Quality Update for January 18, 2007

House Passes Bill to Require Medicare Drug Price Negotiations New Law Transfers Public Health Preparedness to HHS; Authorizes Grants for Health IT, Other Provisions CMS Waives Late Enrollment Penalty for Low Income Beneficiaries AHRQ Releases National Healthcare Quality Report; Improvements in Hospital Care Attributed to QIO Program Adding Lab Data and Refining Secondary Diagnosis Information Improves Measurement of Hospital Quality CMS Funds Medicaid Demo Aimed at Keeping Seniors in Medicaid Commission Releases Final Recommendations to Modernize Program Wanted: Public Comment on Anti-Fraud Guidelines for EHRs NIH Site Offers Information on Depression for Seniors National Campaign to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalization in Home Health Patients Kicks Off at CMS Headquarters SAVE THE DATE New Weekly News Report on Disparities Available for Free Spanish Health Resource Available AHRQ Database Provides Health Insurance Cost Data for Large US Cities NIH Plan Aims to Transform Clinical Research Commonwealth: Using Research Effectively in State Policymaking House Passes Bill to Require Medicare Drug Price Negotiations The U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 255-170, a measure to amend Medicare’s Part D prescription drug program to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. “The ability to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs purchased through the Medicare program has the potential to constitute a tremendous savings to taxpayers,” said Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) in a press release announcing the bill’s introduction. Representative Emerson joined Representatives John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of Ways and Means; and Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) in sponsoring H.R. 4. In a statement, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt said he was “disappointed that a majority of House members discounted the overwhelming success of the Medicare Part D program over the last year and voted to pass H.R. 4.” “Despite statements from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the independent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ actuaries that this legislation would not result in savings, this legislation was hastily adopted without hearings in the House,” Leavitt’s statement continued. “Although the bill would require the Secretary to negotiate with drug manufacturers regarding drug prices, the inability to drive market share via the establishment of a formulary or development of a preferred tier significantly undermines the effectiveness of this negotiation,” explained Paul Spitalnic, Director of the Parts C and D Actuarial Group in the Office of the Actuary. If enacted, the bill would require the Secretary to negotiate prices for plan years beginning on January 1, 2008. By June 1, 2007, and every six months thereafter, the bill requires the Secretary to submit a report to Congress on negotiations conducted, “and the prices and price discounts achieved.” In a statement on the bill’s passage, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called the vote “a resounding victory for America’s seniors.” Back to top New Law Transfers Public Health Preparedness to HHS; Authorizes Grants for Health IT, Other Provisions President Bush has signed into law the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which calls for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to lead federal public health and medical responses to public health emergencies – previously a responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. The new law was introduced as Senate Bill 3678 by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) in July 2006. The law reauthorizes the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which was signed into law following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, and builds on the Project BioShield Act of 2004 to accelerate advanced research and development of drugs and vaccines to protect the United States from health emergencies. The legislation also authorizes grant funds to help entities meet requirements set out in the law. “This bill will help improve our preparedness and response to emergencies and disasters be they a terrorist attack, or caused by Mother Nature,” Burr said in a press release. “It will also help improve our ability to create new drugs and vaccines to fight against emergencies like a flu pandemic.” The legislation charges HHS with developing a national information network to coordinate federal and state response to public health emergencies such as pandemic influenza, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks. It also enables HHS to partner with universities, research institutions, and industry to bring more and better medical countermeasures to the public faster in case of emergency and establishes the position of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within HHS. Beginning in 2009 and every four years thereafter, the Secretary is tasked with creating a “National Health Security Strategy” report for Congress. Within the next two years, the law calls for the establishment of “a near real-time electronic nationwide public health situational awareness capability through an interoperable network of systems to share data and information” to support early detection and response to public health emergencies. The network is expected to include public and voluntarily provided private data from such diverse sources as: