Affordable Care Act (ACA)

See the following -

Q&A: The Non-Existent Public Option As ACA's Achilles' Heel

Tom Sullivan | Government Health IT | January 7, 2013

The words “single payer” are among the dirtiest in healthcare’s lexicon — but mostly here in America. Some of the other countries operating either single payer or so-called dual systems that essentially pit a public option against private care have seen certain measures of success. And that is among the reason that some other countries, such as Singapore, have superior healthcare. Read More »

Quality Report: U.S. Healthcare Comes In Dead Last – Again

Stephanie Baum | MedCity News | June 16, 2014

A Commonwealth Report evaluating 11 countries’ health systems put the U.S. dead last for the fifth time since the report has been published. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, used criteria such as quality, efficiency and access to care to reach its conclusion. But it also expects the U.S. scores to be better next time the report is published since it has implemented the Affordable Care Act.

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Rate Shock And Awe In California

Robert Laszewski | The Health Care Blog | May 28, 2013

I have to say I was surprised with the press reports last week that there wasn’t “rate shock” in California when the California exchange offered preliminary information about their new plans and rates. Read More »

Real-Time Location And Mobile Health Solutions Gain Traction, Show ROI

Michael F. Arrigo | Government Health IT | February 20, 2013

According to a recent presentation at a Stanford Business forum, healthcare Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) is an emerging market equaling $325 million worldwide, with an addressable market that is larger... Read More »

Reform Update: JAMA Study Suggests Money Alone May Not Be Enough To Improve Performance, Reduce Costs

Melanie Evans | ModernHealthcare.com | September 11, 2013

One goal of health reform, among many, is to break the industry's dependence on incentives for hospitals and doctors to do a high volume of business. Incentives for volume invite wasteful spending, of course, and also can be harmful if patients receive unnecessary care as a result. Read More »

Region Not Ready For Health Reform In 2014

Kathy Robertson | Sacramento Business Journal | September 28, 2012

About 227,500 Sacramento area residents will be eligible for health coverage in 2014, but an already strained regional safety net is not prepared to care for them, a new market analysis of the region concludes. Read More »

Researcher Sounds Alarm On State Health Exchange Security

Jaikumar Vijayan | Computerworld | November 7, 2013

Several state healthcare exchanges established as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) appear buggy and easy to attack, a security researcher warned this week. Read More »

Researchers to Examine Revamp of Public Health

Christina Jewett | California Watch | February 15, 2012

As California continues to forge ahead implementing health reform, state Medi-Cal leaders and UC Davis researchers announced an agreement to examine public health system transformation efforts that may serve as models for the nation. The researchers will evaluate public hospital systems as they revamp daily operations in ways meant to simultaneously reduce health costs and improve patient Read More »

Resisting The Healthcare Consolidation Frenzy

Philip Betbeze | HealthLeaders Media | December 11, 2013

Merger and acquisition activity shows no signs of slowing, yet some hospital and health system leaders see independence as a viable strategy. Read More »

Results Of State Legislatures, Ballot Initiatives Could Spark Conflict With Feds

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | November 7, 2012

American voters considered 174 ballot measures in 38 states Tuesday and shifted the balance of power in several state capitals, in some places potentially setting up a battle between state and federal law. Read More »

Salesforce Introduces Salesforce Health Cloud -- Building Patient Relationships, Not Records

Press Release | Salesforce | September 2, 2015

Salesforce...today introduced Salesforce Health Cloud, empowering healthcare providers to go beyond health records and build stronger relationships with patients. Salesforce Health Cloud is a cloud-based patient relationship management solution that enables providers to gain a complete view of the patient with integrated data from electronic medical records (EMRs), wearables and more; make smarter care decisions; engage with patients across their caregiver networks; and manage patient data.

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Security Hole In Healthcare.gov Exposed User Email Addresses

Russell Brandom | The Verge | October 30, 2013

Healthcare.gov has been racked with technical problems since the site's launch, but a new vulnerability may have unintentionally exposed users... Read More »

Seven Ways For Health Services Research To Lead Health System Change

Joel Kupersmith and David Atkins | Health Affairs Blog | May 30, 2013

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act now at hand — and with it, the formation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) — health services research (HSR) has an especially important role to play.  As ACOs take steps that will substantially change health care delivery, the ability to measure and improve health system performance and acquire this data efficiently will be in greater demand.  Is HSR up to the challenge? Read More »

Short-Sighted Conservative Gloating On Obamacare

Ed Kilgore | Washington Monthly | October 23, 2013

Truth be told, some of the more interesting writing on the travails of the Obamacare enrollment system is coming from conservative Ross Douthat of the New York Times. On Sunday, he warned Republicans that their cackling over the enrollment mess was obscuring the realization that the Medicaid single-payer element of the Affordable Care Act was functioning better than the private insurance part of the insurance expansion... Read More »

Shovel-Ready Clinics

Jeffrey Leonard | Washington Monthly | November 1, 2011

Barack Obama has spent most of his first term as president wrestling with three enormous tasks: kick-starting the economy to create jobs again; standing the banking sector back on its feet; and providing health care to the 40 million Americans who lack insurance. He’s made progress on all these fronts. Read More »