Archive for the ‘Health Reform’ Category
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
On Being a Patient
By Jo Porter, NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice
Based on my educational background and professional history, you would think that I would be equipped and able as a very good health care consumer. I have a Masters degree in public health, including a concentration on social and behavioral health. I have worked on a variety of projects that focus on improving the health care system. I have even written brochures for consumers on the very topic of conversing effectively with your doctor. So, what happens when I am the patient? Let me tell you…
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Nutrition Legislation with a Side of Information
Sandra M. Van Scoyoc
President, HNHfoundation
I’m still giddy over the passage of the nation’s health care reform legislation. I kept current throughout the debates on what it meant for children who needed medical and dental health insurance coverage, a major focus of the HNHfoundation’s mission. And I breathed a sigh of relief when it passed, knowing that thousands of children who still need coverage will now have a chance of getting it and those who have it, won’t lose it. There are 16,000 children in New Hampshire who are uninsured. They have been waiting for someone with enough courage and leadership to say, “You are important too! You deserve and need health and dental insurance coverage!”
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Is New Hampshire Ready for Accountable Care Organizations?
By Steve Ahnen
President, New Hampshire Hospital Association
Health care reform is now law, and delivery and payment reform is a major part of the ongoing conversation and debate. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are getting a lot of attention. The goal of an ACO is for a group of different health care providers –primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals –to work together to coordinate patients’ care and be reimbursed in a way that is rewarded for providing high quality care, hopefully resulting in better care that doesn’t cost as much.
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Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Assuring a Healthy Population – Thinking Beyond the “Episode of Care”
Yvonne Goldsberry PhD, MPH
Senior Director of Community Health, Cheshire Medical Center / Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene
Co-Chair, NH Citizens Health Initiative, Health Promotion Disease Prevention Pillar Group (HPDPPG)
When the dust settles from the recent enactment of the federal health insurance reform bill, the state of New Hampshire and our local communities will be left to determine how to implement new requirements for insuring our population, how to contain costs, how to gain efficiencies in the health care system, and how to reform the payment system. Yet despite our best efforts in this regard, many of the leading causes of death for the citizens of New Hampshire will remain the same such as heart disease, cancer, and cerebrovascular disease. More importantly, the underlying causes for the chronic diseases that shorten life or decrease the quality of life will remain the same, such as tobacco use, lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, alcohol misuse, and environmental factors.
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