federal, state, and local entities; health care systems and providers; disease monitoring systems and poison control centers. Grant funds are authorized to help states and consortia of states establish this network. HHS Secretary Leavitt must submit a plan for developing the network to Congress within 180 days. Read the law at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c109:./temp/~c109VsJZ1m Back to top CMS Waives Late Enrollment Penalty for Low Income Beneficiaries Last week CMS Acting Administrator Leslie Norwalk announced the elimination of a late enrollment penalty for low income beneficiaries who failed to sign up for a Part D plan by the program deadline. “It is very important that we remove whatever barriers may be preventing low-income beneficiaries from taking advantage of this great, cost-saving program,” said Ms. Norwalk. “This is our most difficult population to reach and the one for which we continue to focus our efforts. By continuing to remove the fear of a late enrollment penalty for those who may not be able to pay, we are taking a positive step aimed at broader coverage for everyone.” Low income beneficiaries who think they may qualify for subsidized coverage should first check with the Social Security Administration to determine if they are eligible. All eligible beneficiaries can than sign up for drug coverage any time during 2007 without fear of a late enrollment penalty. If a low income beneficiary does not enroll on their own, Medicare will enroll them in an appropriate plan. AHRQ Releases National Healthcare Quality Report; Improvements in Hospital Care Attributed to QIO Program The recently released Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) indicates that care in hospitals improved at a greater rate than care in other settings – an advance that AHRQ attributed CMS efforts through the work of QIOs and public reporting of quality performance. Both the NHQR and its companion 2006 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) provide congressionally mandated annual snapshots of the U.S. health care system in four key areas: effectiveness of health care, patient safety, timeliness of care, and patient centeredness. The reports represent the “broadest analysis of the quality of health care undertaken in the United States,” authors state. While the quality of U.S. health care continues to improve, “the pace of change is slow overall, there is a high degree of variation among States on many measures, and there is a long way to go to achieve the best quality possible across most measures” the report said. Back to top Hospital Care Improves According to the report, hospital care improved at a significantly higher rate than care in other settings – 7.8 percent versus 3.2 percent in ambulatory settings and 1 percent in nursing homes. In a news release AHRQ attributed this significant improvement “to initiatives sponsored by HHS’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Quality Improvement Organizations under contract with CMS, for example, work with hospitals, consumers, doctors and other caregivers to foster appropriate and timely care. The Hospital Quality Alliance, a public-private collaboration that includes hospital organizations and CMS, provides quality measurement information to consumers and others as an incentive for hospitals to improve care.” “Quality improvement programs initiated by HHS are clearly enhancing health care in the nation, particularly within hospitals,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, MD. “Everyone is benefiting—the professionals who provide care, the insurers who help pay for care and the patients who receive care.” QIO “measures for good heart attack care showed the greatest improvement of all core measures at 15.0% per year,” noted the report. “This rate of improvement is markedly better than the 9.2% rate reported last year and more than 5 times the 2.6% overall rate of improvement for all non-hospital core measures.” “QIO measures of the quality of hospital care for pneumonia care and for heart failure also showed high rates of improvement compared with all other measures—11.7% and 8.4%, respectively,” the report said. Avoidance of post-operative complications improved by 7.3 percent. NHQR Findings Overall, acute care measures are improving about twice as fast as preventive or chronic care measures (4.3 percent versus 2.4 percent and 1.8 percent respectively). The report noted a few exceptions -- vaccinations for children, teens, and the elderly, which improved 58 percent overall and chronic care for diabetes, end stage renal disease, and pediatric asthma, which improved more than three times faster than chronic care in nursing homes and home health (3.6 percent versus 1 percent). Care among states varies greatly, the NHQR found. While the all-state average improved for the percentage of chronic nursing home patients who were physically restrained, for instance, the variance among states ranged from 1.7 percent to 14.6 percent. NHQR includes data from the QIO program, Hospital Compare, OASIS, and HEDIS, among other data sources. This year’s report also includes new measure including data from the CAHPS Hospital Survey and the QIO measure, timing of antibiotics to prevent postoperative wound infection. The findings seem to indicate that “sustained focus, public reporting, and active and persistent interventions seem to make a significant difference in the quality of health care,” the report said. Programs that “appear to be making an impact” include the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s 