Dr. Mark Sanna

2012-01-30T08:06:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration on Friday told the Supreme Court that if the justices rule that the health reform law's mandate is unconstitutional, they don't need to get rid of the entire law. Only two provisions — those requiring insurers to accept everyone regardless of health status and to apply "community rates" — must go if the mandate is knocked down.

2012-01-29T10:13:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: It’s been 3 years since Congress approved a nearly $30 billion plan to digitize health care records, yet much of the health care industry is still drowning in paper. The Bipartisan Policy Center released a 43-page report detailing the gaps in health IT implementation–the biggest concern being a delay in getting the various systems to be able to talk to one another.

2012-01-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: House Republicans have tried to repeal various pieces of President Barack Obama's health reform law, but they haven't touched the least popular piece: the individual mandate. One reason for that: They don't want to give the Supreme Court a reason not to strike it down.

2012-01-25T09:17:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: When it came to health, what was most surprising was how little President Obama had to say in his State of the Union address. His landmark 2010 health overhaul — whose fate is currently before the Supreme Court and whose repeal is the top priority for every GOP presidential candidate — got barely a passing mention.

2012-01-24T07:56:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) — created by the health law to help determine the most effective medical treatments — released its draft priorities and research agenda on Monday, but it did not single out any specific diseases, treatments or procedures to study.

2012-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

2012-01-23T09:07:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Medical groups are keeping up the pressure on Congress to find a long-term solution to Medicare's payment formula for doctors. The latest temporary patch is set to expire March 1, at which point doctors would see a nearly 30% cut in the Medicare payments.

2012-01-21T08:26:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Press reports indicate that the Obama administration will not significantly change the requirement that most employers cover FDA-approved contraceptives as part of a health plan. The health law includes a requirement that most workplaces cover preventive services for free.

2012-01-20T08:21:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Today is the last day to submit applications for the April 1 start date of the CMS' Medicare Shared Savings Program, the government's payment and delivery program for accountable care organizations. The CMS began accepting applications Dec. 1, and applicants will receive notice of their approval or denial by March 16.

2012-01-19T08:14:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A report Wednesday by the Obama administration said that many states, including some with GOP governors, are proceeding with state-based exchanges. Still, a federal exchange is in the works for those that can't or won't meet the health law's requirements and timeline.

2012-01-18T02:26:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Associated Press reports that in order to prevent a 27% in Medicare payments to doctors under the 1997 formula, negotiators are trying to find $39 billion in cuts elsewhere in health care spending. That would fix the problem for two years. A deal could be reached faster than initially expected.

2012-01-17T14:17:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment. Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices.

2012-01-16T07:03:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Insurance premiums will rise by as much as 25% if the new healthcare law is implemented without an individual mandate, according to a new analysis from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Without the mandate, according to the Robert Wood Johnson analysis, costs would rise and fewer people would be insured .

2012-01-13T04:42:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration said Thursday that rate increases sought by a health insurance company were unreasonable, and it ordered the insurer to rescind them or justify its refusal to do so. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of HHS, issued the finding against the carrier, Trustmark Life Insurance Company, a unit of Trustmark Mutual Holding Company.

2012-01-12T03:19:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Twenty-six states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the health care reform law's mandatory state expansion of the Medicaid program, a sleeper issue in the health care reform lawsuit that could determine how much leverage the federal government has with the states on any issue.

2012-01-10T04:38:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: National health spending rose a slight 3.9 percent in 2010, as Americans delayed hospital care, doctor’s visits and prescription drug purchases for the second year in a row, the Obama administration reported Monday.

2012-01-06T05:34:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Hospital employees recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare patients while they are hospitalized, federal investigators say in a new report.

2012-01-05T07:44:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The small-business group challenging the health care reform law in the Supreme Court this spring is adding new individuals to its case to avoid last-minute problems over its earlier plaintiff's bankruptcy filing. The National Federation of Independent Business asked the court in a brief Wednesday morning for permission to add two small-business owners as plaintiffs.

