Washington Watch: Health Policy

Physicians writing on KevinMD about federal health policy from 2017 to 2020: the Affordable Care Act and the proposals to replace it, Medicare for all argued for and against, hospital prices and what fair payment means, and why physicians should or should not get political. This archive is closed; policy posts since 2020 sit on the Health Policy category. Two maintained records draw on this archive: Prior authorization: what physicians say, in their own words, and Primary care: what physicians say, in their own words.

If Medicare wants value, it should cancel MACRA

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

November 13, 2017

From the CMS website, October 30, 2017, “Today, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma discussed the agency’s efforts to streamline quality measures, reduce regulatory burden, and promote innovation … We need to move from fee-for-service to a system that pays for value and quality — but how we define value and quality today is a problem. We all know it: Clinicians and hospitals have to report …

3 steps to a better health care system

Manoj Jain, MD, MPH

Health Policy

November 11, 2017

A friend recently asked me, “Where do we go from here?” The friend was referring to our impasse with health care in America. The Democrats have failed to repair the Affordable Care Act, and the Republicans have failed to repeal or replace it.

With the status quo, I can understand our health care system providing lower quality care compared to its counterpart industrialized nations. I can even tolerate lack of access to …

Read more…

3 steps to a better health care system

In today’s political era, my patients save me. Here’s how.

Paria Hassouri, MD

Physician

November 10, 2017

As physicians, our patients generally look up to us as people who make a great impact on their lives and sometimes even save them. But over the last year, I’d have to say that it’s my patients who have repeatedly saved me, starting with a four-month-old baby girl on November 9th, 2016.

The morning after election day, I walked into my first patient’s room at 9 a.m. Like most of the …

Does the medical profession need their version of the NRA?

Thomas D. Guastavino, MD

Health Policy

November 9, 2017

Years ago, our government had a problem with health care. Medicare and other health care costs were spiraling out of control. It was clear that the problem was rapidly advancing technology and pressure to provide that technology to everyone who was demanding it. But the government, as usual, choose a politically motivated solution.

They went after the one group involved who was the most disorganized, least clear on its desires and …

Registered nurse for president!

John Green, DHA, RN

Health Policy

November 9, 2017

The United States of America is home to the free and land of the great. So many have died attempting to flee from war, dictatorships, and poverty to gain access. Once a country with such strong influence, it’s now divided by bipartisan views and gridlocked actions. As a nation, we struggle to find solutions for our poor outcomes. Why does such a great country rank so poorly in education and …

Read more…

Registered nurse for president!

President Trump: Stop focusing on insurance and focus on health

Shivam Joshi, MD

Health Policy

November 6, 2017

It may be hard to believe, but there is a bigger problem than repealing or saving the Affordable Care Act. And that problem is: Why are we so sick to need it in the first place?

Health insurance has become the sine qua non for life in America. Without it, the Fates sever the thread of life with ease. For those escaping the scissors of death, you might be beleaguered with …

What health care can learn from Game of Thrones

Robert Pearl, MD

Health Policy

October 25, 2017

Over the past seven seasons, Game of Thrones fans have demonstrated the ability to spot an emerging threat early on — a quality more leaders in health care need to possess.

If you’ve tuned into the popular HBO series from the beginning, you likely recall Ned Stark (Lord of Winterfell) forecasting doom and gloom in the show’s opening episode, appropriately titled “Winter Is Coming.” Right then, you knew something bad was …

Fixing the American health care system is simple. Here’s how to do it.

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

October 25, 2017

If we listen to the president, fixing the American health care system is too complicated. It is not actually that complicated. The number one issue is cost. Even with many millions of people unable to access care, we already spend close to twenty percent of every dollar in the U.S. on health care. If we hope to include everyone in the health care system, then we need to lower health …

You can pick any two, but only two: conversations about health care costs

Darrell E. White, MD

Health Policy

October 24, 2017

My wife Beth and I had a rather spirited discussion about how we in the U.S. might be able to pay for the health care of our citizens. Being ever practical, and also owning the job of writing the checks that pay for the health insurance our company offers its associates (including us), Beth in effect is arguing for a national consensus on something we might describe as a baseline …

Different perspectives but the same goal: providing the best possible care to patients

Yul Ejnes, MD

Physician

October 21, 2017

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

For this column, my 61st for the American College of Physicians (ACP), I thought it would be interesting to look back at the first 60 and review the trends and topics that inspired me to write 800 to 900 words every month. Rather …

Is the U.S. addicted to fee-for-service health care?