100,000 Lives Campaign, public and private endorsement of hospital quality measures, implementation of voluntary public reporting programs, and private sector pay-for-performance efforts to align reimbursements with high quality care. NHDR Findings “It’s encouraging to learn that overall quality continues to improve,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, MD. “At the same time, the message is clear: Much more can be done to prevent illness from occurring or progressing.” The 2006 NHDR identified prevention as a key area in which health care efforts have much room for improvement. Access to care varies widely among racial, ethnic, and economically disparate groups. As compared to whites, African Americans received poorer quality of care in 73 percent of core measures; Hispanics in 77 percent of measures. Low income individuals received poorer quality of care than higher-income individuals for 71 percent of the measures. Among people 65 and older, blacks, Hispanics and those in lower income groups were less likely to have ever received a vaccine to prevent pneumonia. Overall, findings in the 2006 NHDR indicate that disparities remain prevalent; improvement in disparities is inconsistent – some measures are diminishing while others are increasing; and opportunities for raising awareness of and reducing disparities continue to exist. The National Healthcare Quality Report is available online at: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr06/nhqr06.htm; the National Healthcare Disparities Report is available at: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr06/nhdr06.htm. Print copies of the reports also can be obtained by calling 1-800-358-9295 or by sending an E-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov. Back to top Adding Lab Data and Refining Secondary Diagnosis Information Improves Measurement of Hospital Quality In a January 3 JAMA study, researchers found that using new billing codes taking into account diagnoses present on admission and readily available numerical laboratory data improves the accuracy of risk-adjusted inpatient mortality by 24 percent. The study, “Enhancement of Claims Data to Improve Risk-Adjustment of Hospital Mortality,” was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The accuracy and integrity of clinical performance data used in determining the quality of care provided by hospitals and providers is critical in successful implementation of pay-for-performance and quality improvement initiatives. “This analysis strongly supports the value of enhancing administrative claims data with POA codes and a limited set of numerical laboratory values obtained at admission. These data provide information required to avoid errors in the designation of hospitals and their medical staffs as delivering better than average or worse than average care,” said the authors. The researchers looked at risk-adjusted mortality rates for five health conditions: acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, acute cerebrovascular accident, gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage, and pneumonia; and three surgical procedures: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and craniotomy. By supplementing claims data with easy to obtain information -- numerical results of 20 common laboratory tests performed on admission and present on admission diagnoses -- the authors achieved levels of accuracy only five percent lower than using complete but difficult and costly to obtain clinical data. Read the abstract at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/1/71 Back to top CMS Funds Medicaid Demo Aimed at Keeping Seniors in Community, Home Setting In a recent announcement, CMS’ Acting Administrator Leslie Norwalk said the agency awarded the first round of more than $23 million in grants for demonstration programs in 17 states designed to help build Medicaid long-term care programs to keep people in the community and out of institutions. The new awards are the first round of grants totaling $1.75 billion over five years (2007-2011) to help states shift Medicaid’s traditional emphasis on institutional care to a system offering greater choices and a full range of home- and community-based services. The funds allow states to do away with waiver programs previously used to fund home and community-based services. These services will now become a permanent part of the states’ Medicaid benefits. Known as Money Follows the Person (MFP), the effort is part of the New Freedom Initiative, a nationwide effort launched in 2001 to remove barriers to community living for people of all ages with disabilities and long-term illnesses. CMS defines MFP as “a system of flexible financing for long-term services and supports that enables available funds to move with the individual to the most appropriate and preferred setting as the individual’s needs and preferences change.” MFP grant funds are expected to help states expand coverage for individuals with disabilities; increase access to community supports; and promote personal responsibility, independence, and choice. “States will also get more for their money by giving the elderly and people with disabilities more control over how and where they get the Medicaid services they need. With these grants, the states propose to transition over 20,000 individuals from institutions and into community settings,” said Norwalk. “Because experience shows that money following the person’s own preferences improves satisfaction and can reduce Medicaid costs too, we intend to continue