Our new administrative assistant, Jillian Szymanski, starts today. Welcome Jillian! Today's news is dedicated to you!
And as our outgoing administrative assistant and dear friend Echo Kendall gets ready to give birth to Malaqi, I post this article in her honor -- services for breast feeding moms!
It's hard as a consumer to get prices on health care so you can comparison shop. In some states like California, hospitals disclose rates on websites. Or you can use our friend FAIR Health's website. But it's still the case that, while we can easily find prices of everything else we buy, health care is the one thing it's hard to shop around for. But we have no choice but to become educated consumers.
Medicare is starting to report to doctors on how their patients are doing -- the first step in a move to tie doctors' pay to health outcomes. But will this encourage doctors to withhold necessary care? We don't know yet -- and we have to watch carefully.
In order to be sure there are enough doctors when Medicaid is expanded starting in 2014, health reform requires states to pay primary care providers in Medicaid the same fee they get in Medicare. Is this sustainable?
A new vaccine is supposed to stop heroin use, but will it stop the underlying impulses that result in addiction?
A bit of a scandal as California hires the relatives of the state's consultant on mental health hospitals and then uses a controversial technique on patients. This is pretty scary, if you ask me.
You have to keep your sense of humor no matter what, right? Well, here's an Asperger's are Us comedy troupe. You've gotta love it!
Connecticut Children's Medical Center is letting its contract with the state's largest insurer, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of CT, lapse because the two cannot agree on reimbursement rates. The people who suffer most will be the patients. I hope the two sides can find a way to move forward.
And that's it for this morning. Have a great day! Jennifer
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Re the heroin vaccine, I think it is a positve step in assisting with relapse rather than prevention. It atleast helps with the sometimes present, "one more time" type of relapse as it will not provide the level of escape and pleasure it once did. Yes, there are always other drugs to turn to, however the more difficult we can make it the easier it is to stay sober. I am hopeful for vaccines of this type so that the many who have made it to recovery can be helped to avoid relapses. i see this as a positive tool not a solution, still worthy of research. Thanks for sharing the article.
ReplyDelete