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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

What's Happening: December, 2002, Maine Medical Center Dec 2002

What's Happening: December, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Special Meeting, Wku Board Of Regents Nov 2002

Special Meeting, Wku Board Of Regents

Board of Regents Documents

Minutes of special meeting of the WKU Board of Regents to discuss health insurance and the president's contract.


Depression: A Decade Of Progress, More To Do, Veronica V. Goff Nov 2002

Depression: A Decade Of Progress, More To Do, Veronica V. Goff

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief discusses the most recent findings on depression prevalence and cost; examines trends in outpatient treatment, including the dramatic growth in antidepressant use; discusses efforts to improve treatment in primary care; and explores possible public policy avenues for improving treatment access and quality.


U.S. Childhood Vaccine Availability: Legal, Regulatory, And Economic Complexities, Robin J. Strongin Nov 2002

U.S. Childhood Vaccine Availability: Legal, Regulatory, And Economic Complexities, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

Despite the vital role they play in public health, childhood vaccines travel a complicated road from laboratory to provider and patient. From the fall of 2000 until well into 2002, a combination of factors, including market dynamics, legal challenges, and regulatory hurdles, led to a shortage of some childhood vaccines. This paper examines each of these factors, focusing on the important roles of both the public and the private sectors.


Prescription Drugs In Nursing Homes: Managing Costs And Quality In A Complex Environment, Dan Mendelson, Rajeev Ramchand, Richard Abramson, Anne Tumlinson Nov 2002

Prescription Drugs In Nursing Homes: Managing Costs And Quality In A Complex Environment, Dan Mendelson, Rajeev Ramchand, Richard Abramson, Anne Tumlinson

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief provides a description of prescription drug use in nursing homes and a summary of policy issues in this area. It first profiles the nursing home pharmaceutical market, outlining the major trends in demographics and drug utilization, the supply chain by which drugs go from manufacturers to pharmacies to nursing home residents, and the alternative arrangements by which prescription drugs in nursing homes are financed. The paper then provides a synopsis of current policy issues, focusing in turn on cost containment and quality improvement initiatives.


The Medicare And Medicaid Intersection: Caring For Arizona's Seniors, Nora Super, Lisa Sprague, Judith D. Moore Nov 2002

The Medicare And Medicaid Intersection: Caring For Arizona's Seniors, Nora Super, Lisa Sprague, Judith D. Moore

National Health Policy Forum

This site visit to Phoenix examined the interplay between Medicare and Medicaid and how payment streams and regulatory requirements affect the delivery of health and long-term care services. The visit explored trends related to Medicare+Choice plan participation, physician acceptance of Medicare patients, and care management for individuals with chronic illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease. It also considered Arizona’s capitated Medicaid long-term care program, which recently implemented competitive bidding among plans in Maricopa County.


What's Happening: November, 2002, Maine Medical Center Nov 2002

What's Happening: November, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


What's Happening: October, 2002, Maine Medical Center Oct 2002

What's Happening: October, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Running On Empty: The State Budget Crisis Worsens, Randy Desonia Sep 2002

Running On Empty: The State Budget Crisis Worsens, Randy Desonia

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief reviews the status of state budget shortfalls and their growing impact on the Medicaid program. It describes the magnitude of the shortfalls, the forces behind them, and how states have responded with spending cuts and tax increases. It also discusses how long the budget crisis is expected to continue and what budget balancing options remain for fiscal year 2003.


What's Happening: September 25, 2002, Maine Medical Center Sep 2002

What's Happening: September 25, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


What's Happening: September 11, 2002, Maine Medical Center Sep 2002

What's Happening: September 11, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Medigap: Prevalence, Premiums, And Opportunities For Reform, Nora Super Sep 2002

Medigap: Prevalence, Premiums, And Opportunities For Reform, Nora Super

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief provides an overview of Medicare's coverage gaps and the primary sources of supplemental coverage for Medicare beneficiaries. It focuses particularly on the Medigap market: the effects of standardization, recent premium trends and rating practices, and options for reform. It considers Medigap within the context of Medicare prescription drug proposals and efforts to reform the entire Medicare program.


