Keeping up with Capitol Hill happenings

The full-pitched health reform battle is under way in DC. To keep up,  I suggest checking out the Wall Street Journal's Health Blog, National Public Radio's Health Blog, the Kaiser news page, Politico  and, of course, The Boston Globe.  Find other good links to the right under Health Reform and Health News

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Kennedy produces health care bill

You can read Kennedy's actual bill here. If you're not up to reading all 615 pages, find a few reports below.  (For the conservative response, see this story in The American Spectator.) This from the AP story on the Kennedy bill: Americans would be able to buy long-term care insurance from the government for $65 a month under a …

Massachusetts H1N1 update

Confirmed H1N1 Influenza (swine flu)  For current updates see the DPH site.  Also note this 6/23 Globe story.  The only person known to have died of swine flu in Massachusetts suffered from none of the underlying medical conditions that can turn a relatively mild viral infection into a life-threatening illness, city disease trackers disclosed yesterday. …

Obama pushes harder on health and the end of pain at MGH

   I’m an early riser and tend to get up on Sunday and read through the Times and the Globe. Lots of health stuff, starting with a Globe story on how Obama’s going to get more involved in creating and promoting the health reform bill.    This weekend, Organizing for America - the president's former national …

Tanzi + Aerosmith not Photoshop

 MGH Alzheimer's researcher Rudy Tanzi let BHN know that Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry was actually at the advertising photo shoot he did for this ad in GQ.  I raised the question of photo shop in my Mass Device blog.   Men’s fashion designer Geoffrey Beene put up a multipage, cause marketing ad in GQ about his effort to raise money for research into …

Weekly Boston health review now up

I got a little snarky in my latest  Week in Review for Mass Device.com. First I talk about the rough week for the Massachusetts health insurance law. Then I sort of make fun of Partners and scientists.  Also, links to a WBUR  interview with Atul Gawande about his New Yorker piece on regional variations in the …

Baucus makes nice with single-payer advocates

But, that was about all, Cambridge doc David Himmelstein told Carrie Budoff Brown for her story on Politico.  “'While he did say it was probably a mistake not to have given a full hearing to single payer in the past, he announced no intention of opening up the hearings on single payer in the future and we …

Infection control: WBUR on MGH hand-washing rap

Sacha Pfeiffer offers a nice bit of multimedia on the silly but effective steps area hospitals are taking to get workers to wash their hands.  She tagged along with the hand washing police, but failed to get in on a bust.   No reggae soundtrack. Instead, I woke up this morning to RN Pauline Albrecht’s  "Cal-Stat" rap. Beware --you'll get "Boom …

Hospital care: Getting what you pay for

Health care shoppers looking for the best deal should remember the little lagniappe that came with the state insurance plan: The “My Health Care Options” page. This simple database allows patients to compare hospitals on costs and quality.  So, if you get to choose between two hospitals, you can opt for a four-star angioplasty, c-section or  gall …

Marcia Angell, single payer and week in review

Here’s what Marcia Angell would have said about the single payer approach if she had been invited to the Senate Finance Committee health reform meeting this week. Via the Globe.  The reform proposals advocated by President Obama are meant to increase coverage for the uninsured. That is certainly a worthwhile goal, but the problem is …