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Back in health care world...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Even with the honoring of Capt. Sully, the pilot who managed to land a plan in a river despite having no engines working, the main event in the Capitol is clearly the budget. Every speaker at the honoring event invoked the budget. Back on health care policy issues, two things this afternoon: There's an Assembly Health Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Dave Jones, on the "transparent reporting of quality data and outcomes." It's a huge, important topic, that's the key to health reform, in the effort for better patient safety, quality improvement, and cost containment. One of our board members, Betsy Imholz from Consumers Union, is testifying, with several of our allies (and opponents) in the transparency fight. It's also good to see the new Assembly Health Committee in action, with the new members getting grounded in some of these technical issues. There's also a briefing and celebration of the signing of SCHIP, with a briefing entitled, "How Will California Seize Opportunities Provided By SCHIP Reauthorization and Other Federal Initiatives?" The briefing and reception is from 3-5pm, at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel at 1230 J Street here in Sacramento. Lots going on, indeed. Labels: Budget, Sacramento, SCHIPHealthyFamilies, Transparency
posted by Anthony Wright |
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2:50 PM
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A Ray of hope on health care...
Friday, October 24, 2008
 As a Yankees fan from the Bronx, it's weird to see the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series, with the second-lowest payroll in baseball, especially given the enormous mismatch between the money the teams spend. In health care, there's also a mismatch between how much we spend, and the results.
Remarkably, a doctor today can get more data on the starting third baseman
on his fantasy baseball team than on the effectiveness of life-and-death medical
procedures. Studies have shown that most health care is not based on clinical
studies of what works best and what does not — be it a test, treatment, drug or
technology. This is why we have fought so hard for better transparency, like in last session's AB2967(Lieber), so we have better data on the cost and quality of the care provided by California doctors and hospitals. Let's be clear: some insurers inappropriately use "evidence-based" arguments to deny needed care and treatments (some treatments haven't had full study, but still work); some policymakers use the lack of correlation between costs and outcomes as an excuse to cut, not recognizing the significant consequences (after all, the As or Rays in the Series is the exception, not the rule.) But there should be no debate that we need much better information about the care we receive, and that we pay for. We'll be back on this issue next season. Labels: CostContainment, Hospitals, Quality, Transparency
posted by Anthony Wright |
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8:35 AM
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