2012-01-05T07:43:00.001-08:00

2012-01-04T06:59:00.001-08:00

HCR Update by Mark Sanna: 55.6% of voters favored televising the Supreme Court arguments in the health-care overhaul case and 44.4% were against it. In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, by comparison, 72% of the people surveyed said they think the Supreme Court should allow cameras in the court for arguments in the health-care case.

2012-01-02T06:39:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Baby boomers take note: Medicare as your parents have known it is headed for big changes no matter who wins the White House in 2012. You may not like it, but you might have to accept it.

2011-12-26T06:30:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A new survey from the Center for Studying Health System Change and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that one in five Americans reported trouble paying medical bills last year.

2011-12-24T07:12:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed legislation extending a Social Security tax cut, which included a provision that delays--for two months--the 27.4 percent cut in reimbursement to Medicare providers, including doctors of chiropractic.

2011-12-21T07:53:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Most members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined their Senate colleagues on Tuesday in going back home to their districts without agreeing on a tax measure that also contained a provision calling off the scheduled 27.4% cut in reimbursement to Medicare providers, including doctors of chiropractic.

2011-12-20T07:15:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Obama's healthcare law over a three-day span from March 26-28. The schedule further confirms the universal expectation that the court will issue a ruling on the healthcare law next June, at the height of the 2012 campaign.

2011-12-19T07:21:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As part of the 2009 stimulus bill, the federal government provides incentive payments to doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records. Some 57 percent of office-based physicians now use electronic health records, a 12 percent jump from last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

2011-12-17T13:28:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In a major surprise on the politically charged new health care law, the Obama administration said Friday that it would not define a single uniform set of “essential health benefits” that must be provided by insurers for tens of millions of Americans. Instead, it will allow each state to specify the benefits within broad categories.

2011-12-16T10:39:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The specter of nursing strikes is looming on both coasts, as newly empowered nurses’ unions confront hospitals pressed to cut costs amid changes in health care financing. In New York, over 6,000 registered nurses are poised to walk out of three of the city’s most prestigious hospitals before the year’s end. A 24-hour walkout is set for Dec. 22 in California.

2011-12-14T07:22:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives, largely on a party-line vote, passed a bill which contained language calling off the scheduled 27.4% cut in reimbursement to Medicare providers, including doctors of chiropractic. The measure calls for a 1% increase in reimbursement rates in years 2012 and 2013.

2011-12-12T08:03:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Unless lawmakers step in, doctors treating Medicare patients will see a 27% cut in reimbursements in January. House Republicans would block the cut and replace it with increases of 1% a year in 2012 and 2013. That would cost $39 billion, the budget office estimates. The cost of a 10-year fix, $300 billion or more, is so high that Congress is not seriously considering it.

2011-12-08T12:21:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A state legislative audit says Maryland paid $426,000 in Medicaid to 10 people who were dead. The audit, released Wednesday, also found that between January 2008 and August 2011, $2.5 million in erroneous payments were made for 323 people who may have already been dead.

2011-12-06T07:14:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The latest United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings unveiled today has a scary message for the nation: Obesity has ballooned from 11.6% of the adult population in 1990 to 27.5% in 2011.

2011-12-05T07:53:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The House and Senate are already heading in different directions as they work towards a catchall, end-of-the-year bill that, in part, holds off a 27% Medicare physician pay cut. That's largely because they're looking at completely different ways to pay for it — leading to a potential year-end clash over the $22 billion price tag.

2011-12-04T07:22:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the official in charge of Medicare and Medicaid for the last 17 months, says that 20% to 30% of health spending is “waste” that yields no benefit to patients, and that some of the needless spending is a result of onerous, archaic regulations enforced by his agency.

2011-12-03T08:30:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Department of Health and Human Services today released its final medical loss ratio rule. The rule will ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of consumers' health insurance premiums on medical care rather than on income, overhead and marketing expenses.

