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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries
"Blog Watch" offers readers a roundup of health policy-related blog posts.Bloggers are tentatively reacting to a report and blog post released by the Congressional Budget Office that summarizes the agency"s approach to estimating the cost of any health overhaul bills. At issue is how CBO will count different stipulations of legislation -- like an individual mandate or a public plan -- and whether their conclusions will result in a heftier price tag. Douglas Elmendorf explained on the Director"s Blog: "In CBO"s view, the key consideration is whether a proposal would be making health insurance an essentially governmental program, tightly controlled by the federal government with little choice available to those who offer and buy health insurance -- or whether the system would provide significant flexibility in terms of the types, prices, and number of private-sector sellers of insurance available to people. The former -- a governmental program -- belongs in the federal budget (including all premiums paid by individuals and firms to private insurers), but the latter -- a largely private-sector system -- does not." Janet Adamy of the Wall Street Journal"s Washington Wire notes that the report doesn"t address the cost estimates of the scenarios. Alan Katz on his Health Care Reform Blog concludes, "the message is clear: the looser government"s hand grips the new health care system the smaller its budgetary impact." Liberal bloggers had a variety of reactions -- some found the report too vague, while others saw it as good news. The New Republic"s Jonathan Cohn says, "you may need a Talmudic scholar to figure out what those implications are." Cohn continues, "Other passages in the briefing are [similarly] vexing and, for what it"s worth, the reactions I"ve gotten from insiders familiar with the report have ranged from sighs of relief to statements not suitable for a family blog." Ezra Klein agrees the report lacks specificity, but says, "Even so, I"m cheered by the simple existence of this ruling. The fact that CBO is explaining its thinking before legislation arrives [is] yet more evidence that CBO appears, insofar as it can, to be trying to help out on health reform. ... That"s an important change from past years." Interesting Elsewhere:
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States Undergo A Variety Of Health Care Policy Developments
Connecticut: The Associated Press/Hartford Courant reports, "Gov. M. Jodi Rell has vetoed two health insurance bills he said were "well-intentioned" but "would cost the state billions of dollars before any economic recovery is complete." Unions and health care advocates had pressured the Republican governor to sign the measures. "[O]ne of the billsò€¦ opens the state"s health insurance plan to municipalities, small businesses and nonprofit agencies. The second bill creates a new public authority to develop a plan to extend coverage to the state"s uninsured." It"s not yet clear if Democrats, who have a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly, will try to override Rell"s action (7/8).
News of the day
Statement From American Association Of Kidney Patients Kidney Failure Is No Laughing Matter
The American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) is very disappointed with Wanda Sykes" comedic comments regarding kidney failure and Rush Limbaugh at the White House Correspondent Dinner over the weekend. While Ms. Sykes" comments were most likely made in a light-hearted manner, hundreds of thousands of kidney disease patients and their loved ones do not see kidney failure as a laughing matter. Nearly 400,000 Americans are receiving dialysis as a life saving treatment for kidney failure and 26 million Americans have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which means they are at risk for losing their kidney function. In addition, 20 million Americans are at risk for CKD and do not even know it.
Cardiovascular

GP Surgeries Use SMS To Advise Patients On Swine Flu, UK

GP Surgeries in Camden are successfully sending out text messages advising patients on what to do if they think they have Swine Flu. The GP surgeries are some of the first to use text messaging as a way to help people deal with the Swine Flu pandemic. The iPLATO Patient Care Messaging service, which is being used by the surgeries to send out the Swine Flu related text messages, was originally funded by the PCT to improve efficiency and performance across a range of healthcare areas. This use of the iPLATO platform to communicate Swine Flu specific information is a great way to use the text messaging channel - which has proved to be both a highly responsive and by definition "personal" method of GP Surgery/Patient communication. Furthermore, the system allows information to be targeted to specific patient groups that most need it, allowing patients to text back a reply (as appropriate) arriving at the surgery as an email to a predefined email address. The Camden surgeries sent out a text message advising patients on the best steps to take should they suspect that they (or a family member) might be showing the symptoms of Swine Flu. The messages were aimed at encouraging patients to phone a flu pandemic line first rather than call or visit their surgery. It also provided an opportunity to signpost patients to a relevant website to access further Swine Flu specific information. The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, has said that in the worst case scenario 30% of the UK population could be infected by the H1N1 virus, with 65,000 killed. By using every available communication channel to update patients on what to do if they think they have Swine Flu, Healthcare Provider Organisations can potentially greatly decrease the impact of the Swine Flu pandemic. The Camden GP surgeries are certainly leading the way by seeking to utilise all their res and demonstrating best practice by using the iPLATO text messaging service in this way. Since sending out the message the surgeries have had less Swine Flu patients coming into the surgery in person and more patients calling up instead as advised. The use of the iPLATO system in this way has shown how effective the text messaging channel can be in a pandemic scenario. The more the population is educated about Swine Flu the better, and with GP users across 40+ PCTs, the iPLATO platform could play a very significant role in support of this. Sandra Anderson, Senior Administrator of the Rosslyn Hill Practice in NHS Camden said, "Since sending out the message it has eased pressure off our surgery. Patients are calling in and getting advice about Swine Flu instead of coming into the surgery in person. It"s important to contact patients by all means possible when it comes to a pandemic and we are very happy to have iPLATO Patient Care Messaging to help us do that. Since so many of our patients have mobiles, text messaging is the best way to contact them quickly. Jeff Mitchell, IT Manager of the James Wigg Practice in NHS Camden said, "Using the text messaging service to reach 8,500 patients led to an immediate decrease in the volume of calls concerning swine flu and an increase the hits on our website where we provide Q&A for the patient. We know people are very concerned about Swine Flu and we want them to know what to do if they think they are infected. Many of our patients have mobile phones and text is a great way to send out a message instantly." iPLATO Healthcare


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