chronically ill

The final day of the World Health Care Congress focused on the Bush administration's plans for reforming the health insurance market. Both Treasury Secretary John Snow and healthcare point man Allan Hubbard pushed the notion of high-deductible plans coupled with HSAs, although Hubbard admitted that there were significant challenges making them work for the chronically ill whom he said accounted for two to five percent of the population. Refreshingly, he invited disagreement from the …

> Chutes & Ladders: Veterans Affairs CIO Robert McFarland resigned, citing frustrations with the information technology overhaul at the agency. Article

> In Japan, a small company has developed walk-through "air showers" to rid patients of pollen and dust particles clinging to their clothes. This could be useful for other things as well. …

A web exclusive at Health Affairs led by John Wennberg and Elliot Fisher of Dartmouth Medical School looks at regional variations in the cost of treating chronically-ill patients over the last years of their lives. Wennberg and Fisher looked at government data on Medicare spending and found that hospitals in the Los Angeles area spend about four times as much as hospitals in other areas of the state but show little noticeable improvement in outcomes. Article

A new article by Stanford economist Alain Enthoven and Kaiser Permanente Research Institute's Laura Tollens in this month's Health Affairs argues that integrating delivery systems to help share medical information and empower multi-disciplinary teams will improve patient care and significantly reduce healthcare costs.

Enthoven, the theorist behind "managed competition," which was the basis for some of the Clinton health plan, shows that the types of care coordination seen …

ComputerWorld examines the possible impact of the much-talked-about CMS program which will offer small to midsize physician practices access to VistA, the open-source electronic health records software developed by the Veteran's Administration. Reaction to the government's announcement so far has been mixed, ranging from polite skepticism about the program's impact, particularly from health IT veterans, to enthusiastic praise from open-source supporters pleased that the …

> The Washington Post examines one of the trial Chronic Care Improvement Programs for Medicare run by American Healthways in Maryland, which uses nurse telephonists to provide care to the chronically ill. Story

> A pregnant mother who was dying of cancer and was kept alive to try to save her baby had a successful C-section yesterday. The 1 lb., 13 oz. baby appears to …

The Los Angeles Times reports that new technologies and changing attitudes among physicians are leading to a resurgence in house calls. Statistics show physician house calls rose by 10 percent last year, with doctors making more than 2 million visits. That might seem strange given the time-crunch that most doctors face, but advances in telemetry and an increase in Medicare reimbursement rates appear to be partly responsible, the paper reports. The other factor, it is argued, is …