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December 22,
2008 |
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IN THIS ISSUE
Kevin A. Kelly: A Tribute
Post A Memory Of Kevin A. Kelly; Memorial Service
Announced
Lame Duck Legislature Leaves Loose Ends
Oakwood Wins Governor's Awards Of Excellence
Henry Ford Among Top 100 Heart Hospitals
MSMS Connect Will Expand Services On Statewide
Portal
Freep Examines DMC Heart Program
Dems Seek Changes To MedAdvantage, Medicare Drug
Program |
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Kevin A. Kelly: A Tribute
By JOSEPH WEISS, MD
After a year-long battle against multiple health problems, MSMS
Executive Director Kevin A. Kelly passed away last week. While Kevin
is no longer with us, he has not stepped out of the lives of those
who knew him.
Kevin had a quiet, slightly raspy voice but what he said
came through clearly. His habit was to make his point and then move
back to allow the next person to be seen and heard. I never knew him
to deliver a lecture or make a speech to us but inevitably he moved
the group forward on the business of the Society.
Anyone who ever accompanied him in a morning meeting with a
congressman could appreciate Kevin’s political skill. If the meeting
were at 7:30 a.m., Kevin would be there at 7:10 a.m. Before the
meeting began he would have assigned every physician attending a
topic suited to that person’s knowledge, personality and the needs
of the meeting. He would take each physician aside. In my case, he
might say: “Joe, if no one brings up this point on Medicaid, I would
like you to mention it to the congressman.”
His sense of the political extended beyond presenting the
best MSMS case to a visiting legislator or guiding us at an MSMS
Board of Directors meeting. The MSMS initiative -- The Future of
Medicine --came from his vision and the work of its committee came
from his craft of bringing the right people together.
His political genius was not just his ability to direct MSMS.
Rather, what set Kevin apart was his gift to bring out from all of
us more than we thought we could do. Kevin may be gone, but the echo
of his leadership rings loudly.
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Post A Memory Of Kevin
A. Kelly; Memorial Service Announced
As a way for MSMS members and others to honor and remember former
MSMS Executive Director
Kevin A.
Kelly, MSMS has created a web page for users to post
their own comments and/or memories of Kevin. Click
here to post your own comment and read more about Kevin’s life.
A public memorial service has been scheduled for Wednesday, January
14, 2009, at 1 p.m., at
The
Peoples Church in East Lansing.
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Lame Duck
Legislature Leaves Loose Ends
There was good
news and bad news for physicians on the last day of the lame duck
session, according to MSMS. Good news: there was no vote on the
chiropractic scope of practice expansion bills or Blue Cross
individual market reform bills. Bad news: there was no vote on the
smoke-free air bill, either. That means work will continue in the
new session on all of these issues.
The chiropractic
scope bill was bullet often dodged and figures to be fired next year
as well. The individual market reform bills remain a thorny and
complex issue that avoided hasty approval. The smoke-free air bill
was, for physicians, a particular disappointment as much hard work
to place Michigan with other states atop the public health echelon
came to naught.
The Campaign for
Smoke-free Air (CSA), a coalition supporting the smoking ban in
public places, expressed particular disappointment about the
legislature’s late-game actions.
“In the end,
political gamesmanship is the only winner here,” stated Susan
Schechter, spokeswoman for CSA and director of advocacy for the
American Lung Association of Michigan. “Michigan workers are holding
their breath waiting for this law to pass. The leaders of these
chambers know the public wants smoke-free air; they have seen the
science and economic numbers behind the movement, but instead they
are listening to the dollars from Big Tobacco, the casino and
restaurant industries that flow into their campaign coffers.
Since both the
House and Senate had passed different versions of House Bill 4163,
the bill was sent to a conference committee to work out the
differences. (The House had passed a version with exemptions in
2007; the Senate passed a version with no exemptions earlier this
year). But leadership from each chamber was unable to work together
on a final bill, and have left Lansing for the year.
Schecter did
thank Reps. Brenda Clack, D-Flint, Andy Meisner, D-Ferndale and Dave
Hildenbrand, R-Lowell and Sens. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, Alan Sanborn,
R-Richmond and Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt for their hard work and
dedication to smoke-free legislation during the conference
committee.
Currently, more
than half of Americans live in a city or state with smoke-free
workplace protection laws (34 states have smokefree workplace laws
in effect), reported CSA. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has called on
legislators to pass statewide smoke-free legislation and vowed to
sign the bill if it crossed her desk.
The Campaign for
Smoke-free Air is a grassroots coalition with more than 260 members,
including leadership from the American Cancer Society, American
Heart Association, American Lung Association of Michigan, Michigan
Health & Hospital Association, and Michigan State Medical Society,
as well as other statewide groups that support making workplaces,
including restaurants and bars, smoke-free. For more information
about the Campaign for Smoke-free Air, please visit
www.MakeMIAirSmokefree.org.
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Oakwood Wins
Governor's Awards Of Excellence
Oakwood
Healthcare System announced Oakwood Heritage Hospital (OHH), Oakwood
Annapolis Hospital, Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center and Oakwood
Southshore Medical Center are recipients of the 2007 Governor’s
Award of Excellence for Improving Care in the Hospital, Surgical and
Emergency Department Settings.
The awards honor
Michigan hospitals that are performing quality initiatives aimed at
improving outcomes in patient care. All four Oakwood hospitals
achieved awards of excellence in the categories of: Surgical
Clinical Excellence, Emergency Department Excellence and the
Appropriate Care Measure Clinical Award, which includes improving
quality measures for congestive heart failure, pneumonia and heart
attack.
