Psychological well-being has been found as a source of resilience against stress and falling ill. A new strategy (Well-Being Therapy) developed by a group of investigators of the University of Bologna, headed by Drs Ruini and Fava, may be successfull in increasing psychological well-being in the school, as reported in the November issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

This study wants to apply and test the efficacy of a school-based intervention protocol derived from well-being therapy (WBT) compared to cognitive-behavioral strategies, which have been used also in school setting for treating anxiety, depression and for developing more adaptive coping skills.

School interventions were performed in a population of 111 middle school students randomly assigned to: (a) a protocol using theories and techniques derived from cognitive-behavioral therapy (4 weeklysessions); (b) a protocol derived from WBT(4 weekly sessions). Assessment before and after interventions was performed using two self-rating scales for measuring both levels of distress and of psychological well-being: Kellner’s Symptom Questionnaire and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scales.

Both school-based interventions resulted in a comparable improvement in symptoms and psychological well-being. These results show that a new strategy based on the promotion of well-being and optimal functioning is effective also in decreasing symptoms. Moreover, students and teachers were very interested in this new intervention and reported an high satisfaction. This new well-being-enhancing strategy could play an important role in the prevention of psychological distress in school settings and in promoting optimal human functioning among children.

About PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PSYCHOSOMATICS JOURNAL

The International Federation for Psychotherapy (IFP) is an organization of national, regional, and school-oriented psychotherapy societies. Its goals are to facilitate and promote international communication among the various schools, professional groups and cultures within psychotherapy. The IFP organizes international congresses and conferences on psychotherapy. The IFP promotes the development of psychotherapy in practice, teaching and research and encourages and supports appropriate standards in the practice of psychotherapy. “Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics” is the official journal of the IFP. IFP, Culmannstrasse 8, CH-8091 Zurich.

karger Continue reading →

The New York Times on Monday examined enrollment and financing challenges in Dirigo Health, a Maine health insurance program that seeks to provide coverage for the estimated 130,000 uninsured state residents by 2009 (Belluck, New York Times, 4/30).

The public-private health insurance program, established under a state law enacted in 2003, offers lower-cost health plans to self-employed individuals and to employees of small businesses. Under the program, the state contracts with private health insurance carriers and competes with current health plans to offer coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours per week. Employers cover as much as 60% of the cost of the premiums, and employees pay the remainder of the cost. The state provides premium subsidies on a sliding scale to program participants with annual incomes less than 300% of the federal poverty level. The state offers employers subsidies to encourage the participation of employees who meet certain criteria (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/19/03).

The state sought to enroll 31,000 uninsured residents in the program by the end of 2005. However, to date only about 18,000 state residents have enrolled in the program, and many of them previously had coverage.

Challenges
According to the Times, the problems with enrollment in Dirigo Health are related to some “particular challenges” that Maine faces. Maine has large rural, low-income and elderly populations with significant health care needs; a large number of small businesses and part-time or seasonal workers, and few employers that voluntarily can offer health insurance to employees.

In addition, most private health insurers do not offer individual coverage in Maine, “leaving one carrier, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, with a majority of the market, a landscape that some economists said could make it harder to provide broad choices and competitive prices,” the Times reports. However, according to the Times, several parts of the program “are seen as promising,” such as the formation of a state watchdog group to promote improved health care quality and an effort to reduce hospital costs.

The “story of Maine’s health programs … harbors lessons for the country, as covering the uninsured takes center stage,” the Times reports. Maine Gov. John Baldacci (D), who has proposed a number of revisions to the program, said, “I think when we first started, in terms of making estimates, we really were kind of groping in the dark” (New York Times, 4/30).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →

Primary care physicians in Ontario, Canada who volunteered to adopt the new capitation model for payment, compared with those who opted for an enhanced fee-for-service model, had fewer sick patients, less after-hours billing, more patients who visited the emergency department and fewer new patients, found a new study in CMAJ cmaj/press/pgE72.pdf (cmaj).

One of the first population-based studies of one of the world’s largest short-term voluntary shifts from fee-for-service to capitation, the study involved more than 500 physicians and almost 500,000 patients under capitation. It included both rural and urban practices.

Primary health care is facing serious concerns internationally, including whether it is a viable model in some areas. Physician shortages, uneven distribution of access to care, and large gaps between guideline-recommended care and actual delivery are key issues. In Canada, almost 4 million people lack a family doctor and more than 2 million have problems getting immediate care.

