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Author Archives: Kathleen
Legislative Malpractice
Nothing Is more terrible than ignorance in action, Goethe With the news that the Senate will not confirm Don Berwick, MD, CMS, Administrator, that expression has moved from ‘ignorance in action’ to ‘maliciousness in action.’ CMS has been leaderless for … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, budget cuts, health insurance, health promotioin, policy and politics
Tagged AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, doctors, drugs, economics, health care costs, health care quality, health insurance, health policy, HMOs, House, illness, insurance, labor unions, madicare, Medicaid, medical care, medications, nurses, physicians, politics, public health, rural hospitals, Senate
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Disposable
They come in all forms—diapers, razor blades, cell phones. We use them, wear them out and toss them without a thought into the trash to go to some land fill somewhere we will never see. Hauled off, out of sight. … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, budget cuts, health insurance, health promotioin, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, AARP, addiction, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, drug benefit, drugs, economics, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, HMOs, hospitals, illness, income, insurance, labor, Medicaid, medical care, Medicare, medications, mental health, nurses, nursing, pharmacy, poverty, public health, Republican, Republicans, rural hospitals, seniors, unions
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National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategies
The current Integrator Blog looks at a new study from Group Health Cooperative on including CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) providers in patient satisfaction and health outcomes. See the story and a link to the article http://theintegratorblog.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=724&Itemid=189 The timing is … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, health promotioin, policy and politics
Tagged AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, CAM, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, doctors, drugs, Group Health Cooperative, health care costs, health care quality, health policy, HMOs, holistic health, hospitals, House, illness, income, insurance, integrative medicine, labor, labor unions, medical care, medications, mental health, nurses, pharmacy, politics, public health, Republican, rural hospitals, Senate
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Some thoughts about Medicare Advantage and Medicare HMO’s
This op-ed originally ran in The Seattle Times in July 2000. At that time, the Medicare HMO’s were being dumped in droves. When thinking about changes in Medicare now and the Medicare Advantage program–the same thing is going to happen. … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, economics, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, HMOs, hospitals, House of Representatives, illness, income, insurance, labor, labor unions, life insurance, Medicaid, medical care, Medicare, medications, nurses, nursing, physicians, politics, public health, Republican, rural hospitals, Senate, unions
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A terrific resource
If our health care system were simple, it might be easier to make out what is happening legislatively and who is and who isn’t impacted by the Affordable Care Act. For health care policy novices, there is a law called … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, affordable care act, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, doctors, drugs, economics, ERISA, health care, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, health policy, HMOs, hospitals, House of Representatives, illness, income, insurance, labor, labor unions, medical care, medications, nursing, physicians, politics, Republican, rural hospitals, Senate, socialized medicine, unions
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Health Care for the Economy
I have recently compiled my columns from The Seattle Times from 2000 to 2004. http://blog.oconnorhealthanalyst.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/kathleens-selected-columns-2000-04-final.pdf I am re-printing below one of them which I thought was of particular interest. It ran in October 2003. We would have to change only a few … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Democrats, doctors, drugs, economics, economy, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health policy, HMOs, hospitals, illness, insurance, labor, labor unions, medical care, medications, nurses, nursing, physicians, politics, poverty, Progressive Party, public health, Republican, Republicans, social insurance, socialized medicine
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Selected Columns
I wrote a column for The Seattle Times for four years. I compiled them recently only to be astonished how little the issues have changed. You can take the content and change the date, and a few dollar amounts, and … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, drugs, economics, health care, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, health policy, HMOs, hospitals, House of Representatives, illness, labor, labor unions, medical care, medications, mental health, nurses, physicians, politics, Progressive Party, public health, Republican, Senate, socialized medicine, unions
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CCMC Final Recommendations: 1932
The CCMC’s final report summarized its earlier findings and recommendations, but it added a new fifth recommendation that would be the final nail in the coffin of the Committee’s work: Education. The CCMC believed a group practice model would wholly … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, affordable care act, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, complexity of care, Congress, Democrats, drugs, economics, Health and Human Services, health care, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, health policy, HMOs, hospitals, illness, insurance, labor, labor unions, medical care, medications, mental health, nurses, nursing, pharmacy, physicians, politics, poverty, Progressive Party, public health, Republican, rural hospitals, unions
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CCMC: Ways to Pay for Care 1932
This post was erroneously omitted from the series. In earlier blogs, we noted that the CCMC wanted a health care system founded on community health centers organized around a hospital and managed by a citizen/public non-profit board of directors. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care Reform, policy and politics
Tagged AALL, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, community health centers, complexity of care, Democrats, doctors, drugs, economics, group practices, health care, health care costs, health care quality, health insurance, HMOs, hospitals, illness, income, insurance, labor, labor unions, medications, mental health, nurses, nursing, pharmacy, physicians, politics, poverty, Progressive Party, Republican, rural hospitals, social insurance, unions
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CCMC: Philosophy Behind the Final Recommendations: 1932
Note: These principles were a complete surprise to me. It was a surprise in terms of the thoughtfulness of these principles; the recognition of the limitations of the recommendations; and their heartfelt tone. We would be well served now to … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care Reform
Tagged accountable care organizations, ACOs, AMA, American Association for Labor Legislation, American Medical Association, business, business leaders, Citizen's Health Care Working Group, Committee on the Costs of Medical Care, complexity of care, Democrats, doctors, drugs, group practice, health care, health care costs, health care quality, health care reform, health insurance, health policy, HMOs, hospitals, illness, income, insurance, labor, labor unions, life insurance, managed care, medical care, medications, mental health, nurses, nursing, physicians, politics, Republican, rural hospitals, social insurance, socialized medicine, unions
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