Additionally, OHH
was recognized with the Governor’s Recognition of Excellence award
for meeting every core measure at 95 percent or above. OHH is one of
15 hospitals in the state to achieve this level of excellence.
“Oakwood
Healthcare System is committed to providing the highest clinical
quality and the best care to each and every patient,” said Sara
Atwell, administrator of clinical quality and patient safety. “We
are proud and honored to receive this level of recognition.”
Over the course
of a year, each nominated hospital worked to continuously improve
the quality of care for selected clinical areas, such as providing
Aspirin within 24 hours of arrival for heart attack patients. The
clinical topics the award measures have been designated as national
health priorities by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
For more
information about Oakwood Healthcare System or any of its acute care
hospitals, visit
www.oakwood.org.
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Henry Ford Among Top 100 Heart
Hospitals
Henry Ford Hospital was named among the top 100 U.S. hospitals
for cardiovascular care by Thomas Reuters.
Henry Ford
demonstrated higher performance on evidence-based core measures
published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for
heart disease outcomes, process of care, efficiency and lower costs.
The leading
hospitals were chosen from among nearly 1,000 U.S. hospitals that
treated patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks for
those who received bypass surgery and angioplasty.
Thomas Reuters
produces benchmarks and analysis that enable organizations to manage
costs, improve performance and enhance the quality of health care.
For more
information about Henry Ford's cardiovascular services, visit
http://www.henryford.com/
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MSMS Connect Will
Expand Services On Statewide Portal
MSMS is
establishing a statewide physician-sponsored electronic portal
called MSMS Connect. The basic portal is a free benefit to MSMS
members that securely connects physicians to patient data and to key
resources—all through a convenient, single sign-on portal. It will
use Compuware's Covisint subsidiary technology, securely connecting
physicians to patient information and to each other for referrals
and consultations, as well as to a number of labs, patient
registries and other medical office services and resources. MSMS
Connect also will connect to insurance companies, state agencies,
medical practice management resources, and other networks.
Organizations interested in linking from the portal may contact MSMS
at 517-324-2518 for information. Also, if you belong to a physician
organization (PO), you may wish to explore whether your PO provides
fu rther discounts on portal services. For more information, contact
Janet Foreman at 800-688-1895 or
jforeman@msms.org.
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Freep Examines DMC
Heart Program
A Dec. 16 Detroit
Free Press article took a close look the Detroit Medical Center’s
eight-month-old program to treat heart attack patients more quickly.
The Free Press reported the DMC treats such patients within 47
minutes, about half the time it takes most U.S. hospitals.
Cardio Team One
started in March and features senior cardiologists and angioplasty
team members who sleep in at Harper University Hospital and are
ready to perform emergency angioplasty. Most other hospitals keep
heart-team professionals on call and page them for emergencies.
The article gave
voice to critical arguments about the practicality of running the
program because of its costs and concerns about patients coming in
for emergency procedures unnecessarily because they know the team is
there.
According to the
Free Press, “nationally, about 600,000 angioplasties are performed
each year, about 50,000 in Michigan. About 1 in 5 angioplasty
procedures are emergencies. Last year, the nation's two biggest
heart organizations started a national campaign to reduce to 90
minutes the interval between when a patient comes to an emergency
department and when he or she gets angioplasty, a measurement known
as door-to-balloon time.”
For a link to the
full Free Press article, click here:
http://www.dmc.org/
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Dems Seek Changes
To MedAdvantage, Medicare Drug Program
Democratic Lawmakers, Obama Likely To Seek Changes to Medicare
Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
[Dec 15, 2008]
Democratic lawmakers and President-elect Barack Obama in 2009
likely will seek to reduce reimbursements to private health insurers
under Medicare Advantage and make changes to the Medicare
prescription drug benefit, the
Wall Street Journal
reports.
According to the Journal,
reimbursements for MA plans are 13% higher than payments for the
Medicare fee-for-service program for equivalent benefits, and the
extra payments are "long-sought targets" for Democratic lawmakers,
who in the past have attempted to reduce them to fund other efforts,
such as an expansion of SCHIP.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that said he
seeks to reduce such "overpayments" as part of his health care
reform proposal. In addition, Obama during his campaign said that he
supports a reduction in "excessive subsidies" to MA plans.
Democratic lawmakers "also are aiming to change elements" of the
Medicare prescription drug benefit, such as the so-called "doughnut
hole" coverage gap, the
Journal reports. In addition, House Ways and Means
Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.), Obama and
others have said that they will seek to allow the federal government
to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for prices under
the program (Zhang, Wall
Street Journal, 12/13).
Opinion Piece
"Unless the risk pool for Medicare grows and is strengthened to
include millions of younger, healthier workers, their families and
their kids, Medicare as we know it could die of old age," columnist
Saul Friedman writes in a
Long Island Newsday
opinion piece. He adds, "And with out-of-pocket costs soaring and
people leaving Medicare" for private MA plans, the
Congressional Budget Office has "warned that original Medicare
is in danger of becoming another private insurance plan."
Friedman recommends passage of a bill (HR 676) sponsored by Rep.
John Conyers (D-Mich.) that would expand Medicare to all U.S.
residents, "absorb such programs as Medicaid, SCHIP, and be paid for
by taxes and premiums." The bill would "save $300 billion a year in
administrative costs, for it would deny insurance companies a role,"
Friedman writes, adding, "Getting over that hurdle may be why HR 676
has gotten so little publicity." According to Friedman, the bill
might "not pass, but it should have a place in the coming
discussion" (Friedman, Long Island
Newsday, 12/13).
Reprinted from
kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire
Kaiser Daily Health Policy
Report, search the archives, and sign up for email
delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy . The
Kaiser Daily Health Policy
Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free
service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2008 Advisory
Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved."
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