Facts & Resources
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released new state health data on its “State Snapshot” website. This site includes a wealth of information related to state health quality, as compared to national quality benchmarks.
Did you know that of the 34 million Americans between the ages of 55-64, more than 4 million do not have insurance. These Americans, often called “early retirees” face a myriad of unique health and financial challenges that can complicate their ability to receive adequate health care coverage.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that drug manufacturers report to Congress the annual number of free prescription drug samples they give to each practitioner. Currently, little is known about the impact that drug samples have on physicians' prescribing habits, or on drug costs. This data will be a step toward learning more about the true impact of the practice.
The National Academy of State Health Policy (NASHP) has developed a toolkit for individuals and groups working on state health policy implementation.
Since enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Small Business Majority has been active in California with policy makers, small businesses, media outlets, health policy experts and advocates to amplify the voice of small business owners.
While insurance market reforms required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) get top billing, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that the nation’s network of Community Health Centers (CHC) will be a critical element in fulfilling reform’s promise. Today more than 8,000 CHC’s are the source of primary health services for over 20 million people and are expected to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and providers that do not welcome Medicaid patients. Congress authorized more than $11 billion in funding to support 15,000 new centers expected to provide services for over 20 million new people starting in 2011.
Health Reform GPS, a joint project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the George Washington University Department of Health Policy, has posted an overview of the Medicare Prescription Drug Discount and Rebate Program, as well as a description of the aid made available to low-income Medicare beneficiaries by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The overview provides some background on the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit, the changes that were made by ACA, and the plan for implementing these reform benefits.
Click here to read the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit overview.
Click here to read an LA Times article regarding when seniors may expect to receive rebate checks as part of the reform benefit.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA) provided more than two billion dollars to community health centers for improvement in capital, expansion of personnel and adopting a Health Information Technology (HIT) system. While it has achieved the goal of directing temporary resources into community health centers and HIT, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has helped ensure these resources maintain required support enabling them to serve at-risk communities.
To access a report by GWU School of Public Health detailing the Early Effects of ARRA Funding , Click here
In a new report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and commissioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), researchers recommend that food safety officials utilize stricter scientific standards when using biomarker tests to settle food safety claims. Biomarkers, such as high cholesterol, are used to predict clinical outcomes, such as rate of heart attacks, to expedite safety review processes or when data is difficult to attain. The FDA’s current review practices utilize stricter standards for drugs and medical devices than they do for evaluation of foods and nutritional supplements, which the panel found can create quality control hazards. The IOM panel recommended a framework which the FDA can use to incorporate biomarker data into its reviews, but cautioned that the FDA must also apply the same rigor in its analysis that they use when reviewing pharmaceutical products.
Click here to read the panel’s full report and recommendations.
Helping consumers make comparative evaluations of health care providers, as one does when buying a car, is an important step toward sustainable, affordable health system reform, though there is very little comparative data available. However, the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, a collaboration of physician groups, hospitals, and health plans, provides data on the cost and quality of care in Wisconsin. Collaborative members publically report quality and cost measures and share best practices to ensure a high quality, affordable health care system.
To see what information is available to Wisconsin residents, including detailed reports which help care seekers compare different providers on the bases of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality click here.
To read the Kaiser Health News story on this issue, click here.
To read an NCHC article which discusses this issue, click here.
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92% of surveyed doctors reported that they received free drug samples from drug industry representatives.
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