Here in Boston, researchers have looked into that most pressing of St. Patrick’s Day health questions: Is Guinness really good for you? Red wine gets all the press, but Tufts researchers found a positive association between beer and bone density.
For this edition of the Health Wonk Review, we take a a look at the Irish Times and find that even with a national health plan, Ireland has to deal with barriers to care. One story details slow progress in the establishment of promised primary care centers, and another story, asks “Is the EU good for your health?”
So, while we refight the
battle over birth control, the Irish health ministry — of the largely Catholic country — is releasing a “sexual health” app.
Back here in the new world, the great grandchildren of Irish immigrants celebrate their heritage as Linda Leu at the Health Access Blog writes about a report that “highlights the need for cultural competency and language access, to welcome all ethnicities from California (and America’s) diverse communtiies….The Importance of Equity in the Bridge to Reform: As St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Irish ethnic pride, we need to take note of the full diversity of our states and nation. As we get ready for 2014, remember the communities that will be newly served may not look (or speak) the same as those that the current system serves.”
For the once-a-year step dancers,Gary Schwitzer at Health News Review answers questions about outcomes data on knee replacement surgery. Also see posts on the JGIM paper on data on shared decision-making in prostate cancer surgery & coronary stents decisions and an online “Daily Deal” coupon for preventive MRI scan – disease-mongering du jour
Boston’s own David Williams notes: “Profits are up at Massachusetts health plans –should you be upset? On his Health Business Blog, he writes: The Globe reports higher profits and CEO compensation at Massachusetts health plans. But profit margins are low and if anything the CEOs are underpaid.”
More of the best of recent health policy posts
At The Hospitalist Leader, Brad Flansbaum examines physician pay,“fairness, and how it relates to the reinvigoration of primary care. Specialty physicians take note.”
Another post on health care providers — and their support teams — notes: “There’s been much discussion of the potential impact of health reform, aka Obamacare, on employment” Joseph Paduda at ManagedCareMatters.com writes: “Most has referenced employers cutting jobs to avoid the mandate or save dollars for premiums. What hasn’t received much attention are the new jobs – mostly high-paying ones– that will be created as more Americans are insured and seek coverage and care.”
Julie Ferguson of Workers’ Comp Insider asks “If you had to guess what workplace experienced most assaults by customers/patrons what would you guess? If you guessed healthcare, you would be right.” She informs us that 61% of all workplace assaults are committed by healthcare patients, according to a recent report issued by NCCI.
Two posts came in on shady practices.
Colorado Health Insurance Insider offers: Colorado AG Files Lawsuit Against Discount and Mini-Med Health Plan: “It’s a pretty typical website for that sort of product, with lots of great-sounding claims and sample cases where members have supposedly saved thousands of dollars. But they also have a link for people who want to “become a reseller”. And their process of getting recruits enrolled to sell the product is what has come under the watchful eye of the Colorado AG.”
Calling it “The latest example of misbehavior by a large health care corporation,” Roy M. Poses at Health Care Renewal writes : Gentiva’s Odyssey Healthcare Settles Again, Signs Yet Another Corporate Integrity Agreement and gets “little more than a financial wrist slap. The case was about allegations that a for-profit hospice enrolled patients who did not meet the regulations for federal reimbursement for hospice care. 
In particular, they were alleged to be patients who really did not seem to have extremely limited life expectancies. It is true that enrolling such patients lead the government to pay more for their care than might otherwise be the case. But the real problem is that patients may have been denied treatments that could have improved, or even lengthened their lives.
Two on workplace wellness:
“Wellness Program Implementation at WCS Looks a Lot Like Dating” says Kat Haselkorn Corporate Wellness Insights. This post details the similarities between customer satisfaction and romantic relationships. Although wellness program implementation and dating do not seem to have much in common, we have found that the process of making a client happy mirrors the act of keeping a romantic prospect satisfied. When it comes to setting up a wellness program, we do whatever it takes!
Henry Stern, LUTCF, at the CBC InsureBlog writes about “Health vs Common $ense, challenging “the conventional wisdom that workplace health promotion programs work.”
And two on HIT:
“Competition today in healthcare encourages care providers to hoard patient data.” says Vince Kuraitis of the e-CareManagement blog in a post called “Stage 2 MU Rules : The proposed Stage 2 Meaningful Use rules support moving competition in healthcare to the right bases — sharing and adding value to patient health record data.
Health Affairs offers a post by Danny McCormick, of Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Heath Alliance, and coauthors David Bor, Stephanie Woolhandler, and David Himmelstein. The title of the post is “The Effect Of Physicians’ Electronic Access To Tests: A Response To Fa
rzad Mostashari”
The four authors of the post are also the authors of an article in the March issue of Health Affairs. The article reported that electronic access to computerized imaging results (either the report or the actual image) by physicians was associated with a 40% -70% increase in imaging tests, including sharp increases in expensive tests like MRIs and CT scans; the findings for blood tests were similar. The article prompted a critical blog post by national health IT coordinator Farzad Mostashari.
Jason Shafrin writes: “Americans are a litigious culture. The malpractice claims that make it to court, however, are not many as you may think.The Healthcare Economist explains why.
Finally, how does health care In the U.S. compare to other countries? On the Disease Management Care Blog Dr. Jaan Sidorov tests our knowledge of and finds: We’re not so bad after all!
So, our days of drinking black — or green — beer are over. But, on Saturday I’ll boil up some cabbage and — sorry Walter Willett — and a hunk of corned beef in honor of my Irish nanny and the Readys and Gradys and Murphys who left their green shores and made their way across the sea to settle in Boston and New York. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from BHN.
Boston Health News 