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

Jonathan Weisman and Janet Adamy provided an update to the health care debate yesterday in the Wall Street Journal…

After a month of heated town hall meetings and nasty exchanges between the right and left, the health care debate is still going strong.  A final bill has yet to be accepted.  However, a number of things could change between now and the artificial September 15 deadline, set by President Obama, for the Senate Finance Committee to come up with a bipartisan bill.  One thing that could happen is nothing at all.

The ‘Gang of Six’ negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee, a group of three Democrats and three Republicans, are no closer to a bipartisan bill than they were before the recess.  The Democrats are claiming the three Republicans refuse to have serious talks about reform.  This is now spurring a last-ditch effort by Democrats, in hopes of persuading the American people, that Republicans are to blame for the stalemate.  They are also hoping that Senator Edward Kennedy’s death will aide them in passing reform. 

A bipartisan bill would be very difficult to hammer out in the next couple of weeks.  People close to the President say he is going to go in a slightly different direction when he addresses the nation sometime in these next two weeks.  Obama will try and lay out exactly what he wants in the final bill. 

The chances of passing the final bill appear to be slim.  Democrats would need 60 votes to pass it, although they could go the nontraditional route of reconciliation and get it passed with a simple majority.  If Democrats do this, Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said, “There’ll be a minor revolution in this country”. 

What do you think Obama will do in his next address to the nation?

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: Democrats Try Tougher Tone on Health Plan

Gary Fields of the Wall Street Journal gave an update on the health care reform bill earlier yesterday.  On Sunday, key senators said they would like to slow down President Obama’s pace of overhauling America’s health care.  Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said on CNN’s State of the Union that Obama chose a difficult time to fix one of the country’s toughest sectors noted, “In other words, we’re in a recession.”

Lieberman also pointed out that since Obama’s inception, Americans “are very worried about their jobs, about the economic future.  They’ve watched us add to the debt of this country.  We’re projected to run a $1.8 trillion deficit this year.” He suggested that a lot of the concerns at town hall meeting across the country are stemming from a struggling economy, and that Obama should be patient and wait for the economy to improve. 

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) concurred with Lieberman and said Sunday that because of the issues outlined by Lieberman, President Obama should “…postpone the decision” on health care reform. 

If any plan is pushed through, Senator Lieberman would like to see more public support.  He also stressed that it would be a mistake to push through a bill that the public is so heavily against.  In addition, Lieberman said, “It’s just not good for the system, frankly, and it won’t be good for the Obama presidency.”

Recent strategies within the Democratic Party include reconciliation: a rarity in voting on bills, it would allow the Senate to pass a bill with just 51 votes, instead of the traditional minimum of 60.  However, Democrats are backing away from this option. 

On Sunday, Senator Arlen Spector appeared on Fox News Sunday and addressed the issue of reconciliation: “[iIt is] not desirable.  As a very last, last, last resort, if you can’t get anything else, I would consider it.”

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah said Sunday on Meet the Press that reconciliation was not meant to be utilized on a bill that overhauls one-sixth of the U.S. economy and would be a gross “…abuse of the process.”

A bipartisan effort is dimming with each day that passes.  Only time will tell what the final bill, if any, looks like.

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: Health-Bill’s Pace Prompts Calls for Delay.

Jonathan Weisman and Naftali Bendavid of the Wall Street Journal had another update on health care reform yesterday.  The chances of a bipartisan bill being completed are decreasing by the day.  Due to this fact, the White House and Senate Democratic leadership have plans to split the bill into two parts and utilize reconciliation (budget-related items that can pass the Senate with 51 votes instead of the required 60 to overcome a filibuster) to pass the most expensive and controversial provisions.  Since Republicans are against any kind of government intervention into health care, the Democrats are debating whether or not to go it alone. 

President Obama has set a new goal for when his health care plan should be passed-by the end of 2009.  Splitting up the bill and using reconciliation would all but ensure this objective. 

Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, will decide whether or not to use the reconciliation tool.  Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, was quoted in the article: “We will not make a decision to pursue reconciliation until we have exhausted efforts to produce a bipartisan bill.  However, patience is not unlimited, and we are determined to get something done this year by any legislative means necessary.”