2011-12-02T09:01:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More than 2,400 health care providers and advocates sent a letter to Secretary of HHS today objecting to recommendations made by a panel of the Institute of Medicine regarding what benefits must be covered in state health insurance marketplaces developed under the Affordable Care Act. The critics objected to the group's decision to start with a typical small business plan rather than a more comprehensive plan offered by larger employers.

2011-11-28T08:13:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: It's become a symbol of sorts for the federal government's budget dysfunction: Unless Congress acts before Jan. 1, doctors will again face steep Medicare cuts that threaten to undermine health care for millions of seniors and disabled people. This time it's a 27.4% cut.

2011-11-23T09:42:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A report published today shows that the United States spent about $7,960 per person on health care in 2009 – about 2.5 times the average of the countries studied. It also found that health spending in the U.S. has increased faster than in all other high-income countries since 1970, even accounting for population growth.

2011-11-22T09:22:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The failure of the congressional super committee could mean automatic budget cuts totaling billions of dollars for everything from Medicare to biomedical research, starting in 2013.

2011-11-20T08:01:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A dispute has erupted between President Obama and Democrats in Congress over a proposal to broaden the exemption from new rules that require health insurance plans to cover contraceptives for women free of charge. The White House is considering a change that would grant a broad exemption to health plans sponsored by employers who object to such coverage for moral and religious reasons.

2011-11-19T07:44:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Despite serving as the "foundational element" of the U.S. healthcare system, the nation's primary-care network is experiencing "diminishing economic margins, and increasing workforce attrition compounded by diminishing recruitment of new physicians, nurses and physician assistants into primary care," according to the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

2011-11-18T09:03:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A state-by-state analysis finds that from 2003 to 2010, premiums for family coverage increased an average of 50%. At that rate, the average family premium would balloon to nearly $24,000 by 2020, according to the study, which was conducted by The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health policy foundation.

2011-11-17T07:55:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: More and more employers are demanding that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol shoulder a greater share of their health care costs, a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthy lifestyles rather than rewarding good habits. Policies that impose financial penalties on employees have doubled in the last two years to 19% of 248 major American employers recently surveyed.

2011-11-16T04:04:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: With the high court's announcement Monday that it would decide on the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, we are assured of a decision coming smack dab in the middle of the 2012 general election campaign.

2011-11-14T09:54:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: At 10 a.m. today, the Supreme Court issued its orders for the upcoming 2012 term, which includes the details of how the oral arguments related to the health law will shape up.

2011-11-11T05:30:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: This week conservative legal activists renewed their calls for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan to abstain from cases involving President Obama's healthcare law. Conservatives say Kagan should recuse herself from suits over the law's individual mandate because the administration began planning its defense while she was solicitor general.

2011-11-10T04:05:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Poorly designed, hard-to-use computerized health records are a threat to patient safety, and an independent agency should be set up to investigate injuries and deaths linked to health information technology, according to a federal study released Tuesday. The report by the Institute of Medicine comes as the government is spending billions of dollars in incentive payments to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic health records.

2011-11-09T06:42:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A federal appeals court in Washington upheld the Obama administration’s health care law on Tuesday in a decision written by a prominent conservative jurist. The decision came as the Supreme Court is about to consider whether to take up challenges to the Affordable Care Act, a milestone legislative initiative of the administration. Of four appellate court rulings on the health care law so far, this is the third to deal with the law on the merits, and the second that upholds it.

2011-11-07T09:17:00.001-08:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Most Americans also think the overall health of the public isn't improving, according to a new poll commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The poll found that 45% of people thought the health of Americans had become worse during the past five years, and 40% thought it had stayed about the same. Only 13% thought it was better.

2011-11-05T04:52:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As the super committee struggles to meet its Thanksgiving deadline. Republicans have been steadfast in their refusal to raise taxes, and Democrats are only willing to engage in cuts to Medicare and other entitlement programs if new revenues are part of the mix. Meanwhile, health care providers, worried about Medicaid cuts and other programs, have taken out big ads around Washington to make their case.

