Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rep. Paul Ryan yesterday unveiled an updated proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Their plan, unlike Ryan’s original plan, would be optional and wouldn’t cap federal contributions at inflationary growth (which, in Ryan’s original non-voluntary plan, would have left seniors picking up two-thirds of the tab). It would cap the growth in federal spending at GDP+1%, according to published reports.
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Preventing hospital readmissions for heart failure
Financial crimes against science
The U.S. attorney in Minneapolis settled a kickback case with device maker Medtronic yesterday, with the company agreeing to pay $23.5 million without admitting it paid doctors $1,000 to $2,000 for choosing its brand of defibrillator.
Decisions
Distracted doctoring
I’ve written about some of the perils of using consumer devices on hospital networks .
Now add to that risk, the distraction of mixing personal activities with patient treatment.
A roving eye: Home health monitoring with robotic systems
The doctor will
see you now
The most expensive way to deliver care is in a hospital – but discharging patients too soon can lead to complications and rehospitalizations. That’s where robots can help – and sometimes a robot can be as simple as a video/audio system that can roll around under remote control, transmitting communications over a Verizon 4G cellular network.
Sebelius (Obama) to FDA (Hamburg): Shut up on Plan B
The Food and Drug Administration said the science backs Teva’s application to make the "morning after" pill available to all women, no matter what age, as an over-the-counter medication without a prescription.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, in a letter to FDA Commissioner Hamburg today, said no dice.
Imagining Chicago’s skyline without health care
Wyden covers Ryan’s retreat on Medicare vouchers
Last spring, the House passed on a straight party-line vote Rep. Paul Ryan’s mandatory Medicare privatization plan, which the Congressional Budget Office said would force future seniors to pick up two-thirds of their health care costs with no guarantee that those costs would come down.
The December HIT standards committee meeting
Innovation opportunities from health care reform
President Obama signs the Patient Protection &
Affordable Care Act, March 23, 2010.
(Pete Souza/Wikimedia Commons)
By Naomi Fried