proposals

The Joint Commission has begun the process of refining its survey process, changing the scoring process to make sure that surveyors are accurately measuring how closely healthcare organizations comply with the standards. The changes will apply to ambulatory healthcare, critical access and traditional hospitals, home care and office-based surgery programs. Joint Commission executives aren't being specific about the changes yet, but they did say that they're looking at tying standards to …

Fighting vigorously for his new healthcare proposals, President Bush is traveling the country making pit stops to defend his ideas. In a speech in Missouri, President Bush fought back against critics who've emerged in the light of his State of the Union health proposals. Bush's plan is under fire as a sop for the rich--critics say that its proposal to offer tax breaks for health insurance …

President Bush joined the national debate on universal healthcare last night with two proposals outlined in his State of the Union speech. In a previous radio address, Bush had revealed his plan to control healthcare costs by tax breaks to help low-income people buy insurance and a tax boost for employees whose health coverage costs more than average. Last night he also announced a policy to support the universal health efforts of several states. The so-called "Affordable Choices …

Former President Bill Clinton is letting it be known that Hillary Clinton's presidential platform will include some aggressive healthcare proposals. While her last round of healthcare reform efforts 14 years ago, an initiative derisively dubbed "Hillary Care," did not make it out of the gate, Bill Clinton defends his and his wife's proposals as a reasonable ones which were grossly distorted by their opponents. Regardless, Hillary should bring the savvy borne of her previous struggle …

At a federal and state level, policymakers are beginning to agree on some bare bones requirements for universal healthcare access. Massachusetts' plan is an early trendsetter, though there's plenty of opportunity for other …

A thoughtful analysis by a medical device executive looks at three key models for universal healthcare, and concludes that no one of the three will work across the board. One of the main reasons we won't be able to pitch the existing private healthcare system, he says, is that direct-to-consumer pharma advertising creates a huge demand for expensive drugs. Given that …

With yesterday's Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the possibility of a Senate win still in the air, what might the impact be on healthcare providers? Not much, at least in the short term, it seems. True, the Democrats have vowed to address the Medicare Part D "donut hole" issue and invest in medical research, including stem cell research. The party also offers a none-too-specific pledge to provide Americans with access to affordable health care. But no one …

Former Bush HHS secretary Tommy Thompson, now a consultant, plans to release a white paper tomorrow addressing chronic problems with Medicaid. Specifically, he plans to recommend that the federal government take over long-term care for the elderly--a service that leads many otherwise law-abiding citizens to try to game Medicaid by monkeying with their assets to appear poor--and leave the states to handle acute care for the under-65 group, especially children. He'll also advocate making …

National Public Radio's Morning Edition featured a story about an assisted living facility that uses active RFID tracking to keep tabs on dementia patients. This adds to the evidence that RFID tracking is a technology we'll be seeing a lot of in hospitals in the future. Of course, the privacy issues surrounding the technology remain a concern and are unlikely to go away, especially if there are more proposals like the one from VeriChip chairman Scott Silverman: He suggested …

Major changes are expected at FEMA in the wake of last week's critical report from Congress on the government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff is expected to announce a set of proposals designed to improve the response to future disasters. The changes may include adding as many as 1,500 staff according to sources. Article