health care
Capuano explains:
Although I am not happy with every aspect of this bill, I have come to the conclusion that the benefits for Massachusetts and the country outweigh the problems.
During the last week we have been able to significantly increase the amounts coming to Massachusetts and to secure other funds that had been in jeopardy. In total, during this last week, roughly $4 billion has been protected for the Commonwealth as this bill has been readied for a vote. From a more general view, this bill also extends coverage to millions more Americans, prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and creates health insurance exchanges for people to purchase affordable coverage. It also increases funding for Community Health Centers, and makes key investments in training doctors, nurses and other health care providers. And it does all this without harming the interests of Massachusetts.
From the other side, Sissy Willis reports from today's anti-HCR rally in front of Faneuil Hall.
Mike Ball, who calls Lynch a "suddenly unbearable" small embarassment, posts his phone numbers and a Web site on which you can send him a message.
Mike Durant posts a copy of the letter he sent Lynch, who happens to be his representative:
... My question is: do you want to kill healthcare reform for this generation, or do you want to work on it some more? Voting against the bill kills it. Voting for it gives you the opportunity to work on it more. ...
The CEO of Blue Cross-Blue Shield has quit; insurer says it has nothing to do with large losses, Cleve Killingsworth just decided giving lectures would be more interesting.
The Globe reports on how some hospitals and doctors are more equal than others, based on data from Harvard Pilgrim.
Dr. Michael Bailin demonstrates an awake endotracheal intubation at Mass. General - on himself:
Via Dr. T, herself an anesthesiologist, who watched the video admiringly.
They tend to see the worst cases. Kristen, a nurse who lives in Randolph, is blogging about her life after gastric bypass surgery - and how hard it was at first for her to even think about it:
... Working as a medical nurse for 5 years, my only real knowledge about weight loss surgery came from the patients I cared for that came in with some really horrible complications. The one I will never forget was the woman who was one-year post op and was only ever able to eat eggs and cheese. Anything else made her vomit. Literally, just plain eggs ... and cheese. (This is my personal version of hell on earth) She made me swear to never ever get this surgery and told me she regretted it everyday. I was mortified. ...
But then one day she met another nurse who'd had the procedure and seemed so, well, normal.
Via Paul Levy.
By Medicare inspectors, the Globe reports.
Beth Israel Deaconess CIO John Halamka explains how the hospital spends $1 million a year protecting its network and records.
If you haven't read Sean Murphy's two-part series on health coverage for municipal workers - especially, the bonus coverage for volunteer officials, you should (here and here). But as Nast asked, what are you (meaning we) going to do about it?
The Boston Business Journal reports on dismal financial news from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Fallon Community Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Tufts Health Plan lost money on operations, but ended the year in the black thanks to investments.
The Boston Public Health Commission reports a double-digit decline in salmonella cases among Bostonians of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, which it credits to a public-awarness campaign aimed at Chinatown residents.
According to the commission:
In 2007 Asian/Pacific Islanders in Boston accounted for 23 percent of the 175 salmonella cases, though they made up just 8 percent of the city's population. By 2009 they represented only 8 percent of the 135 reported salmonella cases, a 65 percent decrease. Similarly, in 2007, Asian/Pacific Islanders were 41 percent of all salmonella cases in children under age 10, compared to 15 percent in 2009.
In 2008, in response to high rates, the city began a "Chill, Clean, Separate, and Cook" food-safety campaign focused on showing residents how to more safely cook food.
The Globe reports on the problem of sensors that could save patient lives being turned off or simply ignored.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority today approved a 10-year construction project that will reshape the gateway to the Longwood Medical Area at the Riverway and Brookline Avenue. Read more
With in-patient stays on the rise and community hospitals beginning to close pediatric units, Children's Hospital said today it hopes to break ground this spring on an addition on Binney Street to add new beds. Read more
The state legislature's Joint Committee on the Judiciary holds a hearing March 2 on a bill that would ban "genital mutilation" on people under 18, with the threat of a 14-year jail sentence for violators.
The bill as currently written would ban circumcisions done for religious reasons:
[N]o account shall be taken of the effect on the person on whom the operation is to be performed of any belief on the part of that or any other person that the operation is required as a matter of custom or ritual.
The bill would grant exemptions for procedures done for health reasons.
Via Chaz.
Paul Levy, CEO at Beth Israel Deaconess (and, yes, a Charlie Baker backer), explains why Deval Patrick's attempt to regulate health-insurance premiums will fail because it ignores the monopolistic overhead charged by archrival Partners HealthCare - a factor Coakley noted in a report released just two weeks ago.
The Outraged Liberal got outraged this morning trying to read a Globe story about insurers paying certain hospitals too much money for care that isn't really any better, because an ad for former Harvard-Pilgrim CEO turned gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker popped up right over the text.
Tinker Ready, meanwhile, wonders why Attorney General Martha Coakley plans on releasing this report without naming the hospitals that provide Chevy services at Cadillac prices; seems like a massively general hospital overview like that doesn't do much good in solving the issues it raises - which apparently also says hospitals that provide the most care for poor people get paid even less.
Dr. T recalls the time she had just finished giving a patient sitting on an operating table before an operation a spinal anesthetic:
... All of a sudden the nurse's eyes widened and she said in a firm voice, "Sit down. Sit down right now. Right now, sit down, RIGHT NOW." She was gazing past me. I put my hands on the patient's shoulders and turned my head to glance over my shoulder in time to see the nursing student teetering on her feet trying to make her way to the nearest wall. With me now in charge of holding our patient, the nursed rushed around the operating table toward the student and arrived just in time to support her crumpling body before it hit the floor. ...
Standard & Poor's slashes its credit rating over poor financial outlook, the Boston Business Journal reports.
The Outraged Liberal notes a Washington Bureau preview of Obama's state-of-the-union address buys into the national-press mantra that the recent Senate election was all about health care when the Globe's homies in Boston are busy writing there were other issues involved:
... Maybe they should get out of Washington and come home a little more often. Or at least read their own paper. ...
But maybe that's still better than the Herald's obsession with Brown's treasure trail.
From BPHC
The Boston Public Health Commission has posted findings from a study of swine-flu cases in Boston over the past year. One key finding: Hispanics required hospitalization for H1N1 more than four times as often as whites; black three times as often. Almost half the blacks requiring a hospital stay had asthma, which the commission says underscores the need for particularly active vaccination programs for people with certain other existing health issues (UPDATE: Sharp-eyed, statistics-minded SwirlyGrrl notes in the comments the problem seems to be among minority children, not adults). Read more
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO made news this spring when he sought employee help in making cuts to reduce the number of layoffs. Now, he reports, he asked the staff what to do should hospital finances continue to improve. Based on their advice, and if the upward trends continue, the hospital will restore pay increases on April 1.
Beth Israel Deaconess CEO Paul Levy posts an exchange of e-mails among surgeons over a new requirement that they complete an online training module brought in after a surgeon operated on the wrong side of a patient last year. However, he omits the name of the surgeon who thinks he would never make a mistake like that and that the training is just a waste of his time.
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