2011-11-03T05:11:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: If the Supreme Court next year gets rid of the health reform law's requirement to buy insurance, Republicans could gain momentum to get rid of the rest of the law — and President Barack Obama would suffer a huge embarrassment at the height of an election year. But Democrats and supporters of the law also see a silver lining: If the least popular part of the law goes away, they think what's left could become stronger and more popular with the public.

2011-11-02T05:22:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A $5 billion fund created as part of the health care overhaul to pay for health insurance for early retirees will run out of money by September 2012, according to a federal report released Monday. Around 6,000 employers are currently getting subsidies through the program to help pay for benefits for retired workers between the ages of 55 and 64.

2011-10-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Public support of last year's health care law hit an all-time low in October as many Democratic voters lost confidence that one of President Barack Obama's major programs will improve their lives, a new poll finds. For the first time, as many people believe the law won't make the country better off as believe it will. The poll found that 51% of the public now dislikes the law and only 34% favor it.

2011-10-28T06:07:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Monthly Medicare premiums for most beneficiaries will rise next year by $3.50, to $99.90, a much smaller increase than had been expected, the Obama administration said Thursday. Administration officials rejoiced at the modest increase, which could pay political dividends to President Obama as he tries to win the votes of older Americans in his bid for re-election.

2011-10-26T07:26:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry's new plan, which includes a national flat tax, would cut discretionary funding by at least $100 billion a year, and would overhaul Medicare and Medicaid. In other news, a new poll uncovers deep distrust of the government, with about a quarter of the public in favor of repealing the entire health law.

2011-10-25T08:42:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Four GOP governors sent a letter Monday to the congressional joint committee tasked with drafting a plan to reduce the country's debt, urging the 12-member panel to rule out tax increases and any proposals that would shift Medicaid costs from the federal government to the states.

2011-10-24T08:51:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The final rule on the ACOs or (Accountable Care Organizations) was published. While it was determined that only an MD and DO would be able to form an ACO, It was clearly written that doctors of chiropractic should be participants and will be eligible to participate in the savings incentives of such plans. The fact that DCs cannot form one as primary care physicians is mitigated by the fact that those who form them are limited to participating in only that one. However, a DC who is a participant can join multiple ACOs. A true benefit to the doc in the field.

2011-10-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration released its new plans for Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) this week and relaxed requirements for doctors and hospitals to participate in the program. Some insurers and employers, however, complained that the changes will increase the chances that providers will consolidate, which could reduce competition and drive up costs.

2011-10-20T06:49:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration and challengers of the health care overhaul are pushing for Supreme Court consideration of the law in late March, judging by the speed with which they are filing legal papers. This week, the Obama administration, the 26 states that have joined in opposition to the law and the association of small businesses that also wants the law struck down filed their briefs more than a week before they were due.

2011-10-18T07:52:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: After three years of study, Massachusetts’s legislative leaders appear close to producing bills that would make it the first state — again — to radically revamp the way doctors, hospitals and other health providers are paid. The plan would encourage flat “global payments” to networks of providers for keeping patients well, replacing the fee-for-service system that creates incentives for excessive care by paying for each visit and procedure.

2011-10-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: For the first time, a government-backed quality rating will have a financial meaning to health insurance companies looking to attract millions of older Americans to privately run Medicare coverage next year. Medicare Advantage Plans are expected to use quality ratings unveiled this week to attract more business and promote their ratings, given that the federal government is dangling a carrot in the form of bonus payments ranging from 3 to 5 percentage points.

2011-10-15T07:52:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration announced Friday that it was scrapping a long-term care insurance program created by the new health care law because it was too costly and would not work. The program, which was intended for people with chronic illnesses or severe disabilities, was known as Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or Class.

2011-10-14T08:38:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The House on Thursday returned to an abortion issue that nearly sank President Obama's health care law last year with legislation that bars an insurance plan regulated under the new law from covering abortion if any of its customers receive federal subsidies. Providers that offer abortion coverage would have to set up identical plans without abortion coverage to participate in the health insurance exchanges to be set up under the new law.

