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I'm not sure why the pols in the People's Republic of Massachusetts are as dumb as they are. In the latest fiasco, the Democratic Senate President on the same day that the state's premier insurer, Blue Cross, stated that EMR is not necessary put forth a bill to demand that all physicians not only have EMR but show proficiency in the technology in order to get their license. This would take effect in 2015. The gal also wants to set aside all of $25 million to help create a statewide system of electronic medical records by the same date. It would probably cost 10 times that amount. Anything for publicity. The same bill allows patients to choose NPs for their primary care (cheap but stupid), forcing public review of all insurance company efforts to boost premiums over 7 per cent. She would also ban all gifts to physicians by pharmaceutical companies. If the ban is broken by giving a pen away with a logo to an office, the person giving the pen may be fined $5000 and go away for two years. This is another grandstand play. With people like this in office is it any wonder that the state is the laughing stock of the country. Top
The Democratic Congress is again going to attempt to pass a bill with full Medicare spending. They still don't get it. Medicare is going broke faster than Social Security. The Dems have never seen an entitlement program they have not loved.
The House has also snuck into a bill they passed on mental health a AHA sponsored and paid for provision to get rid of specialty physician owned hospitals. The sneaks bill states that physicians may not own over 40% of the hospital and no one physician may own over 2%. This was not in the original bill passed by the Senate and may hold up passage of the bill in conference committee.
Oregon is much more practical than the People's Republic. They have only so much money to pay for health insurance for those who do not qualify for Medicaid. Instead of making their businesses insolvent, they are only making the insurance for the most basic of coverage available to a limited number of people. These will be chosen at random by a computer.
At the same time, the People's Republic continues to attempt to find ways to fund their bloated program. They won't find the proper way until they look at the program itself. Top
New York Attorney General Cuomo is expanding his health insurer probe. New subpoenas went out to execs at Aetna, Cigna and Wellpoint. The probe centers on the information from Ingenix which is owned by the insurance industry and which Cuomo believes is giving wrong information to its bosses.
California has a law passed six years ago to force timely care for HMO patients. It has never had the regs promulgated by the State. The stakeholders (HMOs) contested the last regs and so a new set of regs appeared. There was not adequate time for public comment so they were withdrawn. The latest fiasco is to allow each HMO to develop its own rules as to how quickly a patient should be seen and/or referred. It would be the fox watching the hen house. Top
New Hampshire has a bill pending that regarding EMR would allow individuals to block access to their medical records, inspect them to see who has been looking at their records and would allow patients to block the transfer of a medical file to his physician and prevent the use in marketing or fundraising efforts. This bit of stupidity is being fought by the state's hospitals and physicians. This will kill EMR in the state. The comments on line on the story are fascinating as they are all pro bill including a nurse who says that laptops and EMRs are cheap. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.