taking steps, such as those taken through these grants, to remove barriers, real or perceived, that prevent them from participating fully in community life.” All states are eligible for the grant funds, which require a commitment to participate in the demonstration services for at least two consecutive years. A second round of state grants may be announced later this year using 2007 grant money. Grant amounts varied by state but total more than $23 million. The 17 states are: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. More details on the New Freedom Initiative are available at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/newfreedom/. More information on the demonstration project is available at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NewFreedomInitiative/downloads/MFP_2007_Announcement.pdf Back to top Medicaid Commission Releases Final Recommendations to Modernize Program The Medicaid Commission, headed by former Tennessee governor Don Sundquist and former Maine governor Angus King, Jr., recently presented its final report and recommendations to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. The Commission’s recommendations call for changes in policy that would, among other things, provide better care coordination, quality reporting, and measurement; break down administrative barriers; and institute a payment system that rewards care quality versus quantity. Quality In noting that “quality must be brought to the forefront of any discussion about reforming the Medicaid program,” the Commission called for transparency in Medicaid payments to providers as well as data collection on “how Medicaid money is being spent to determine which programs, providers, and services are effective and which need improvement.” Payments to providers should be “tied to objective measures of risk- and case-adjusted medical outcomes” to ensure patients are getting the care they need. The Commission also suggests that CMS establish a National Health Care Innovations Program “1) support the implementation of state-led, system-wide demonstrations in health care reform and 2) make data design specifications available to all other states for possible adoption.” “CMS and Congress should support state innovation to deliver value for taxpayer dollars by purchasing quality health care outcomes as opposed to simply reimbursing for health care processes,” the report continues. A medical home, defined by the Commission as “a source of primary health care that provides accessible, comprehensive, coordinated care,” is also recommended for each beneficiary to improve care coordination. Existing barriers to the creation of medical homes should be eliminated. Health IT The Commission calls for all Medicaid beneficiaries to have an electronic health record by 2012 and for HHS to continue supporting the implementation of health IT from the federal level. Congressional initiatives to support health IT are “hampered,” the report said, by the current Congressional Budget Office scoring process used to determine the cost of legislation because CBO does not take into account future savings. The Commission suggested that costs be amortized over five years and long-term savings be counted. To ensure interoperability, the report says that Medicaid agencies should require participating providers to adopt health IT systems that meet recognized standards. Long term care The Commission recommends the adoption of public policy that supports individual planning for long term care and respects beneficiary preference to “stay at home in their communities in the least restrictive or most integrated setting appropriate to their long-term care needs.” However, in a dissenting opinion, Medicaid Commission member Gwen Gillenwater of the American Association of People with Disabilities said that the report fails to “deal with Medicaid’s institutional bias” and that it “would do nothing to give Medicaid beneficiaries a true choice between HCBS [home- and community-based services] and nursing homes and do nothing to address the myriad of state policies and programs that determine who can and cannot qualify for HCBS.” The Medicaid Commission was established by Secretary Leavitt under Public Law 92-463, Federal Advisory Committee Act to provide recommendations on modernizing the Medicaid program. The first report, submitted in September 2005, included recommendations for achieving $10 billion in Medicaid savings over five years as well as meaningful program changes to enhance beneficiary care. This second and final report addresses longer-term changes to ensure the future of the Medicaid program. Read the report at: http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/medicaid/122906rpt.pdf Back to top Wanted: Public Comment on Anti-Fraud Guidelines for EHRs RTI International, under contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, is seeking comment from industry leaders, practitioners and the general public on model recommendations to prevent medical claims errors and detect health care fraud in electronic health record systems (EHRs). The standards aim to improve claims accuracy and to reduce the ability of individuals to create fraudulent claims and other improper payments against public and private health care plans. “Currently, most billing errors or fraud is detected after payment is made, which makes dealing with the claims very inefficient for both the provider and the payer,” said Colleen McCue, PhD, a senior research scientist at RTI and project manager. “EHR systems will allow for the opportunity to correctly