Expanding Health Coverage For The Uninsured: Fundamentals Of The Tax Credit Option, Beth Fuchs, Julie James Aug 2002

Expanding Health Coverage For The Uninsured: Fundamentals Of The Tax Credit Option, Beth Fuchs, Julie James

National Health Policy Forum

This paper seeks to provide the basics for understanding the current debate over tax credits as a vehicle for reducing the number of uninsured Americans and focuses attention on some of the associated issues: How is health insurance treated under current tax law? Why tax credits and not deductions? What are the major issues in designing tax credits? Who should be eligible and for what size credit? What changes, if any, would be needed to the insurance market to ensure that policies are available and affordable for people eligible for tax credits? What are the major issues related to administering …


What's Happening: August 28, 2002, Maine Medical Center Aug 2002

What's Happening: August 28, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Schip Turns Five: Taking Stock, Moving Ahead, Jennifer Ryan Aug 2002

Schip Turns Five: Taking Stock, Moving Ahead, Jennifer Ryan

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief notes the five-year anniversary of the effective date of Title XXI of the Social Security Act, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). It looks at the successes of the program, as well as some of the obstacles SCHIP will face as it moves from childhood into adolescence and attempts to maintain its effectiveness in providing health coverage to uninsured children and families. The paper explores the critical funding impasse created by the downturns in the economy and the financing structure of the SCHIP statute. It also highlights the emerging issue of program retention and the need …


What's Happening: August 14, 2002, Maine Medical Center Aug 2002

What's Happening: August 14, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


What's Happening: July 31, 2002, Maine Medical Center Jul 2002

What's Happening: July 31, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Federal Child Care Funding For Low-Income Families: How Much Is Needed?, Jane Koppelman Jul 2002

Federal Child Care Funding For Low-Income Families: How Much Is Needed?, Jane Koppelman

National Health Policy Forum

With reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform law being debated, this paper looks at the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant and the Child Care and Development Fund — key components of congressional proposals to set a dollar amount for government spending on child care. This issue brief provides background on current child care use, arrangements, and cost, as well as research findings on the measurement of quality in child care programs.


Justification For The Continuance Of A Pediatric Physician's Office Laboratory, Veronica C. Santilli Jul 2002

Justification For The Continuance Of A Pediatric Physician's Office Laboratory, Veronica C. Santilli

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The continued viability of the Physician's Office Laboratory (POL) has been questioned because of barriers imposed by managed care organizations, oversight by regulatory agencies and competition for professionally trained laboratory staff. Pediatricians view the POL as an important adjunct to quality healthcare services for children and do not consider the POL as a "profit center", whose priority is generation of revenues for the The practice. parents of pediatric patients consider an on-site laboratory a convenience and valuable service. Through an analysis of patients' satisfaction, physicians' perceptions of enhancement to quality care, managed care reimbursement data and costs associated with maintenance …


What's Happening: July 17, 2002, Maine Medical Center Jul 2002

What's Happening: July 17, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


What's Happening: July 3, 2002, Maine Medical Center Jul 2002

What's Happening: July 3, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Hatch-Waxman, Generics, And Patents: Balancing Prescription Drug Innovation, Competition, And Affordability, Robin J. Strongin Jun 2002

Hatch-Waxman, Generics, And Patents: Balancing Prescription Drug Innovation, Competition, And Affordability, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

This paper explores the complex connections among intellectual property protection, competition, and access to affordable prescription drug products. It focuses on several provisions of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (Hatch-Waxman) and discusses the debate swirling around its reform. An overview of landmark intellectual property laws and a description of the generic drug approval process are also included.


