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New York Governor David A. Paterson announced on July 8, 2010, the launch of a new State website on Federal health care reform. Several reforms take effect this summer, including a temporary high risk pool for people with medical conditions that are expensive to treat, an early retiree reinsurance program that will help offset the cost of providing health insurance to retirees age 55 and over who are not eligible for Medicare, and the mailing of rebate checks to Medicare Part D enrollees who reach the "donut hole" coverage gap. The website - www.HealthCareReform.ny.gov - includes descriptions of health care reform, how it will benefit New Yorkers, and the progress of implementation in the State. The website also includes information on how residents can obtain health insurance coverage and the public programs already in place in the State. The website also includes a timeline of when specific provisions of health care reform, not just the ones this summer, go into

Health care-associated infections (HAIs) have been identified as a complication that can be avoided with proper care and procedures. To put pressure on hospitals to reduce if not eliminate HAIs, Medicare has included some infections on its list of never events, that is complicatoins that could reasonably have been prevented. As a never event, Medicare will not pay the extra costs of treatment when acquired in the hospital. Nonetheless, according to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) issued April 13, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) very little progress has been made on eliminating HAIs. For example, of the five types of HAIs in adult patients who are tracked in the rep

Well theres a mouthful. The quote, from Senator Rockefeller in the context of the health care reform debate, was said in an interview on Bloomberg Televisions Political Capital with Al Hunt, airing this weekend. He is not only critical of the insurance industry, but he intends to do something about it. Specifically, Rockefeller said he would introduce an amendment requiring insurers to spend 85 percent of their revenue on health care for consumers. Rockefeller also said he would back a plan, in separate legislation, to repeal the insurance industries antitrust exemption. Rockefeller was critical of Senate Finance Committee because it failed to include the public option, although he did vote for it. Rockefellers proposed amendments shows how he is honed in on the different ways health insurers pad their bottom line at the expense of the public and wants to confront these excesses by spurring competition and controlling costs. His amendment limiting insur

Studies have found that when patients leave the hospital without clear understanding of their diagnoses, medication instructions, or need for primary care follow-up, chances are that they will wind up back in the emergency department, and many will be readmitted. Questions are being asked within the medical community whether the standards of care relating to hospitals discharge instructions and follow-up are in fact inadequate and costly to the system by resulting in unnecessary rehospitalizations. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (April 2, 2009) found that Medicare patients discharged from a hospital are frequently readmitted within a few months, a situation sometimes referred to as bounce-back admissions. In the study, the cost of unplanned rehospitalizations in 2004 was estimated to account for US$17.4 billion of the $102.6 billion in hospital payments from Medicare. The researchers a

For the first time, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has posted consumer survey information on its Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) that attempts to capture the experiences of a patients in a hospital. It is a unique attempt by the government to evaluate hospital care from the perspective of the patient. Unfortunately for Long Islanders, on average, Long Island hospitals scored lower in patient satisfaction in eight out of 10 measures compared with other hospitals statewide or nationally. The Island's largest health system, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, did not fare well on the survey. Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park scored below the state and national average in all 10 areas. North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset scored below the state and national average in 8 out of 10 measures. Other North Shore-LIJ hospitals also scored below the state and national average, including Plainview H