Federal News

State officials who administer the federal pre-existing condition plan in 27 states are trying to make fallback arrangements in case the law is invalidated and coverage suddenly terminates. Federal officials who administer the plan in the remaining 23 states and Washington, D.C., remain mum on what might happen there if the law is overturned. (Source: Washington Post)  [Read article]

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has a series of seven audio interviews focused on the use of quality improvement tools in the AHRQ Quality Indicators Toolkit for Hospitals. The free toolkit is designed to help hospitals understand the Quality Indicators (QIs) from AHRQ, and support your use of them to successfully improve quality and patient safety in your hospital. The toolkit is a general guide to using improvement methods, with a particular focus on the QIs.  (Source: AHRQ)  [Toolkit]

The primary care doctor is a rapidly evolving species — and in the future could become an endangered one. As the United States grapples with the dual challenges of making health care more widely available and reducing the national price tag, it's hard to say how primary care physicians will fit into the delivery models that emerge. Article examines the dual challenges of making health care more widely available and reducing the national price tag, and how primary care physicians will fit into the delivery models that emerge.  (Source: N Engl J Med 2012; 366:1849-1853)  [Read article]

There are currently more than 90 commercial health plans, 42 states, and three federal initiatives testing the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model. Yet, while elements of the medical home have been shown to be associated with better quality and lower cost, there are only a few high-quality, published evaluations of the impact of the PCMH model as a whole. There is an urgent need for rigorous data to strengthen the evidence base of the medical home as well as to improve implementation. In an effort to harness and share lessons from the many disparate medical home pilots and evaluations under way, The Commonwealth Fund established the Patient-Centered Medical Home Evaluators' Collaborative in 2009.  (Source: Commonwealth Fund)  [Read article]

The misalignment between the expansive goal of “health” and a cramped definition of “care” has cost the United States untold lives and treasure. Yet realignment is in reach: Through expanding the scope of health care, the place where it is delivered, and the workforce that provides it, the US health care system could significantly improve health outcomes and reduce inefficiencies.  (Source: Stanford Social Innovation Review)  [Read article]

To gain control of expanding waistlines worldwide, unhealthy foods and drinks need a 20% fat tax, along with subsidies for healthy food. More and more countries are adopting fat taxes in an effort to curb rising obesity rates. Yet even some nutrition experts challenge the proposal of a blanket tax, arguing some high-fat foods are healthy — avocado, anyone? — and it’s necessary to differentiate between them.  (Source: TIME Healthland)  [Read article]

The nation’s four Regional Rural Development Centers (RRDCs) were recently chosen by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture/United States Department of Agriculture to establish the National Agricultural and Rural Development Policy Center (or NARDeP). The policy center will both serve as a clearinghouse for technology diffusion and educational resources and distribute impartial, web-based training and other publications. In addition, NARDeP will help train the next generation of policy analysts.  (Source: SRDC)  [Read article]