bill from the very beginning, which will help physicians to receive accurate payments and ultimately will reduce fraud.” Once finalized, the model anti-fraud requirements will be submitted to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology as potential EHR anti-fraud certification criteria. The recommendations are available for review and comment at: http://ehrantifrauddev.rti.org. Comments must be submitted by January 22, 2007. Back to top NIH Site Offers Information on Depression for Seniors Information on depression was recently added to NIHSeniorHealth.gov, an award-winning Web site designed to provide accessible, easy to understand aging-related health information especially for adults age 60 to 88. The Web site and materials were developed by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine. The depression materials, which were contributed by the National Institute of Mental Health, include segments titled “About Depression;” “Causes and Risk Factors;” “Symptoms and Diagnosis;” “ Treatment and Research;” “Frequently Asked Questions;” and a link to Medline Plus for more information. Read more at: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/depression/toc.html Other topics available include common senior health problems such as diabetes, medication administration, falls, heart failure, and heart attack. Design of the Web site ensures that information is easy for seniors to see, understand, and navigate. An audio button allows text to be read aloud; other buttons can increase text size and/or contrast to improve readability. Back to top National Campaign to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalization in Home Health Patients Kicks Off at CMS Headquarters At the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) headquarters in Baltimore, national home care and health care leaders kicked off the 2007 Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI) National Campaign, an initiative that unites the home care community under a shared vision of reducing avoidable hospitalizations to improve patient quality of care. To date, more than 3000 agencies have signed up to participate – with more than 1200 doing so within the first hours of the Campaign. Patients would prefer to stay at home whenever possible while recuperating from an injury or illness. Being hospitalized can create financial and emotional burdens for patients and their families, and can negatively impact the health care delivery system. Currently, more than one in four home health patient episodes will result in a hospitalization. HHQI seeks to change that by bringing the home care community together to share tools, resources, guidelines, information, and best practices among agencies across the country. “Providing quality post acute care is a high priority for CMS,” said Barry Straube, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality. “To help achieve our vision for the right care for every person every time, we are pleased to have a broad array of stakeholders working together in the home care setting to reduce avoidable hospitalizations that will improve patient satisfaction, outcomes, and save Medicare dollars.” The Campaign Similar in structure to the national nursing home campaign (Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes) launched last September, HHQI is a 12-month campaign led by CMS and the Home Health QIOSC (Quality Insights of Pennsylvania) and includes key home health, hospital, physician, and managed care stakeholders. The goal is to increase the number of home care patients able to remain in their home and avoid hospitalizations. Success will be measured by a reduction in the average acute care hospitalization rate across all participating home health agencies by a five percent relative improvement from baseline to the end of the Campaign. Participants will be assisted by local area networks of excellence, or LANEs. “We started planning this campaign in September 2006 and already 95 percent of states and territories have LANEs,” said Marian Essey, RN, BSN, Director, Home Health Quality Improvement at Quality Insights of Pennsylvania. The primary role of LANEs will be ongoing communication with participating agencies in their states. “We have been very pleased with the response from QIOs and state home care associations in their willingness to act as a LANE in their states or territories. A very high number of QIOs have committed to act as a LANE. The stakeholder enthusiasm for this campaign has been tremendous. We attribute the large number of early home health agency participants to the outreach and enthusiasm of the stakeholders and QIOs,” continued Ms. Essey. Home health agencies wishing to join the campaign can register online. Each will receive a welcome packet with information on the Campaign as well as a logo and certificate of participation. The early adopters that signed up within the first 24 hours will receive a special logo and recognition as a “premier agency.” Participation is free and no additional data collection will be required. Each state’s QIO will provide participating agencies with data comparing individual agency performance with all Medicare home health agencies. The Home Health QIOSC will provide each LANE with a monthly eBulletin to assist in their efforts to act as champions for the Campaign and support ongoing communications with participating agencies. Beginning in March and monthly thereafter, a new Best Practice Intervention Package will be available on the HHQI website (www.homehealthquality.org). Each package