First Edition: May 5, 2015
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Patients Not Hurt When Their Hospitals Close, Study Finds
A hospital closure can send tremors through a city or town, leaving residents fearful about how they will be cared for in emergencies and serious illnesses. A study released Monday offers some comfort, finding that when hospitals shut down, death rates and other markers of quality generally do not worsen. (Rau, 5/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Pioneer Model Saved Medicare Nearly $400 Million In Two Years
A key pilot program in the federal health law saved Medicare nearly $400 million over two years and is the first alternative-payment model certified to cut costs while improving health-care quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said. That finding by independent actuaries makes the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization model eligible to be expanded to larger group of Medicare beneficiaries, CMS officials said. ... The Pioneer ACOs have met with mixed success by other measures. Thirteen of the original 32 participating hospital systems have dropped out or switched to other models after failing to meet performance targets. (Beck, 5/4)
Reuters:
U.S. Medicare Test Program Saved Hundreds Of Million Of Dollars: Study
A U.S. government test program with doctors and hospitals slowed healthcare spending in Medicare coverage for the elderly and disabled by hundreds of millions of dollars in 2012 and 2013 but savings were less in the second year, a study released Monday said. The Journal of the American Medical Association study looked at beneficiaries in 32 Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), in which hospitals and doctors follow 33 quality and care standards for Medicare fee-for-service patients. In return they can receive a portion of any healthcare savings back from the government. (Humer, 5/4)
Vox:
This Small, Wonky Obamacare Program Saved $384 Million Over 2 Years
Obamacare took what an economist once described to me as the "spaghetti approach" to reducing health-care costs: throwing a bunch of different experiments at the wall and seeing what stuck. Today, the law arguably had its first success: Medicare's independent actuary has certified that an Obamacare program has saved money — $384 million over the past two years, to be exact. And the Obama administration is now eying how to make this program bigger — and, ideally, generate even more savings. (Kliff, 5/4)
The New York Times:
Panera Bread Plans To Drop A Long List Of Ingredients
Acesulfame K. Ethoxyquin. Artificial smoke flavor. The first, an artificial sweetener; the second, a preservative; and the third, a flavor enhancer, are just a few of the ingredients that Panera Bread wants to banish from its kitchens by the end of 2016. In doing so, Panera would join the growing ranks of food companies and restaurants that have announced plans to eliminate a variety of artificial preservatives, flavors and colors, as well as different kinds of sweeteners and meat from animals raised with antibiotics, in response to consumer demands for transparency and simplicity in the foods they eat. (Strom, 5/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Healthcare For Those In U.S. Illegally Could Cost California $740 Million A Year
Extending state-subsidized healthcare coverage to people in the country illegally could cost California as much as $740 million annually, according to a Senate fiscal analysis released Monday. The report affixes a price tag to the proposal for the first time since Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) introduced his bill last December. Researchers at UC Berkeley and UCLA estimate that, in California, about 1.8 million people who are in the country illegally lack healthcare coverage. Around 1.5 million of them would qualify for Medi-Cal. (Mason, 5/4)
Orlando Sentinel:
Kansas, Texas Join Florida Medicaid Expansion Suit
Kansas and Texas will file amicus briefs supporting Florida in its lawsuit against the federal government over Medicaid expansion, Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday. Scott filed suit last week, alleging that the federal government is “coercing” the state into accepting Medicaid expansion by witholding the extension of a different Medicaid program. The Low Income Pool brings $1.3 billion in federal funds to the state to pay hospitals for care for the poor and uninsured and is set to expire June 30. (Rohrer, 5/4)
Kansas City Star:
Sam Brownback Supports Lawsuit Seeking To Protect Hospital Payments
The Obama administration has written Florida — and Kansas — threatening to cut off the payments [designed to help hospitals care for low-income patients], which provide Kansas with roughly $45 million annually. Federal officials say the payments aren’t needed because low-income patients now have access to Medicaid health insurance. But Kansas and Florida have refused to expand Medicaid. And on Monday Brownback said the federal government can’t force the states to widen the insurance program with threats to cut off the hospital funding. (Helling, 5/4)
The Washington Post:
Va. Attorney General Gives Abortion Rights Advocates A Boost
Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) sided Monday with abortion rights advocates seeking to free clinics from strict, hospital-style building standards, issuing a legal opinion that whipped up those on both sides of the polarizing issue. Herring’s action reverses an opinion from his Republican predecessor, Ken Cuccinelli II, and put an issue that has long divided lawmakers back on the front burner. The advisory opinion has no immediate effect on clinics currently operating, but it could influence the state Board of Health when members consider an overhaul of rules. (Portnoy and Vozzella, 5/4)
The Associated Press:
Herring: Abortion Clinics Can Be Exempted From New Standards
New, strict building standards should not be applied retroactively to existing abortion clinics, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said Monday in an opinion contradicting advice given by his Republican predecessor. The new standards would treat abortion clinics like hospitals and cover issues such as hallway widths, closet sizes and covered entrances. Staff for former Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told state health officials during his tenure that abortion clinics must abide by the new rules. Herring now says that was bad advice and would essentially shut down abortion services in the state. (Suderman and O'Dell, 5/4)
The New York Times:
Long-Term Data On Complications Adds To Criticism Of Contraceptive Implant
When a new contraceptive implant came on the market over a decade ago, it was considered a breakthrough for women who did not want to have more children, a sterilization procedure that could be done in a doctor’s office in just 10 minutes. Now, 13 years later, thousands of women who claim they were seriously injured by the implant are urging the Food and Drug Administration to take the device off the market and to warn the public about its complications. (Rabin, 5/3)
The Washington Post:
Poor D.C. Babies Are More Than 10 Times As Likely To Die As Rich Ones
Infants are more than 10 times as likely to die in the District’s poorest ward than they are in its richest, the international advocacy group Save the Children said Monday. The findings, released Monday night as part of the group’s annual State of the World’s Mothers report, underscore how vast income inequality in the capital of the world’s richest country continues to yield startling disparities in health and survival at the neighborhood level. (Hauslohner, 5/4)