http://commonhealth.wbur.org Commonhealth Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:46:44 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: national health) Here are the key findings for 2007 from a report produced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. There are more details in Health Affairs. - National Health Care spending slowed in 2007 to 6.1%, lowest growth rate since 1998 - ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2009/01/national-health-care-spending-slows/ Governor Patrick says he hopes to file a bill by this summer that would bring down health care costs and help the state sustain its landmark health coverage law. He is asking health insurers and providers to meet with him this week about ways to hold down premiums. The ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2009/01/governor-patrick-seeks-immediate-and-long-term-relief-on-rising-health-care-costs/ Seventeen years after the Persian Gulf War, a Congressionally-mandated report has confirmed that "Gulf War Syndrome" is a legitimate illness, and not just "shell shock." That had been the diagnosis for more than 175,000 veterans who suffered from a range of neurological conditions after the 1991 war. Now ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2009/01/gulf-war-syndrome-is-a-legitimate-illness/ With considerable fanfare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just released a new five-star quality rating system for nursing homes. As the Boston Globe was quick to point out, this evaluation gave Massachusetts a lower percentage of five-star and a higher percentage of one-star nursing homes than neighboring New ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/guest-contributors/2008/12/improving-nursing-home-quality-by-muriel-r-gillick-md/ The report released this month, Health Insurance Coverage in Massachusetts: Estimates from the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey, shows that more than 97% of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, marking yet another milestone for Massachusetts health reform. While we should be proud of what we have achieved, universal health insurance ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/elmer-freeman/2008/12/will-massachusetts-health-reform-survive-its-fiscal-storm-by-elmer-freeman/ There’s the morbid joke in health care... of job security. People will always get sick. And the industry has been one of the strongest engines of the Massachusetts economy recently – adding jobs - as so many other sectors have been taking their lumps. But now there’s growing ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/12/hospitals-hurting/ Capitalist. Socialist. Impatient. Curious. Dissatisfied. Forward-thinking. Compassionate. Innovative. Competitive. Extremist. Centrist. Risk tolerant. Risk adverse. Does one or some of these terms describe an aspect of your central core? For many of us in the Massachusetts health care system -- whether it be care delivery, financing or policy -- these ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/eric-schultz/2008/12/massachusetts-take-a-bow-by-eric-h-schultz/ The year 2008 was a watershed in the decades-long debate over health insurance parity for mental health conditions. Health insurers in the United States have historically required greater copayments or instituted special restrictions for the use of mental health services. In October, Congress included a mental health parity provision as ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/guest-contributors/2008/12/with-mental-health-insurance-price-matters-by-dr-amal-trivedi/ The Department of Revenue sent out this notice about how it will calculate tax penalties for failure to have health insurance next year. I've added a few links. DOR's penalty information for this tax year ('08) is here. Penalties for 2009 will continue to apply only to adults ages 18 ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/12/insurance-mandate-penalty-bite-on-09-tax-returns/ The Patrick administration says the number of uninsured in Massachusetts has dropped to about 167,000 residents. The findings are based on surveys of almost 5,000 households last summer...before the economy took a serious turn for the worse. Nevertheless there is a lot of excitement about these numbers among ... http://commonhealth.wbur.org/wbur-posts-and-stories/2008/12/states-uninsured-rate-is-down-to-26/