| Date | Author | Post Title | Post Summary | Topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 31, 2011 | Laura Segal | Obesity: Weighing Down Our Economy | Obesity is one of the most challenging health crises the country has ever faced; obesity-related medical costs and a less productive workforce are hampering America’s ability to compete in the global economy. | Costs & Economic Analysis | Obesity | Public Health |
| Mar 28, 2011 | Charles Roehrig, Ph.D. | How to Recognize a Bent Health Care Cost Curve | As noted in our most recent Health Sector Economic Indicators release, health spending has grown at historically low rates for the past 28 consecutive months (September 2008 through January 2011). In addition, the health spending share of gross domestic product has remained stable since the start of the recovery in June 2009. | Costs & Economic Analysis |
| Mar 24, 2011 | Danielle Marshall | Promising Practices: Making the Prevention and Public Health Fund Work for Your Community | Almost all agree that the rising rate of obesity in the U.S. has spiraled to an alarming rate and that we must take steps to re-introduce healthier lifestyles. What is up for debate is how we get there amidst contrasting schools of thought. At days’ end, the truth is that no one simple answer exists. | Health Reform | Public Health |
| Mar 22, 2011 | Kaiser Health News | From California to the New York Island, a New Understanding of Higher Medicare Spending | Some regions of the country that have been lambasted for high levels of Medicare spending actually are below the national average once the severity of patient sickness and special local expenses are taken into account, according to data from a new government analysis. | Costs & Economic Analysis | Hospitals | Medicare |
| Mar 17, 2011 | Taylor Walsh | The National Prevention Strategy: Catching up with the Nation | With the nation about to renew its emphasis on wellness and prevention with the delivery of the National Prevention Strategy, it is fair to wonder if the long-established approaches to prevention and health promotion can truly upend their own paradigm and achieve the strategy’s goal of “… Moving the nation from a focus on illness and disease to one based on wellness and prevention.” | Health Reform | Public Health |
| Mar 15, 2011 | Joanne Kenen | Public Support for Health Prevention is High, But Confidence in Government Efforts Remains Mixed | Prevention is one of those things that everyone can agree on, the health policy world’s equivalent of apple pie (minus the fat and sodium). Except that nowadays, health care is so politicized that no one can agree on anything. | Costs & Economic Analysis | Health Policy | Health Reform |
| Mar 10, 2011 | Wendy Lynch, Ph.D. | ACOs: Missing Accountability from a Very Critical Stakeholder | Imagine that you decided to run an Accountable Car-Care Organization. The government announces that you would no longer be paid on repairs alone, but for keeping cars on the road and out of the garage. | Health Policy | Health Reform | Managed Care |
| Mar 8, 2011 | Kaiser Health News | Insurance Trade-Off: Reducing Premiums By Eliminating Expensive Doctors, Hospitals | When consumers and employers pick health plans, some increasingly are being offered a trade-off these days: They can get a hefty break on their premiums if they agree to pay more out-of-pocket when they use certain high-cost providers in their network or if they cut those providers out of their network altogether. | Costs & Economic Analysis | Hospitals | Insurance |
| Mar 3, 2011 | Holly Korda, Ph.D. | Quality, Cost and ACOs: What Have We Learned from HMOs? | National health reform legislation gave birth to accountable care organizations, which were touted as a model to promote quality and reduce costs of health care delivery, but are they “HMOs on steroids”? | Health Reform | Hospitals | Managed Care |
| Mar 1, 2011 | Rochelle Sharpe | The (Over)Use of Statin Drugs May be Preventive Medicine Gone Awry | Some health experts are now worrying that our infatuation with statins may be spiraling out of control. Not only do many doctors question whether statins should ever be used to prevent heart disease, but some are dubious that these medications have ever been the miracle drugs they are advertised to be. | Aging | Chronic Disease |
