James A. White recently blogged about the latest unemployment ratings last week for the Wall Street Journal. January’s rate was 9.7%, which came down from 10% in the previous two months. What PRN Funding found to be the most interesting was that health care sector added 14,500 jobs.

Moreover, it’s also important to note the continuing surge in temporary hiring. “Perhaps once the health care debate is settled some of these jobs will swap into permanent employment, but in the meantime firms are willing to take on workers but not at the expense of benefits on the way in or severance on the way out,” said Steven Blitz of Majestic Research.

As a follow-up from our post last week regarding the House of Representatives health care reform bill, the U.S. Senate has also unveiled their $849 billion health reform bill.

The 2074-page Senate bill is expected to be voted on as early as this Saturday. The proposal now goes to the full Senate, where Republicans have vowed to try to block it.

Some of the more interesting aspects of the bill include the following*:

1. The Medicare payroll tax on individuals earning $200,000 a year and couples earning $250,000 a year would increase by half a percentage point.
2. Bill would require individuals to purchase health insurance, with a fine for non-compliance of $95 in the first year that would escalate to $750 by 2016.
3. Parents would be responsible for providing coverage for their children up to 18 years old.

If the healthcare reform proposal passes the Senate, a combined version of the House’s proposal and the Senate’s proposal will need to pass both chambers before it can be signed into law.

Click here to read the Business Standard’s article on health reform: US Senate Unveils $849 BN Health Care Reform Bill.

As reported by the National Post on Monday morning, The United States House became the first chamber of congress to pass a comprehensive health reform bill, voting 220-215 in favor of the 10-year Affordable Health Care for America Act on Saturday night.

President Barack Obama was quoted in the article saying, “We are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America,” and he’s confident that the Senate will pass its version of the legislation in the near future.

Most likely, the Senate will have a different version of the health care reform bill, and it will need 60 of 100 votes to pass. If it passes, both the House and the Senate will need to meet to agree on a single package.

Currently, the reform package includes obligatory coverage, tax hikes for the wealthy and a clause to prevent insurers from rejecting customers with pre-existing conditions.

Click here to read the entire article: U.S. health care reform ‘two steps away.’

While the majority of other businesses started converting to electronic files years ago, hospitals are lagging behind. In fact, only 1.5% of hospitals today have a “comprehensive electronic health record, and 8% have a basic version. The main reason why hospitals have been slow to adapt the technology is the massive price tag ($20 million-$200 million).

The University of Virginia Medical Center is taking strides to adopt EHRs. The medical center recently started employing medical scribes to help follow doctors in the ER and take down detailed notes on laptops which will form part of each patient’s electronic health record.

Click here for the entire article: High-tech scribes help transfer medical records into electronic form.

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal detailed some promising signs that a bill for the health care overhaul will be passed soon.

Congressional budget crunchers announced that the latest Senate health bill will cost $829 billion over the next decade, covering 94% of the non-elderly. In addition, the new bill will reduce the federal budget deficit by $81 billion.

Democrats are still divided over main elements of the new legislation, namely, whether to include a public health insurance plan and how to pay for the overhaul. So far, the bill’s funding comes from $404 billion in cuts to Medicare and two other government programs. Another $201 billion will come from a 40% excise tax on generous health insurance plans levied on insurers. Finally, the remaining funds will come from annual fees on insurers, medical device makers and pharmaceutical companies.

Click here to read the entire article: New Math Boosts Health Care Plan.

The Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) recently launched a year-long campaign to raise $10 from 10,000 MTs by 2010.

The medical transcription association plans to use the money to help support it’s advocacy efforts in Washington D.C.

Per AHDI’s Web site: “Our lobbying firm, along with our government relations staff, are making sure our sector is well represented in important meetings and discussions being held by our nation’s legislators and policymakers on healthcare reform, criteria and standards for EHR systems, and workforce development in allied health.

Currently, there are two ways to contribute to the Power of 10 Campaign:
Mail - Send donations to: AHDI 4230 Kiernan Avenue, Suite 130, Modesto CA 95356
Facebook - Make a donation through the Facebook cause: Support to AHDI Power of 10 Campaign. For every 10th donation of $10, AHDI will give away a great credit-worthy product, starting with an educational CD.

Click here for more information about the Power of 10 Campaign.

A results of a telephone poll of 3003 U.S. adults that began on September 8 and concluded on September 17 are in, and the overall takeaway from the poll is that most Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to receive the best quality healthcare.

Conducted by Thomson Reuters, the survey also revealed the following:

1. 35% believe that President Barack Obama’s reform agenda will lead to better health care
2. 41% think the President’s agenda will lower costs
3. 76% believe Americans deserve the best in health care
4. 43% believe that they are receiving the best in health care right now
5. 77% of those polled are currently satisfied with their doctors
6. 68% are currently satisfied with their health insurance coverage
7. 53% are currently satisfied with their out-of-pocket expenses

Click here to read more of the survey’s results: Americans willing to fund health care reform-poll.