Senate Finance Committee members, seen as the last hope to hammer out a bipartisan agreement, are not giving up yet.  Chairman of the Finance Committee and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) said, “The Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate.” 

Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) explained how Republicans must be involved in the negotiations: “We need to get a bill the 75 or 80 senators can support.  If the Democrats choose to shut out Republicans and moderate Democrats, their plan will fail because the American people will have no confidence in it.” 

The bottom line is that if a deal is not reached by mid-September, the Democrats will most likely use reconciliation to get their bill passed. 

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: New Rx for Health Plan: Split Bill

Jonathan Weisman of The Wall Street Journal provided an update on health care reform yesterday.  Come September, the Obama administration will try to take control of the health care debate.  Doing so will not be easy, as Americans worried about the government overhaul continue to show up and protest the plan at their representatives’ town hall meetings.  The shifting strategy will include more speeches and less informal town hall style meetings. 

The public has been confused on the White House’s stance on the public option for the past couple of days.  Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, said over the weekend that the government option was not the central part of the bill.  In addition, President Obama indicated during a town hall meeting in Colorado that the public option might not be included in the final bill.  These statements created cause for concern amongst supporters of the public option. 

On Wednesday, the president will try to add an emotional appeal during a conference call with liberal religious groups.  Conservatives still say this bill has too much government control that a majority of Americans don’t want.  A senior Republican Senate aide said Obama has failed to convince Americans that they will benefit from his plan.  He also stressed the battle between Americans’ personal costs vs. ideals, and that ideals almost always lose. 

The Democrats are not giving in.  A Democratic strategist said, “If you are going to sell something as big and monumental and transformative as health care, you cannot get small with it.  You’ve got to be larger.  You’ve got to call on the better angels out there.”

Another point Weisman made is that during his presidential campaign, Obama scolded opponent Hillary Clinton for allying herself with Washington power brokers.  With the AARP and drug companies in favor of health reform, it seems as if Obama is the one signing up the special interests. 

Polling has been less than favorable to the proposed HR 3200 bill.  An NBC News poll released yesterday shows 41% in favor of the way Obama is handling health care reform, while a troubling 47% disapprove.  Now, only 21% want a complete overhaul of health care, down from 33% in April. 

How do you feel about the president’s handling of health care reform?

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: White House Rethinks How It Sells Health Overhaul

Naftali Bendavid, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, gave an important update to health care reform earlier today.  Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, caused some uproar amongst Democrats on Sunday when she said that a public option is not the “essential element” to health care reform.

In a Q-and-A email sent out to members of Congress on Monday, the White House said “nothing has changed” in regards to the plans of including a public option into the final health care reform bill.  President Obama is still convinced that the best way to reform the system is to lower costs and increase competition; he believes a public option will achieve these goals. 

Ironically, two groups have formed due to the White House’s latest indications that it is backing away from a public option: liberal activists, who say they would never support a reform bill without a public option, and moderates, who say the government option will lead to complete government control of the system.  The White House is trying to appease both groups. 

Even if the public plan is dropped altogether, Republicans and moderates are still wary of the rest of the provisions in the bill.  Specifically, they are worried that the estimated cost of $1 trillion over 10 years is too much to put on the American people in a down economy.  Some experts believe these estimates, must like original estimates for Medicare, are inaccurate, and this kind of reform will end up costing a lot more. 

One House Republican leadership aide said, “It doesn’t make a difference to us [if the public plan is dropped].  This plan is so bad that changing this one particular provision is not going to fix it.”

Currently, three committees in the House have completed different versions of HR 3200.  All three of them include the controversial public option.  The Senate, however, is still working on its version.  The Senate Finance committee is trying to churn out their ‘bipartisan’ bill, which will certainly not include the public plan. 

Michael Mahaffey, spokesman for Senate Finance Committee member Mike Enzi (R-WY) said, “The government-run plan does not have the votes to pass in the Senate, it never has.” 

So while Sen. Enzi is pleased to see the White House backing away from its insistence on including a government-run plan, the fact is this doesn’t change the dynamic in the Senate very much”. 

To read the entire Wall Street Journal article, click here: White House Reassures Allies