NY Times OpEd: How Medicare Fails the Elderly
Jane Gross, in her piece for the October 15th New York Times, stated eloquently what we at Archimedes/We Can Do Better have been saying for almost six years - Medicare in its current structure needs more than "saving" - it needs transformation just like the rest of...
Medicaid and the Health Insurance Exchange
As we talk about the nexus between Medicaid and the Insurance Exchange there are a number of issues that rise up. This report from Public Consulting Group, discusses issues in Nevada and its Department of Health and Human Services, but it outlines many of the issues...
This week at The Lund Report
Our friends over at The Lund Report are doing some good reporting. Here's their current offering. Hospitals See Their Medicaid Rate Cut by 15 Percent Officials from the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems admit they’re disappointed with Governor...
OHA is Looking for Technically Minded Consumers
Due to passage of SB 204, Tina Edlund, Deputy Director of the Oregon Health Authority, is forming a stakeholder group to meet in November and December (probably no more than 4 meetings, likely 2 hours each) to work with them and a firm that will be offering technical...
Multnomah County Considers Ban on BPA
The Multnomah Board of County Commisioners are considering a ban on Bisphenol A (BPA), proposed by chair Jeff Cogen. BPA is a potentially cancer-causing chemical that is found in some beverage containers like baby bottles and zippy cups. Commissioner Cogen is pushing...
Why Not the Best?
The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System just published a report entitled: Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance. The graphic below shows some of their conclusions, but you can read the...
Mental health parity lives up to its promise
The Oregonian ran an editorial inspired by a review of Oregon's "parity" law: A study reaffirms Oregon's law forcing insurers to stop discriminating against persons with mental illness, and bolsters similar federal legislation For a shamefully long time, Oregon...
Putting the I in Health IT℠: Changing our Nation’s Healthcare
I spent a whole day at the Accelerate, Innovate and Motivate (AIM) Conference at the Portland Convention Center. The presenters reached from the Federal to the State Level and beyond. The central theme was put the "I" back into IT (Information Technology) and...
Governor Kitzhaber Says the Health Exchange Will Increase Oregon’s Purchasing Power
From our friends at The Lund Report: Appearing before the health insurance exchange board yesterday, the governor said it’s the “starting point” to change the state’s healthcare system By: Amanda Waldroupe October 7, 2011--Fresh off a trip from the nation’s capital...
Late-in-life surgery is widespread. Does it help patients?
A study of hospital regions around the country found large differences in the use of surgery near the end of Medicare patients’ lives. The extent of this practice varies widely (see map). The most comprehensive examination of operations performed...
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