Is the recession responsible for the flat job growth in the hospital sector? Or, is something larger at play? Are we seeing a fundamental shift in the way healthcare is being delivered in this country? Is the idea of the single, monolithic brick-and-mortar hospital giving way to a more fluid contract where hospitals play a less-centralized role?

Reporter, John Commins, attempted to answer these questions and more in his recent HealthLeaders Media article: What’s Behind Slow Hospital Job Growth?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics preliminary August 2009 data, the overall health sector reported 27,900 payroll additions in August, while hospitals lost 700 jobs.

One explanation for the trend is that the recessions has accelerated a long-term trend away from hospitals and toward the outpatient setting, senior healthcare analyst, David Bachman, said.

Still, Kurt Mosley (VP of business development for Merritt Hawkins & Associates) blames hospitals’ slow job growth on the economy. However, he thinks the Obama administration and health care reform will really benefit hospitals. He said that  most of the $20 billion that will be set aside for electronic medical records will be funneled through hospitals.

Janet Adamy, Jonathan Weisman, and Greg Hitt of The Wall Street Journal gave an update Tuesday on health care reform…

The bipartisan plan that has been in the works in the Senate Finance Committee by three Democrats and three Republicans is slowly on its way towards completion.  The plan, the latest version of which was handed out by Max Baucus (D-MT) over the weekend, does not include the controversial public option.

In a speech given yesterday, President Obama stated that he continues to believe a public option is the best way to “…improve quality and lower costs.”

On Wednesday, Obama will address Congress in an attempt to lay out his vision of getting the final bill up to par with his standards.  Until now, Obama has given this task to Congressional leaders and Senatorial committees that have only created more confusion.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee hopes to finalize its version of the bill by the end of the week.  Thus far, their bill would cost less than $900 billion over 10 years and would give health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans.  In place of the public option is a group of new not-for-profit insurance co-ops that would compete with private insurers.

While the plan would require most Americans to have health insurance, it would not require businesses to provide insurance to their employees-a provision that should win over Republican support.  Another aspect of the bill that Republicans will like is that it is paid for through spending cuts and revenue increases and does not increase the national deficit.  The plan would also give tax credits to the low to middle-income Americans to help them buy insurance and expand Medicaid for the nation’s poorest.

A lot of parties are pleased with the newest bill, but insurance companies are already complaining.  The bill includes a fee placed on insurance companies that will be based on their market share.  Crafters of the bill hope this new revenue stream would ensure a deficit-neutral plan.

Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, said, “New taxes on health-care coverage will only make coverage less affordable for families and small businesses.”  Other sources of revenue in the bill include eliminating wasted funds in Medicare, which crafters say will not lower the quality of care to seniors.

We will keep you updated on Wednesday’s events surrounding health care reform.

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: Key Week for Obama Starts on Feisty Note

Jonathan Weisman, Neil King, and Janet Adamy wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal today documenting the key moments in the debate over health care.  The information has been summarized below for The Factoring Blog’s readership…

Back in 2005, a coalition of liberal health care groups, named the Herndon Alliance, asked focus groups what they thought of a potential government overhaul of the health care system.  The response was similar to what Democrats were seeing at their town hall meetings this past August: A government overhaul would raise costs and reduce care for those already insured. 

Weisman, King, and Adamy write that insured Americans, a majority of which like their current coverage, do not believe there will be any benefit to them by changing the system. And if anything, they believe it will do them harm.  Also, Americans aren’t buying proponents’ claims that the $1 trillion plan will be deficit neutral and not increase taxes. 

Former President, Bill Clinton, has been through this process before.  Back in 1994, his health care plan was defeated due to similar concerns.  With the deficit as high as it is and the economy as bad as it is, the current fears are heightened significantly.  The only difference between Obama and Clinton has been a strategy by Obama to line up supporters from leaders in the industry (health care insurers, pharmaceutical makers, and care providers) believing he could win over Republicans as well.  However, Weisman, King, and Adamy say this strategy proved to be a big failure as public outcry about the public plan got louder every day.

Meanwhile, politicians in the Senate Finance Committee are no closer to getting a bipartisan bill on the table.  A start-up team of 11 Senators quickly downsized to six.  The three Republicans left on the team refuse to include the public option in any bill along with other liberal provisions, which Democrats won’t change. 

Republicans have been calling for Obama to renounce the public option provision if serious talks about a bipartisan bill could progress.  The president has yet to do so, and there are no indications he will listen to the majority of Americans who don’t want the public option. 

President Obama is in a difficult spot right now.  On the one side, Democrats say they won’t support a bill without the public option.  On the other, Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats will not vote for a bill that includes a public plan.  The only feasible way for Obama and the Democrats to pass their version of health care reform will be through reconciliation, which requires a simple majority to pass a bill instead of the standard 60 votes in the Senate. 

Obama is in the process of planning yet another speech, this time to Congress, which will be broadcast live in primetime to the American people sometime next week. 

In what seems to be his last-ditch effort to push a bill through, will he succeed? Or will he just go down in history as the second politician to fail in reforming health care?

To read the entire article from the Wall Street Journal, click here: Wrong Turns: How Obama’s Health-Care Push Went Astray