Robert Pearl, MD

Health Policy

October 20, 2017

For its many users, health care’s fee-for-service reimbursement methodology is like an addiction, similar to gambling, cigarette smoking, and pain pill abuse. Doctors and hospitals in the clutches of this flawed payment model have grown dependent on providing more and more health care services, regardless of whether the additional care adds value.

I don’t use this metaphor lightly, nor wish to trivialize our nation’s growing problem with addiction. Rather, as a …

The Hippocratic Oath, updated for today

Mick Connors, MD

Physician

October 20, 2017

I am not a curmudgeon, but I am worried about the current plight of health care and the attack on the Hippocratic Oath. Bigger health care is sold as better and more efficient with the premise of lowering health care costs. The promised financial outcomes and efficiencies for the physician and their patients have not materialized. Instead, while physicians struggle with non-clinical demands on their time, patients are being pushed …

Read more…

The Hippocratic Oath, updated for today

When it comes to consumer choice, more is not always better

Peter Ubel, MD

Health Policy

October 18, 2017

Mark Letterman’s rheumatoid arthritis had been progressing unrelentingly despite popping dozens of pills each week — eight methotrexate pills on Mondays alone. Letterman felt like he was 63 going on 93.

If rheumatoid arthritis progresses unchecked, it is as debilitating of a disease as can be imagined. Don’t think garden variety arthritis that only interferes with activities like, um, gardening. Think: finger and wrist joints so inflamed it feels like your …

Why HSAs are not the answer to our health care system problems

Cory Michael, MD

Health Policy

October 16, 2017

I was talking to a physician in my hospital several years ago, and he expressed his frustration that the annual well-child exams for his four kids were expensive. Puzzled, I stated that I found it odd that a doctor’s own health insurance plan had poor coverage for routine care, and he replied that his group jointly decided on a plan with considerable upfront out-of-pocket costs. Why would doctors buy bad …

Reduce parallel play to provide decent health care for all

Peggy A. Rothbaum, PhD

Health Policy

October 16, 2017

I have been doing health care research and advocacy for over 20 years. I’ve seen a lot of passion, anger, and rhetoric around the issues. The health care crisis is simple in that everyone needs health care. The question is what to do about it and who should pay for it.

It’s not an easy answer. For starters, we have turned into a culture of entitlement. This includes health care. It …

The most far-reaching effects of our failed leadership

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

October 15, 2017

We were once a nation noted for its achievements. We are now a nation that gets nothing done, unable to make even the slightest movement forward despite multiple national crises — a desperately broken health care system, a horrifying opioid epidemic, sickening gun-related mass murders, the threat of nuclear war, and massive storms resulting from man-made climate change. In the face of such monumental challenges, when bold action is needed, …

If health care is a right, so should having legal insurance

Thomas D. Guastavino, MD

Health Policy

October 14, 2017

The main justification for single payer seems to be that access to affordable quality health care is a right. Nowhere in our constitution does it say that anyone has a “right” to individual services or property. Housing, food, health care, even cell phones have become “rights.” What our constitution does say is that each citizen does have the right to equal protection under the law, equal access to the courts …

We must be brave enough to seek change

Fred N. Pelzman, MD

Health Policy

October 10, 2017

On the porch.

It’s that time of year again, when we escape from the heat of New York City summers, and head to New Hampshire, to the Central Lakes District, where my wife’s family has had a house perched out over the clear waters of Newfound Lake for over 120 years.

It’s a small wooden house, with barely enough room for all of us squeezed in, painted bright yellow and orange, with …

Read more…

We must be brave enough to seek change

In health care reform, what’s the ideal role of government?

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

October 8, 2017

One of the most popular narratives in American public discourse, especially as it pertains to health care, is that government is bad, and the free market, meaning private industry, is good. And the natural extension of this line of reasoning is that the government cannot, and therefore should not be part of any health care reform solution. Further, only the free market is capable of fixing things, and it was …

A health care solution to rival single payer

Matthew Hahn, MD

Health Policy

October 3, 2017

The current conversation regarding health care reform in the U.S. is essentially pointless. It can be boiled down into four statements: Obamacare stinks, so we need to get rid of it; Obamacare doesn’t stink, so we just need to improve upon it; the insurance companies are to blame, so a government single-payer system is the best idea; the government is to blame, and only the free market can fix health …

Washington Watch: Health Policy

Washington Watch: Health Policy

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts