Kerry pledged to move the country in a new direction with a plan that makes health care more affordable for businesses through new tax credits, premium relief, and the ability to buy into the same health care plan as members of Congress.

โ€œAt a time when the cost of health care and the number of uninsured Americans have reached record highs, George Bush hasn’t cut costs for a single family or helped small businesses insure a single worker during his four years in office,โ€ Kerry said. โ€œIn fact, George Bush’s crowning achievement on health care is a Medicare bill that gives billions in profits to drug companies while sticking seniors with the bill.โ€

In the last four years, health care premiums have shot up $3,512 โ€” five times faster than wages.

Without the market leverage of large companies, small businesses, which employ nearly half of all Americans, have had a difficult time keeping up with record health care costs. Employers have responded to high costs by slowing hiring and shifting jobs to more part-time and temporary workers.

Instead of offering help, President Bush has done nothing to provide relief. He has chosen to give tax breaks to outsourcers and delivered a billion dollar giveaway to drug companies, but stood on the sidelines as small businesses have wrestled with increased health costs.

The few plans the president has floated would make health care more expensive for most Americans. His proposal to expand Associated Health Plans would increase premiums for four out of five small businesses, and his plan to expand Health Savings Accounts would increase both costs and the number of uninsured.

โ€œGeorge Bush has had four years to do something โ€” anything โ€” about this problem,โ€ Kerry said. โ€œHe has done nothing, and now he’s asking for another four years to make the same wrong choices for America.โ€

Kerry’s plan will provide relief for small businesses who provide workers health care.

Kerry will allow small businesses to buy into the same health care plans as members of Congress, allowing them access to the same prices available to big groups, and give small businesses tax credits to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of employees’ premiums.

Under Kerry’s plan, all businesses who provide coverage will get up to $1000 in premium breaks, and families and businesses will benefit from his proposals to cut waste and bring down administrative costs.

โ€œI believe we need a new direction on health care to keep our businesses strong and our families healthy,โ€ Kerry said. โ€œMy plan is based on incentives and the marketplace. And it finally does something about the spiraling health care costs that are bankrupting middle-class families and burdening small businesses all across America.โ€

For more information on Senator Kerry’s stand on National Security, Energy Independence, Economy and Jobs, Health Care, Homeland Security, Education, Environment, Veterans, and Stronger Communities, read the Kerry-Edwards Plan for America at www.johnkerry.com/issues/ .

Author: Anonymous
Source: free-articles

The government is a forward lurching beast. This is because of the nature of our elections. Politicians do not run on a platform of promising to do nothing. Well, at least not politicians that win! Instead, they run on a platform wherein they promise the will do X, Y or Z. This leads to what seems to be a forever growing body of laws and programs at both the federal and state levels.

Okay, so why does this matter? Well, the nature of government is that any big program that passes tends to remain regardless of its merits or how much it might change. In fact, no big government program has ever been repealed. Not one. Think about it and you will realize as much and it is this simple observation that leads us to the real goal of health care proponents.

The goal is simple. Proponents of health care reform just want to pass anything. Why? Once the reform is enacted, it can be improved upon in the future. This is why proponents of change in Congress have been willing to avoid hang ups that could keep the effort from becoming law. Abortion coverage? They left it out. The “public option”? They are leaving it out. Perhaps I should add a “for now” when it comes to both of those because you can bet they will be revisited down the road!

It appears as though we will get some form of health care reform. Interestingly, the compromise required to get it passed will result in new law that both the right and left will most likely hate. There views will not be relevant in many ways as the new reform law will only be the skeleton outline of what will eventually come down the line.

Fraud within the health care system raises insurance prices. For every claim insurance companies pay that are fraudulent we pay higher premiums. It may not be fair but this is exactly what happens. The premiums are raised so that companies can recuperate money that has been paid out to those who shouldn’t have received it to begin with.

Health care fraud within the government has an even bigger affect. Not only do your tax dollars pay for this but it means that care may be taken away from those who deserve it and are in desperate need. Imagine children not being able to receive care they need because an adult is getting free care simply because they don’t want to work.

This type of fraud also leads to stricter policies and regulations. Medicine that is needed may not be available to some people because a select few abuse it. Pain medicine is the most widely regulated due to people with addictions. This in turn means that some people may suffer in pain due to not being able to get the proper medications.

Of course it isn’t just individuals who commit fraud. Doctors and hospitals are involved as well. Some may submit bills for services they didn’t provide. Some doctors and hospitals have even gone as far as to create ghost patients. Often times this could be as simple as performing procedures that are not necessary.

Some of these types of fraud are very hard to prove. Unnecessary procedures, for instance, may be the hardest to prove. What one doctor considerers unnecessary another can argue is perfectly legitimate. Unless you have access to the doctor’s records and know exactly what his orders were then there may be know way of knowing if fraud was committed.

Health care fraud also occurs through medical identity theft. This occurs when a person uses another persons insurance to receive health care service. This may occur because the person is uninsured or simply doesn’t want to use their own insurance. This could even be so the person can receive narcotics without using their own name.

Fraud is a growing problem in our society. It hurts every honest person in one way or another. Because of fraud it is very possible that some of the programs we rely on could be discontinued. If these programs are taken away it could cost innocent lives.

If you know anyone who is guilty of health care fraud then there are places you can report it to. You never even have to give your name. Help stop fraud and you can help make help insure health care is available for all who need it most.

Doctors and nurses have information available at their fingertips, allowing them to make quicker and more accurate clinical decisions. Patients with chronic illnesses can access their health records over a secure internet connection from anywhere in the world.

The system has also helped Cincinnati Children’s become the first pediatric hospital in the nation to earn the prestigious Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence for 2003 from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). “Cincinnati Children’s has taken computerized patient record systems to new dimensions of influence, usage and effectiveness,” says Asif Ahmad, chair of the Davies Award committee.

The system is called the Integrating Clinical Information System, or ICIS, and it’s transforming health care. ICIS, in combination with broad-based hospital performance improvement programs, has resulted in significant improvements in patient safety, efficiency, regulatory compliance and patient satisfaction.

“I want you to know that this type of integration of information system into medical care instills real confidence in the parents of patients,” wrote David Wehrle in a letter to Cincinnati Children’s. Mr. Wehrle’s son, Gabriel, came to Cincinnati Children’s from New Jersey earlier this year for airway reconstruction surgery.

“So many mistakes are often due to the lack of information or a quick and convenient way to access information. You are truly thinking in terms of the hospital as one integrated system. I like that! When an aide came to my son’s room regularly with a wifi networked notebook to record his vital signs, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Kudos to you. You are doing it.”

ICIS refers to the entire clinical information system at Cincinnati Children’s. Central to ICIS, and a major reason for earning the Davies Award, are clinical order entry (COE) and clinical documentation components.

“COE provides complete, unambiguous and legible orders,” says Brian Jacobs, MD (http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/staff/j/brian-jacobs.htm), who led implementation of several ICIS components, including COE. “Clinical decisions are better informed, with numerous information resources readily available at their fingertips.”

Decision support includes more than 250 disease and diagnosis-based standardized care order sets; links to medication formularies, policies and procedures; internet search capability; help and feedback screens; and evidence-based clinical guidelines and pathways. COE also has built-in safety checks to minimize dosage errors due to improper weight entries, medication under- or overdosing, medication allergies or interactions and duplicate orders. Orders are routed to pages, printers or electronic interfaces throughout the hospital so that clinicians can initiate care immediately.

COE is integrated with the clinical documentation system and medication administration record. This can be thought of as electronic charting: The system allows nurses to document electronically, rather than on multiple paper forms, essential clinical information such as vital signs, allergies, heights, weights, fluid balance and pain assessments.

It also includes an electronic medication administration record, formerly transcribed onto a piece of paper by a health unit coordinator and a nurse.

“Supporting patient safety and increasing efficiency in care delivery is the goal of clinical documentation,” says Terri Price, RN, a director in the Department of Patient Services who has led the implementation of the clinical documentation part of the system with the nursing staff. “Studies have demonstrated that as much as 40 minutes per shift can be gained by using electronic charting systems. That’s 40 minutes more per shift that a nurse can spend with a patient and family. Overall, clinical documentation facilitates a family-centered approach to care by improving efficiency in care delivery, improving outcomes and reducing length of stay.”

Cincinnati Children’s first major clinical ICIS implementation came in 1999, with an electronic medical imaging Picture Archiving and Communication System, or PACS, according to Neil Johnson, MD, medical director, Information Services (http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/svc/staff/j/neil-johnson.htm). PACS sends medical images, such as X-rays, CT and MRI scans, and ultrasound, as well as radiology reports, electronically to wherever clinicians need them.

Next, Cincinnati Children’s implemented an electronic discharge summary, which enabled physicians for the first time to enter important information directly into a computer system and increased their comfort with using computers for direct patient care. Then, before COE and clinical documentation cam online, Cincinnati Children’s established a web-based, patient results system, which provides secure access to patient test results from anywhere in the system.

ICIS is now expanding to include chronic care portals — web-based applications to help families whose children have chronic diseases manage their own care — often from distances far from Cincinnati. The first operational portal is the liver transplant portal. The portal graphically depicts test results, trends and other medical information, and provides secure communication between patients and clinicians. Patients and their families can access the online, browser-based system from anywhere in the world.

In addition, Cincinnati Children’s is implementing a new perioperative, anesthesia and intensive care electronic information system. This system will serve as “mission control” for these critical patient-care areas — tracking a child’s progress at every step of the way — from surgery registration to recovery to critical care. Doctors and nurses will be able to view a child’s status at any given moment, see exactly what happened at previous steps and gain access to the patient’s complete medical history.

HIMSS bestows the Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence each year for use of electronic health record (EHR) systems in health care organizations. HIMSS provides leadership in health care for the advancement and management of information technology and provides services to more than 13,000 members, including IT health care corporations, firms and professionals from around the globe. HIMSS directs and shapes the health care industry, encourages emerging technology and promotes public policies that will improve health care delivery.