Changing News Archive - December, 2009

(CNN) -- The Senate on Thursday passed its version of the health care bill, inching the country closer to the biggest expansion of medical coverage since Medicare was enacted more than four decades ago.

Senate Democrats declared victory after the 60-39 party line vote, but one of the most complicated tasks is still ahead.

A conference committee must reconcile the differences -- notably a public option, how to pay for the plan that emerges, and coverage for abortion -- and merge them into one.

ARMONK, NY – IBM’s financing arm has announced partnerships with four healthcare IT vendors in an effort to push electronic health records to providers ahead of the government’s incentive program.

IBM Global Financing, the lending and leasing business segment of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, has announced financing agreements with Siemens Healthcare, Lavender & Wyatt Systems, Healthcare Management Systems and Soft Computer. The deals are designed to allow the four developers of electronic medical record systems to offer their provider clients low-rate private financing to adopt EMRs.

Four days before the Senate jettisoned the idea of expanding Medicare to younger Americans, a dozen Senate Democrats, including some of the chamber's most liberal members, dispatched a stern letter warning that the proposal would make it harder for elderly patients in parts of the country to find care.

The letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), attests to the effectiveness of a ferocious campaign by influential hospital and physician lobbyists to defeat the idea. And it underscores the difficulty of forging policy and political deals in the warp-speed, supercharged environment in which Congress is trying to reshape the nation's health-care system.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama pressed Senate Democrats to close ranks quickly behind a deal that has disappointed some liberals, saying Tuesday lawmakers are "on the precipice of an achievement that has eluded Congresses and presidents for generations."

Standing with senior Democrats in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Mr. Obama said there is "broad consensus" on the core of the bill, which would create tax breaks to help people purchase insurance and bar insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, among other things.

Some differences remain, notably on abortion. But Mr. Obama -- who campaigned on the promise of expanding health-care coverage -- suggested it was time to compromise.

"The final bill won't include everything that everybody wants. No bill can do that," he said. "We simply cannot allow differences over individual elements of this plan to prevent us from meeting our responsibility to solve a longstanding and urgent problem for the American people."

WASHINGTON – The National Committee for Quality Assurance has made changes to its disease management accreditation and certification requirements, adding voluntary performance reporting for five chronic conditions.

Employers, health plans and medical groups have developed disease management programs to alleviate the effects of chronic conditions and slow disease progression and reduce healthcare costs. NCQA’s accreditation and certification standards help purchasers select the most effective programs.

ANN ARBOR, MI – A recent survey shows CIOs are concerned about their ability to implement the standards recommended by the Health IT Standards Committee in time to meet currently established deadlines.

The survey, conducted by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), drew 176 responses, nearly 13 percent of CHIME’s 1,400 members who make up CIOs or top information executives of provider organizations.

With few exceptions, most respondents reported that their organizations are early in the process of implementing applications that are based on standards under consideration by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS’ National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, announced today plans to make available $235 million to support an innovative Beacon Community Program.  The program will work to accelerate and demonstrate the ability of health information technology to transform local health care systems, and improve the lives of Americans and the performance of the health care providers who serve them.  The Beacon Community Program will include $220 million in grants to build and strengthen health IT infrastructure and health information exchange capabilities, including strong privacy and security measures for data exchange, within 15 communities.  An additional $15 million will be provided for technical assistance to the communities and to evaluate the success of the program.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate made little progress on a broad healthcare overhaul on Tuesday, as members battled over cuts in coverage for the elderly and failed to vote on two pending amendments.

In a sign of the long, slow path ahead, senators could not agree on a schedule for their first votes. That left plenty of time for mutual accusations of hypocrisy and scare tactics.

Walgreens has reduced its prices by nearly 20% and CVS nearly 10% for a scarce liquid form of the H1N1 drug Tamiflu amid state investigations into potential price gouging.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal still questions whether the pharmacy chains and others are charging fair prices. "I'm delighted they are reducing their prices, but they may have an obligation to reduce them even further," Blumenthal said Monday. He sent investigative letters Nov. 23 to Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid and said his investigators are interviewing independent pharmacists.