2011-10-13T06:57:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: For the first time, a government-backed quality rating will have a financial meaning to health insurance companies looking to attract millions of older Americans to privately run Medicare coverage next year. Medicare Advantage Plans are expected to use quality ratings unveiled Wednesday to attract more business and promote their ratings, given that the federal government is dangling a carrot in the form of bonus payments ranging from 3 to 5 percentage points.

2011-10-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A watchdog agency in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wants to know how many office visits, consultations, eye exams, skin grafts, and other services are performed by unqualified nonphysicians under Medicare's "incident-to" billing rules. This is just one new investigation that the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) plans to conduct next year.

2011-10-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Medicare supplemental health plans, popular among politically powerful retirees, could come under the budget knife being wielded by the special deficit-reduction panel of Congress, according to sources keeping close watch on its work. ... While the elderly buy the private plans, studies suggest they boost government Medicare costs as the extra coverage for deductibles and co-pays encourages greater use of medical services.

2011-10-07T05:12:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The government moved a step closer today toward defining what 'essential benefits' would be offered by companies selling coverage to millions of Americans in new insurance exchanges. In a 297-page report, the Institute of Medicine, a federal advisory panel, laid out criteria and methods the Department of Health and Human Services should use in developing the package. But, as expected, the report left to HHS the job of deciding specific benefits.

2011-10-06T08:48:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A top GOP House lawmaker hopes the deficit-cutting panel will focus entirely on health care costs to reach the $1.2 trillion savings target. Meanwhile, in the background, the Wall Street Journal reports that nearly half of all U.S. households receive government benefits, with about 34% getting means-tested assistance such as Medicaid.

2011-10-04T07:59:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Supreme Court justices opened their new term Monday by hearing a major health care case that tests whether judges can stop California and other cash-strapped states from cutting their payments to doctors and hospitals who serve low-income patients.

2011-10-03T08:05:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Companies next year will push more health care costs onto their workers, who may see an increase of nearly 11 percent in what they have deducted from their paychecks for health insurance, according to a new annual study by Aon Hewitt, a large Chicago benefits consultancy.

2011-10-02T09:11:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a healthcare case that pits states against the federal government — and Democrats against Democrats. At issue is whether patients and healthcare providers can sue to block states from cutting their Medicaid rates. The suit was filed after California proposed a series of Medicaid cuts, some as high as 10%.

2011-09-30T08:42:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The 2010 health care overhaul law has provoked an unprecedented clash between the federal government and 26 states, dividing them on fundamental questions about the very structure of the federal system. But the two sides share a surprising amount of common ground, too, starting with their agreement in briefs, filed on Wednesday, that the Supreme Court should resolve the clash in its current term.

2011-09-29T07:54:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a case concerning the 2010 health care law. The development, which came unexpectedly fast, makes it all but certain that the court will soon agree to hear one or more cases involving challenges to the law, with arguments by the spring and a decision by June, in time to land in the middle of the 2012 presidential campaign.

2011-09-26T09:08:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Obama administration must decide today whether to ask the full U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a 2-1 August decision declaring unconstitutional the health law's individual mandate. If it does seek the full court's review, which could take weeks or months, it will likely push back a Supreme Court ruling until 2013.

2011-09-23T05:19:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Data released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that in the first quarter of 2011, the percentage of adults between ages 19 and 25 without health insurance fell 3.5 percentage points — to 30.4%. That translates to about an additional 1 million people that got coverage from the previous year. It's the third survey in recent weeks to credit a piece of the health law with giving more young adults insurance.

2011-09-22T07:03:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Carolyn and Matthew Bucksbaum have donated $42 million to the University of Chicago Medical Center to create an institute devoted to improving medical students’ handling of the doctor-patient relationship. The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, to be announced today, will be led by Dr. Mark Siegler, a doctor the couple found compassionate and humble. “To care for a patient,” Dr. Siegler said, “you have to care about a patient.”

