Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The Medicaid Resource Book This page provides links to chapter-length
Adobe Acrobat files comprising a guide from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured - "This reference book describes four pivotal aspects of how the Medicaid program operates -- who it covers, what it covers, how it is financed, and how it is administered. It was written to assist the public and policymakers in understanding the structure and operation of the Medicaid program."
Patient Cost Sharing: How Much is Too Much? An issue brief from the Center for Studying Health System Change - "Responding to successive years of double-digit health insurance premium increases, employers continue to restructure health benefits to slow the rise in company costs by increasing patients' financial stake in their care. A new Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) study examines how increased patient cost sharing through higher deductibles, copayments and coinsurance raises patients' out-of-pocket costs. Increased patient cost sharing creates more financial burdens for seriously ill and low-income workers. Concerns about financial hardships for seriously ill and low-income workers may limit employers' ability to slow rising premiums through increased patient cost sharing..."
Report: Drug firms pay NIH monitors December 7
USA Today story - "Some of the National Institute of Health's top officials have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies whose products they were responsible for monitoring, the
Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. The newspaper, citing records it said it began gathering five years ago, reported that in some instances officials of the federal institute operated as consultants for companies whose drugs were linked to the deaths of patients taking part in NIH studies."
Appropriations Bill Provides $100 Million for Treatment Vouchers December 5 story at
Join Together - "A House-Senate conference committee has approved a budget plan that gives impressive increases to federal addiction treatment and prevention programs, including $100 million for President Bush's proposed treatment-voucher program. As part of an omnibus appropriations bill, House and Senate conferees agreed to fund the voucher program -- previously rejected by House lawmakers -- and add $36 million to the $1.753 billion federal addiction block grant, the nation's single largest source of addiction-related funding. "
Reducing The Growth Of Medicare Spending: Geographic Versus Patient-Based Strategies Health Affairs article - "This paper explores the potential of two alternative approaches for reducing the rate of growth in Medicare spending. One strategy would focus on reducing the expenditures of high-spending individuals. Given that a large share of Medicare spending is consumed by relatively few beneficiaries, this approach targets the small group responsible for most of the spending. The other strategy would focus on reducing expenditures in high-spending regions. Because either approach would have to overcome major hurdles before lowering Medicare spending, the likely payoff from the alternative strategies is far from clear. Viewed from a budgetary perspective, concentration in Medicare spending suggests the importance of focusing on high-spending patients." See also
Getting Serious About Excessive Medicare Spending: A Purchasing Model in the same issue.
The Police and the Mentally Ill Feature story in the
Village Voice - "In 1999, when Gidone Busch, an Orthodox Jew with a history of mental illness who was wielding a hammer, was gunned down by police, many protested the conduct of the NYPD. But the voice that went largely unheard by both police and activists was that of the mental health community. Why, they asked, are police still unable to handle a confrontation with the mentally ill? Three years later, that question has not been answered. ..."
Committee begins battle to decrease negative choices made by area youth (Ohio) Story in the
News-Messenger - " More positive youth programming in Sandusky County is more than an idea, Partnership for Success planning committee members say. And just like the committee members, action is what community residents and leaders want to see happen. ... The county is receiving $127,500 for the next three years to assist in the effort to find ways to decrease negative choices made by youth. The funding is from the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services and is part of a $9 million federal State Incentive Grant recently awarded to 20 Ohio counties to help keep youth from becoming drug and alcohol dependent."
County's mental health costs (Iowa)
Mitchell County Press-News story on the county's expenditures for mental health and developmental disability servies for the past five years, based on a presentation to the Mitchell County Board of Supervisors by Bob Lincoln, the Central Point of Coordination administrator for the MH/DD management plan - "Lincoln said that there has been a lot of local pressure to reduce the cost but they can't increase the levy for tax dollars that was set in 1996, and the state doesn't have any more money to give. Lincoln said it is time to tap into federal resources such as Medicaid. The state is looking into redesigning the program and resetting the amount it will ask each county to provide for services. They are also looking into whether or not the management unit should be changed from county to a more regional unit."
