 08 2013 6:08 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Medicare, Quality, Hospitals, Disparities, Innovation

Technology And The Changing Business Of Health Care

Three years after the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” scholars and political pundits have paid much attention to the macroeconomic effects of the law. Will Obamacare bend the health care cost...

Published Wed, Aug 08 2013 12:15 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Prevention, Payment, Physicians, Health IT, Chronic Care, Medicare, Workforce, Access, Innovation, Technology

The Slowing Of Health Care Spending: Have We Turned A Corner?

The news in recent years has been good: Overall U.S. spending for health care in 2011 again grew only 3.9 percent . This represented the third consecutive year of a relatively slow growth rate, down from rates as high as 11 percent in 1990 and 7.6 percent...

Published Fri, Aug 08 2013 10:49 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Insurance, Physicians, Health IT, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Quality, Hospitals, Innovation, Effectiveness

The First-Year Pioneer ACO Results: Predictable Bumps In The Road

It’s not often that progress comes in straight lines. To tackle complex problems, we test and innovate and then try out our new ideas, and then continuously reconsider, revise and adapt them over time. Few problems are more complex and vexing than figuring...

Published Thu, Jul 07 2013 10:45 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Policy, Primary Care, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Quality, Innovation

The Current Medicare Debate Will Not Solve The Program’s Problems

The mistake policymakers have long made in debating Medicare (and Medicaid, though that’s a topic for another day) is that they talk about Medicare the same way they talk about Social Security. It’s understandable at some level, since these two programs...

Published Tue, Feb 02 2013 11:03 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Chronic Care, Health Care Costs, Spending, Medicare, Quality, Innovation

Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative: Barely A Ripple Now, Enormous Promise For Later

They are the stories that make us cringe, because their human and financial costs are as massive as they are avoidable. A middle-aged woman newly diagnosed with diabetes knows she has to test her blood sugar levels but doesn’t know how to manage...

Published Thu, Jun 06 2012 9:39 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: Consumers, Policy, Payment, Primary Care, Medicare, Innovation

Pioneer ACOs: Moving Toward Needed Transformation In Health Care

We have commended the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on this blog in the past for actions regarding Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) – but we’ve also noted the need to establish strong enough criteria to ensure that this new model...

Published Tue, Dec 12 2011 12:44 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Consumers, Policy, Payment, Health IT, Medicare, Quality, Innovation

Health Affairs Blog Most-Read List For October

October’s list of most-read Health Affairs Blog posts is led by Maribeth Shannon’s piece on the challenges of getting consumers involved in directing their health care. Several posts on the Medicare Shared Savings Program (ACOs) final rule...

Published Thu, Nov 11 2011 12:36 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Malpractice Liability Reform, Payment, Medicare, Health Law, Innovation

Census Numbers: The Trend Toward Government Coverage Continues

In its yearly survey of health insurance coverage, the U.S. Census Bureau published figures that underscore the trend toward greater dependence on government for coverage. The percentage of Americans on government health programs continues to grow, while...

Published Wed, Sep 09 2011 9:15 AM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Employer-Sponsored Insurance, Medicare, Coverage, Medicaid, Innovation

Medicare Innovation: Whose Priorities, Whose Interests?

Editor’s Note: In addition to Carol Levine (photo and bio above), authors of this post include Eric Coleman, Professor in the Division of Health Care Policy and Research, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine; and Mary Naylor, Director...

Published Wed, Jul 07 2010 12:47 PM by Health Affairs Blog

Filed under: All Categories, Health Reform, Consumers, Primary Care, Chronic Care, Medicare, Innovation

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