2011-09-21T09:03:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthcare have agreed to provide their claims data to a new nonprofit research initiative called the Health Care Cost Institute. The institute will have more than 5 billion medical claim records representing more than $1 trillion of health care spending in private plans and Medicare Advantage plans. The researchers’ are salivating because the patterns of medical care for people with private insurance — two thirds of the covered population — mostly remain a mystery, even as health care costs threaten to bankrupt the nation.

2011-09-20T04:31:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama’s budget director said Monday that the president’s new deficit-reduction plan would impose “a lot of pain,” and that is clearly true of White House proposals to cut $320 billion from projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid in the coming decade. A large share of the Medicare savings would be used to pay doctors, who would otherwise face deep cuts in the fees they receive for treating Medicare patients.

2011-09-19T08:34:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Obama's debt reduction proposal, which is scheduled for release today, will include $320 billion in health care savings, but it will not raise Medicare's eligibility age. Half of its savings result from new tax revenue. President Obama is also sending a warning to congressional Republicans: If they send him a bill that cuts programs for poor and elderly Americans but doesn't impose sacrifice on corporations or ask others to sacrifice, he will veto it.

2011-09-18T09:45:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers. He is expected to call for $300 billion in savings from changes to Medicare and Medicaid as a way of reducing the deficit.

2011-09-16T05:29:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Three journalism organizations on Thursday protested a decision by the Obama administration to remove a database of physician discipline and malpractice actions from the Web. The National Practitioner Data Bank, created in 1986, is used by state medical boards, insurers and hospitals. The “public use file” of the data bank, with physician names and addresses deleted, has provided valuable information for many years to researchers and reporters investigating oversight of doctors, trends in disciplinary actions and malpractice awards.

2011-09-15T07:24:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: In the latest advance for health care accountability, the country’s leading hospital accreditation board, the Joint Commission, released a list on Tuesday of 405 medical centers that have been the most diligent in following protocols to treat conditions like heart attack and pneumonia. None of the 17 medical centers listed by U.S. News & World Report on its “Best Hospitals Honor Roll” this year are on the list.

2011-09-14T07:37:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Laughter is regularly promoted as a source of health and well being, but it has been hard to pin down exactly why laughing until it hurts feels so good. The answer, reports Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, is not the intellectual pleasure of cerebral humor, but the physical act of laughing. The simple muscular exertions involved in producing the familiar ha, ha, ha, he said, trigger an increase in endorphins, the brain chemicals known for their feel-good effect.

2011-09-13T08:02:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. A new federally mandated version will expand the number to around 140,000 — adding codes that describe precisely what bone was broken, or which artery is receiving a stent. The system, known as ICD-10, will provide a more exact accounting of diagnoses and inpatient procedures, which could improve payment strategies and care guidelines.

2011-09-12T08:17:00.000-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Americans seem to be paying the price for the unrelenting rise in health care costs in this country, according to several studies being published last week in Health Affairs, an academic journal. The higher cost of coverage has taken a huge cut in the increase in income earned by the average family, says one study, and lower-income families are particularly hard hit, according to another. Meanwhile, the numbers of people who cannot afford insurance or do not have enough coverage have significantly increased, according to a third study.

2011-09-09T06:11:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A federal appellate court in Richmond, Va., on Thursday threw out a pair of cases challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s 2010 health care law, ruling for varying reasons that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to sue. Still other cases continue to progress through the appellate process. The Supreme Court has yet to signal whether it will accept one or more of the cases.

2011-09-08T07:17:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Doctors are paid higher fees in the United States than in several other countries, and this is a major factor in the nation’s higher overall cost of health care, says a new study by two Columbia University professors, one of whom is now a top health official in the Obama administration. “U.S. primary care physicians earn about 1/2 more than do their counterparts elsewhere because a much larger share of their incomes is derived from private insurance,” the study said.

2011-09-07T08:47:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Fewer adults in the United States are smoking and those who do are smoking fewer cigarettes each day, but the trend is weaker than the government had hoped. A report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 19.3% of adults said they smoked last year, down from about 21% in 2005. The rate for smoking 30 or more cigarettes daily dropped to about 8% from almost 13% over the same period.

