Healthcare is increasingly a data-driven enterprise. The accelerating adoption of evidence-based medicine, the coming revolution in personalized medicine, the advent of the electronic health record and the dedication of stimulus funds and reformers’ political capital to the institutionalization of comparative effectiveness research all speak to the growing centrality of empirical data in medical practice.
Healthcare Reform
CBO: Baucus bill shaves deficit by $81 billion
The Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill would cut the federal deficit by $81 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which also said the deficit tripled to $1.4 trillion this year.
But the CBO’s estimate, which puts the total cost of the finance panel’s bill at $829 billion, is “preliminary” and “significant changes” could be in store once it has a chance to review the full text of the bill, the Bloomberg news service reported.
Massachusetts healthcare payment reform hearing set for tomorrow on Beacon Hill
A joint committee of Massachusetts lawmakers will hear testimony tomorrow on how to pay for the Commonwealth’s (nearly) universal health insurance plan.
In July, a special committee called the Health Care Payment System Commission released a 77-page report advocating for changes in how healthcare is paid for in the Bay State.
Healthcare industries’ tab for reform: $121 billion
The healthcare industry tab for the reform initiative rose to an estimated $121 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, The Associated Press reported.
The medical device industry’s share would be $40 billion over the decade-long span covered in a bill out of the Senate Finance Committee.
Report: Senate delays vote on healthcare reform
The U.S. Senate’s vote on healthcare reform legislation will be pushed back a least a week as a key committee waits on the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the cost of the measure, the Wall Street Journal reported.
That means debate on the Senate floor won’t happen by Oct. 12 as originally planned. The finance panel expects the CBO report “later this week,” a congressional aide told the newspaper, delaying its final vote on the measure as well.
UPDATE: Device industry to Baucus: How about $15 billion instead?
The medical device industry’s lobbying push to scale back a proposed 10-year, $40 billion tax is coming down to the wire, as a vote on the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill nears.
The industry’s Washington mouthpiece, AdvaMed, wants the $4 billion-per-year proposal pared to just $1.5 billion a year, according to the Wall Street Journal (paid), an offer that is probably not enough to mollify the panel’s chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and other Democrats on the committee.
Washington wrap-up: Obama announces $5 billion medical spending plan
President Barack Obama announced plans to spend a $5 billion chunk of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on the medical industry, the Reuters news service reported.
In a speech Sept. 30, Obama said the money, in the form of grants taken from the $787 billion economic stimulus package, will be spent on medical and scientific research, medical supplies and upgrading laboratory capacity.
California’s House delegation protests medical device tax
A group of 20 House representatives from California sent a letter to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) protesting his proposal to levy a $40 billion tax on the medical device industry to help pay for healthcare reform.
JP Morgan analyst says device makers tax might not be as deep as originally feared
Medical device makers may only have to pay half of the proposed $4 billion annual nut Washington lawmakers were calling for to pay for healthcare reform, according to an analyst at JP Morgan & Chase.
The Bloomberg news service is reporting that Michael Weinstein, an analyst at the investment bank, put out a note to investors saying device makers may only have to pay about half of the proposed 3 percent annual tax on industry, thanks to negotiations between industry leaders and the White House.
Kerry expresses concern over taxing the medical device industry
Sen. John Kerry voiced concern, but not outright opposition, to a proposed $4 billion annual surcharge on medical device makers’ sales.
Kerry, the lone senator from Massachusetts, issued a statement through his press office in Washington saying that, “we should explore whether there are better ways to raise revenue than assessing across the board excise taxes on specific sectors of the health industry.”
Reports: Device makers scurry to derail Baucus tax proposal
The medical device industry is scrabbling to derail a proposal by Sen. Max Baucus to levy a $4 billion a year “reform contribution” on device makers as part of the healthcare reform initiative, according to news reports.