Jamie L. Habib

The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) invested in health information technology (IT) and produced a net savings of $3.09 billion, according to results of a new study conducted by the Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL).1

Little progress has been made in eliminating health care–associated infections (HAIs), according to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).1

On March 2, 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services secretary released a notice of proposed rulemaking for establishing a certification program for electronic health records (EHRs).1

Now that President Obama has signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 into law (signed March 23, 2010), what will happen?

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has backed a bill that will require hospitals in Connecticut to disclose publicly all adverse events that occur in their facilities. Previously, hospital errors were reported but specifics of the errors, including where they occurred, were never disclosed because of a confidentiality provision enacted in 2004 that allowed the health department to list the overall medical errors without naming a hospital.1

A group of 18 senators have proposed to reverse a policy that imposes a lifetime ban on donating blood for men who have had any gay sex since 1977. In writing to the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the lawmakers stressed that the science has dramatically changed since the ban was established in 1983 at the emergence of the HIV/AIDS crisis.1

Thimerosal, the organomercurial compound commonly used as a preservative in vaccines, does not cause autism, ruled the so-called vaccine court, a special branch of the US Court of Federal Claims that was established to handle claims of injury caused by vaccines. In this case, a group of parents who are convinced that there is a connection between the additive and autism were told that they had failed to prove their belief.1

Three years after the FDA’s authority was broadened to allow it to require pharmaceutical manufacturers to conduct additional clinical studies or change medication labels (among other new powers), the FDA still has concerns about medication risks. Drug safety has always been an issue for the FDA, but given the recent high-profile troubles with the recalled painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib), the contaminated blood-thinner heparin, and the sometimes fatal cardiac effects of the diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone), it is clear to the FDA that it needs to have better oversight when it comes to medication safety.

With the country’s greatest number of uninsured residents, the largest public insurance program, and one of the lowest rates of physician reimbursement, California is struggling to provide health care to the 6.5 million people who need it.

Limiting benefits and requiring higher out-of-pocket costs for patients with mental health or substance use disorders is a practice that group health insurance plans must abandon, according to new rules issued by the US government.

By 2012, federal and state programs will pay slightly more than half of the nation’s health care costs whether or not any health care reform measures are passed, according to a recent report by the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.1 As expected, the shift to a government-dominated health care sector is approaching faster than expected because of an economy in recession and because of the aging of the baby boomers, millions of whom will soon start signing up for Medicare.

Changes to Medicare’s reimbursement plans have inadvertently cut payments to cancer specialists, causing many cancer care centers to lose money and possibly close, according to results of a study commissioned by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), an advocacy group for oncologists who practice outside of large hospital centers.1

In the days before a vote is expected, the near-final version of the health care reform bill seems to have taken shape. Before they fine-tune the bill, however, Democrats must wait for the cost assessment from the Congressional Budget Office.

Amidst the Democrats floundering to pass their health care reform bill after the balance of power shifted when a Republican won the Massachusetts Senate race, WJ “Billy” Tauzin, a Democrat turned Republican, announced that he will step down in June as head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

After Republican Scott Brown was elected into the US Senate in January, President Obama acknowledged that his health care reform bill could die on Capital Hill. As many Democrats looked to the White House for guidance about how to keep the bill on a forward path, President Obama seemed less than optimistic about the bill’s passage. At a fundraising event, the President stated “it’s very important for us to have a methodical, open process over the next several weeks, and then let’s go ahead and make a decision.” This statement was miles away from his previous exclamations of “Yes we can.”

Nearly $600 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) was awarded to 85 federally qualified community health centers to support major construction and renovation projects and help adopt electronic health record and other health information

The list of covered preventive services for Medicare beneficiaries has expanded to include screening for HIV infection, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This test will now be available to Medicare beneficiaries at increased risk for HIV infection, including women who are pregnant and any Medicare beneficiary of any age who requests testing.1

In a 3-2 decision, the Montana Supreme Court determined that nothing in Montana state law prevents physicians from assisting patients with suicide, making Montana the third state, following Oregon and Washington, to allow this practice.1

In a new law coined the “extra help” program, which is being promoted by Chubby Checker, more than 1 million low-income seniors will be newly eligible for nearly $4000 in prescription drug assistance.

The gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, or the doughnut hole, may be why many seniors with diabetes are not adhering to medications. Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, focused their study on what happens during the gap, or when patients are paying for their medications out of pocket.1

On January 15, 2010, top congressional Democrats reported that they were “close” to an agreement with the White House on cost and coverage issues and that a draft would soon be sent to the Congressional Budget Office, the official authority on the cost and extent of coverage that any new legislation would provide. However, the outcome of the Massachusetts Senate race has created a significant obstacle to passing a health care reform bill for the Democrats in the Senate.

The US House of Representatives and the US Senate versions of the health care reform bill have grown further apart. Although a bill containing a public option has passed in the House, Senate Democrats announced that they have agreed on a package of provisions to replace the public option.