focuses on one of the 12 top best practices available to reduce hospitalization. The Summit More than 200 people representing QIOs, health care industry leaders, home health agencies, CMS, and AHQA attended the kick-off event held in Baltimore. After welcome remarks from Cynthia Pamon, RN, BSN, CCM, CPUM, Home Health Government Task Leader for CMS, Ms. Essey, who moderated the event, introduced the Campaign and its overall goals. The Campaign “seeks to unite the home care community under a shared vision” for improved care explained Dr. Straube in his presentation, which explained how the Campaign fit in CMS’ overall goals to improve care for all Medicare beneficiaries. Presenting the physician perspective, Steve Winbery, PhD, MD, Medical Director at QSource, the Tennessee QIO, stressed that good, coordinated communication between the physician and home care provider is critical to improving care. Pursuing support or advocacy from a medical director who can participate in peer-to-peer communication with providers might help, he suggested Dr. Winbery also called for more frequent review and updating of OASIS measures to ensure that the measurement accurately reflects performance. Interspersed throughout the day-long event were taped vignettes featuring home health patients and their providers discussing the importance of receiving care at home and how it has impacted their health and improved their quality of life. These vignettes and other information from the event are available online at: http://www.homehealthquality.org/hh/summit/default.aspx. The home health care provider is the “hub of a lot of different settings,” said Robyn Stone, DrPH, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Dr. Stone presented an integrated model for care improvement, which includes person-centeredness, staff improvement, and continuous quality improvement. Good communications and personal interactions are integral to the clinical aspects of home care, she said. On December 13, 2006, CMS announced a home health demonstration pay-for-performance program designed to improve quality of care without increasing cost, said James Coan, Office of Research Development and Information at CMS. Mr. Coan said that two-year voluntary program scheduled to begin in October 2007, would use existing quality measures and compensate both the top performers and those showing the most improvement over time. Proposed measures for the demo include: acute care hospitalization, emergent care, bathing, ambulation, transferring, incontinence, oral medications, and surgical wounds. More information on the demo is available at www.hhp4p.info. Members of the Home Health QIO Executive Steering Committee rounded out the event with comments about how their respective organizations would support the campaign and provided resources available to HHQI participants. Founding stakeholders of HHQI include: National Association for Home Care and Hospice; American Association for Homecare; Visiting Nurse Association of America; American Telemedicine Association; Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association; Care Transitions Program, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; American Occupational Therapy Association; American Physical Therapy Association; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; Gentiva Health Services; Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Center for Home Care Policy and Research; The Remington Report; CMS and QIOs. The HHQI official Web site is: www.homehealthquality.org. Back to top SAVE THE DATE Health Affairs Briefing Health Information Technology And Rapid Learning HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt To Kick Off Discussion On How Electronic Health Records Can Speed Advances In Medical Care WHEN: Friday, January 26, 2007 – Washington, D.C. 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Columbus Club Union Station [Union Station metro stop] WHO: Michael O. Leavitt, Health & Human Services Secretary John Lumpkin, M.D., Senior Vice President and Health Care Group Director, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Lynn Etheredge, consultant, Health Insurance Reform Project at the George Washington University David Eddy, M.D., Medical Director and Founder, Archimedes Joel Kupersmith, M.D., Chief Research & Development Officer, Veterans Health Administration Paul Wallace, M.D., Medical Director, Health and Productivity Management Programs, Kaiser Permanente John Iglehart, Founding Editor, Health Affairs RSVP: Please RSVP for this event online at www.burnesscommunications.com/new. For more information about this event, contact Erin Kerr at ekerr@burnesscommunications.com or 301-652-1558. Back to top New Weekly News Report on Disparities Available for Free The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) recently launched a free weekly email news report on racial and ethnic disparities. The Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look at Race, Ethnicity and Health summarizes and synthesizes news coverage of minority health issues from hundreds of print and broadcast news sources, including outlets serving racial and ethnic communities. The report will also highlight studies, initiatives and journal articles that don’t receive mainstream news coverage, and provide a calendar of upcoming events on health disparities. KFF will also expand its coverage to include webcasts of policy-oriented conferences and events on racial and ethnic health issues and provide related original broadcast programming such as interviews and interactive