Why people hate health reform

Physician reimbursement increasingly depends upon measures of healthcare quality. Physicians who fall short on quality measures now face financial penalties. But it might be quality measures, themselves, that are falling short, according to a study conducted by the American College Physicians. The study involved a panel of people with expertise in evidence-based medicine. Panelists were asked…

Seven days into the patient’s hospital stay, his doctors realized they had fought a losing battle. The patient, an overweight smoker with a touch of diabetes, had come to the emergency department with shortness of breath. After a series of tests in the emergency room, he was given a dose of antibiotics for possible pneumonia…

Rural hospitals have been closing at alarming rates, no longer able to bring in enough revenue to serve their communities. Fortunately, there is something both state and federal legislators can do to keep local hospitals open. State governments: if you haven’t expanded Medicaid, do it now. Under the Affordable Care Act, most of the cost of that…