2011-09-04T08:53:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Starting this past Thursday, insurers that propose to increase their rates by 10% or more must submit their request to state or federal reviewers, who will determine if those hikes are reasonable, according to HHS. As part of this process, independent experts will study information about underlying costs trends in health care and will indicate when insurance companies raise their costs unjustly.

2011-09-03T07:14:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Signaling its commitment to tackling the social issues that affect childhood obesity, the White House announced on Friday that Dr. Judith S. Palfrey will head Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity. A pediatrician for more than 30 years, Dr. Palfrey recently served as president of the American Academy of Pediatrics and director of the Children’s Hospital of Boston’s global health efforts.

2011-09-02T05:36:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: After the collapse of negotiations between Atlanta’s public hospital, Grady Memorial, and the world’s largest dialysis provider, a dozen immigrants suffering from renal failure were refused treatment at an Atlanta clinic, operated by Fresenius Medical Care North America, on Thursday and advised to wait until their conditions deteriorated enough to justify life-saving care in an emergency room.

2011-09-01T06:51:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The results of an analysis performed by researchers in Ontario on 30,000-year-old bacteria whose DNA has been recovered from the Yukon permafrost shows that they were able to resist antibiotics. Experts had long predicted this on theoretical grounds, but they say the new finding underlines the need to use antibiotics sparingly, given that the genes for antibiotic resistance are ubiquitous and can easily be promoted by antibiotics.

2011-08-31T07:09:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: According to a recent AP poll, the largest generation may now be the fattest generation ever. And that spells trouble for the health care system. Studies show that baby boomers — 81 million born between 1946 to 1964 — are losing the battle of the bulge. About a third of boomers are obese and an additional 36 percent are overweight.

2011-08-30T07:54:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A study published this month in the Journal of Health Affairs, asked hundreds of physicians and administrators in private practices across the United States and Canada how much time they spent each day with insurers and other third-party payers, tracking down information for claims that were denied or incorrectly paid, resolving questions about insurance coverage for prescription drugs or diagnostic tests, and filing the different forms required by each and every insurance company. American doctors in the study spent far more dealing with multiple health plans: more than $80,000 per year per physician, or roughly four times as much as their northern counterparts. And their offices spent as many as 21 hours per week with payers, nearly 10 times as much as the Canadian offices.

2011-08-28T05:19:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh vowed to flee to Costa Rica if President Barack Obama's health care reforms took effect. Limbaugh might have overlooked a couple of critical details: Costa Rica's respected universal healthcare system is highly socialized. It's also on the verge of going broke.

2011-08-27T08:23:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: As part of The Lancet's ongoing series on obesity, the authors used a simulation model to project the probable health and economic consequences in the next two decades from a continued rise in obesity in ageing populations. They project millions more cases of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer and conclude: "The combined medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48—66 billion/year in the USA.

2011-08-26T13:01:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: A report published today by the Institute of Medicine found "convincing evidence" that certain vaccines can cause 14 adverse effects — including seizures, brain inflammation and fainting — in rare cases. It also found "indicative though less clear data" linking certain vaccines to four other effects, including allergic reactions and temporary joint pain.

2011-08-25T13:27:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The Congressional Budget Office projects that rebounding revenue, combined with the force of the debt-reduction deal that became law earlier this month, will reduce the deficit by an estimated $3.3 trillion.

2011-08-23T08:00:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: The deficit panel has already set to work, holding conference calls and using the congressional recess to begin their process. As its members face a Thanksgiving deadline for making their recommendations to find $1.5 trillion in budget savings over 10 years, speculation continues regarding their chances for success.

2011-08-22T16:34:00.001-07:00

HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Texas would be among the biggest beneficiaries of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, standing to gain coverage for nearly 4 million uninsured residents. But according to the AP, Gov. Rick Perry blocked moves to lay the groundwork for that expansion of coverage, and among the alternatives he's supported is an untested regional solution that could prove as controversial as president Obama's remake.