Managing Advanced Illness: A Quality And Cost Challenge To Medicare, Medicaid, And Private Insurers, Karen Matherlee Jun 2002

Managing Advanced Illness: A Quality And Cost Challenge To Medicare, Medicaid, And Private Insurers, Karen Matherlee

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief examines approaches to delivering and financing health services for persons with advanced chronic illness. It focuses on the nature and structure of the Medicare hospice benefit and its use as a model for Medicaid and other federal programs. The paper also looks at palliative-care approaches along the continuum of inpatient and post-acute services and raises cost, quality, and access issues for end-of-life care. In addition, it provides an overview of coverage through private insurance, including indemnity, point-of-service, and preferred-provider-organization products.


What's Happening: June 19, 2002, Maine Medical Center Jun 2002

What's Happening: June 19, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


1115 Ways To Waive Medicaid And Schip Rules, Jennifer Ryan Jun 2002

1115 Ways To Waive Medicaid And Schip Rules, Jennifer Ryan

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief explores the history and context of the Section 1115 Medicaid waiver authority, discusses the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) initiative under way in the Bush administration, and considers some of the potential impacts that HIFA could have on state budgets and access to health care for low-income families. Finally, it considers the future of Section 1115 waivers as a vehicle for modifying Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.


Improving Oral Health: Promise And Prospects, Jennifer Ryan Jun 2002

Improving Oral Health: Promise And Prospects, Jennifer Ryan

National Health Policy Forum

This background paper examines the variety of issues affecting access to oral health care in the United States. It considers the possibilities and challenges presented by public financing sources for dental care for low-income children and families—including Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and other safety net programs—and reviews a sampling of privately funded efforts at improving oral health access. The paper illustrates some of the major barriers to dental care, particularly the shortage of dentists willing to serve low-income and uninsured patients and the overall lack of growth in the dental workforce. It also considers the changing roles …


Will The Nation Be Ready For The Next Bioterrorism Attack? Mending Gaps In The Public Health Infrastructure, Eileen Salinsky Jun 2002

Will The Nation Be Ready For The Next Bioterrorism Attack? Mending Gaps In The Public Health Infrastructure, Eileen Salinsky

National Health Policy Forum

This paper provides an overview of critical weaknesses in public health preparedness capabilities and discusses policy initiatives to address these shortcomings. It examines developmental needs related to communication and coordination, information systems, laboratories, the development and distribution of vaccines and other countermeasures, emergency medical preparedness and response, and the public health workforce. The paper summarizes the status of federal and state plans to respond to these developmental needs and touches on the challenges likely to emerge as these plans are implemented.


Average Wholesale Price For Prescription Drugs: Is There A More Appropriate Pricing Mechanism?, Dawn Gencarelli Jun 2002

Average Wholesale Price For Prescription Drugs: Is There A More Appropriate Pricing Mechanism?, Dawn Gencarelli

National Health Policy Forum

This paper defines the average wholesale price (AWP), an important benchmark for prescription drug pricing and reimbursement. The paper briefly explains the AWP's various uses in the pricing of prescription drugs, highlights some of the problems that have emerged as a result of the way it is reported and used, and explores some of the possibilities for reform. The paper also contains a glossary of commonly used terms, as well as an appendix that lists the state Medicaid reimbursement formulas.


What's Happening: June 5, 2002, Maine Medical Center Jun 2002

What's Happening: June 5, 2002, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.


Contracting For Quality: Medicare's Quality Improvement Organizations, Lisa Sprague Jun 2002

Contracting For Quality: Medicare's Quality Improvement Organizations, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This paper examines the role of quality improvement organizations (QIOs, formerly known as PROs, or peer review organizations) in improving the quality of medical care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries in both fee-for-service and managed care environments. It looks at the expansion of the QIOs' portfolio in their seventh contract cycle to include quality improvement activities in nursing homes, home health services, and physicians' offices as well as responsibilities for public education. The paper explores the evolution of QIOs, changes in their priorities over time, and the projects in which they are engaged. It also considers their role in the formulation …