panel discussions. “With this new report, our aim is to bring news and developments on health disparities on a real-time basis to people working in the field, especially outside the beltway,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. To sign up and get more information, visit: http://www.kff.org/profile/subscriptions.cfm?site=kaisernetwork Back to top Spanish Health Resource Available A Spanish version of the 290-page Alliance for Health Reform book, “Covering Health Issues,” is now available free for downloading at www.allhealth.org/sourcebookTOC.asp?SBID=2 Although the resource was developed to educate news reporters covering health care issues, much of the material is relevant to the general public. The publication includes basic but thorough information on Medicaid, Medicare, children’s health coverage, disparities, mental health, the uninsured and an array of other topics. It also includes a complete glossary of health coverage terms in Spanish. “La cobertura periodística de temas de salud 2006 – 2007” is the latest in a series of guides produced at the Alliance, with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. To download the publication (by chapter), visit www.allhealth.org/sourcebookTOC.asp?SBID=2. Back to top AHRQ Database Provides Health Insurance Cost Data for Large US Cities A new federal database developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) offers companies, consumers, health care analysts and others the ability to compare health insurance costs among the nation’s largest cities. The database, based on information from AHRQ’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey for 2004, provides comparable statistics on average annual costs for companies and workers contributing to private-sector health insurance. It is available at: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/Insurance.jsp. Large geographical variations are evident in how much Americans pay for family and individual coverage as well as how much employers contribute to workers’ health insurance premiums. The data include statistical averages from the following cities and surrounding areas: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Houston, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, Riverside, Phoenix, Seattle, Minneapolis, San Diego, St. Louis, Baltimore and Tampa. “We already know that the quality of health care can vary significantly according to geography,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, MD in a press release. “These new data highlight local cost variations and may help employers make annual benefit plan decisions.” NIH Plan Aims to Transform Clinical Research The Journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics recently published the article “Translational Research: Moving Discovery to Practice” by Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health, which outlines plans to change the nation’s approach to clinical research. Drawing from the NIH Roadmap, an ongoing plan developed in consultation with scientists and clinicians, the NIH recently awarded the first 12 of about 60 total Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) to academic health centers throughout the nation. When fully implemented in 2012, the institutions will be linked together to become a national research consortium that increase the efficiency of clinical research and allow patients quicker, more widespread access to new treatments and processes that can improve care. “Working together, these sites will serve as discovery engines that will improve medical care by applying new scientific advances to real-world practice,” writes Dr. Zerhouni. In addition to “Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise,” under which the CTSA grants fall, the NIH Roadmap also includes plans for “New Pathways to Discovery,” and “Research Teams of the Future.” Read the roadmap at: http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/ The NIH has issued a second request for applications for CTSAs grants with a submission deadline of January 17, 2007; awards are expected to be made in fall 2007. The Request for Applications is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-002.html. For more information about this initiative, visit http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/clinicaldiscipline.asp. The full text of Dr. Zerhouni’s article is available free at: http://www.nature.com/clpt/journal/v81/n1/full/6100029a.html Back to top Commonwealth: Using Research Effectively in State Policymaking The Commonwealth Fund recently released “Toward More Effective Use of Research in State Policymaking,” a publication to help state policymakers turn health services research into action through a conceptual framework. The report uses the creation and launch of Massachusetts statewide health plan as a case study to demonstrate the four stages if its framework: understanding the scope and extent of the problem; developing options; implementing a program/policy; and evaluating the program/policy. Practical lessons and communication strategies are gleaned from interviews with researchers working on state issues and state health policymakers. Recommendations are presented as targeted tools for researchers and policymakers separately, to address their unique roles. The full report is available free at: http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/Meyer_towardmoreeffectiveusestatepolicymaking_980.pdf Back to top

Home :: Inside AHQA :: For The Media :: Public Policy :: Advancing Quality :: Quality Connections :: SiteMap