The differences between capitation and enhanced fee-for-service appeared to be pre-existing rather than due to enrolment in the new model of payment, write Dr. Richard Glazier from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and coauthors. “While the capitation model provides an alternative to fee-for-service practice, its characteristics should be the focus of future policy development and research.”

Policy makers around the world are considering a variety of initiatives such as new reimbursement models, after-hours care and telephone support, interdisciplinary teams and more.

In a related commentary cmaj/press/pg1091.pdf, Dr. Barbara Starfield, Johns Hopkins University writes “new approaches to organizing health care services are unlikely to improve unless they are based on a recognition that care needs to be focused on the patient rather than on the disease.” Reforms that aim to improve health and eliminate disparities must support a primary care model as in Ontario.

Source:
Kim Barnhardt

Canadian Medical Association Journal Continue reading →

UroToday- Dr. Anthony D’Amico and colleagues report in Cancer, that the duration of testosterone (androgen) suppression (AS) following androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in combination with radiotherapy is associated with the risk of prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM).

The study was partially based upon the knowledge that older men have a longer time to return serum testosterone levels to noncastrate levels as compared to younger men. They hypothesized that in men with one high-risk feature who receive ADT for 6 months the outcome would be partially related to the duration of AS following the ADT. The study cohort consisted of 220 men who received 6 months ADT and radiotherapy for at least one high-risk feature. A high-risk feature was defined as a Gleason score >7, a PSA level >10ng/ml, or clinical stage >T2b disease. An anti-androgen was administered for 85 days after the second 3-month LHRH agonist depot injection. Total serum testosterone was measured at baseline and within 1 week to follow-up.

Median follow-up was 6.1 years and no patient was lost to follow-up. Regarding AS, after 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months, 16%, 38%, 55%, 68%, and 81% of men respectively had a return of testosterone to the baseline level. The median duration of AS was 15 months. Among the 220 patients 19 (9%) did not experience a return to the baseline testosterone level after a median follow-up of 7.5 years. An increasing baseline testosterone level was not associated with the duration of AS but advancing age at the completion of ADT was associated with the duration of AS. The median duration of AS was 12, 14, and 16 months for men ages 65 years, respectively. A total of 12 men (5.5%) died due to CaP. Significantly higher estimates of PCSM were seen in men with Gleason Score 8-10 tumors who had a duration of AS 2 years. The age adjusted estimates of overall survival and the age adjusted ACM were significantly higher in men who had a duration of AS Continue reading →

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) last week announced his candidacy for president in 2008 and said he would support efforts to invest in universal health care and other initiatives over efforts to reduce the national budget deficit, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports (Margasak, AP/Los Angeles Times, 1/2). Edwards said that he is evaluating two universal health care plans, one that is more ambitious and costly and another that, according to the Washington Post, might be more “politically achievable” (Balz, Washington Post, 12/30/06). According to Edwards, “there is a tension” between investing in universal health care coverage and reducing the deficit, but if “I were choosing now between which is more important, I think the investments are more important” (AP/Los Angeles Times, 1/2). He said, “If we do energy, health care, serious middle-class poverty proposals, then I think we’re talking about just trying to keep the deficit in check” instead of drastically lowering it (Washington Post, 12/30/06).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →

There are too few health visitors to implement the findings of new research saying that the profession could help new mothers suffering from postnatal depression.

Unite, the largest union in the country, which embraces the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, was commenting on University of Sheffield research which said that new mothers developing postnatal depression would be helped if health visitors are trained to spot signs and offer psychological help.

Dr Cheryll Adams, Unite Lead Professional Officer, Strategy & Practice Development, said that a recent Unite/CPHVA survey revealed that of the 829 health visitors interviewed, a third reported that they were not confident that their NHS trust’s service allowed cases of postnatal depression to picked up.

She said: ‘Recent cuts in health visitor workforces have led to the closure of many postnatal depression services delivered by health visitors.’

‘If mothers are found to have postnatal depression, most prefer health visitor counselling interventions over drugs. However, there are too few health visitors available to perform this important service for new mothers.’

‘This research provides clear evidence for reinstating a properly resourced and trained health visiting workforce to address this debilitating illness. Untreated postnatal depression can have severe implications, not only for the mother but for her whole family.’
University of Sheffield researchers looked at 4,000 women. At the six or eight-week check, 600 women – 15% – were found to have signs of postnatal depression. This equates to some 100,000 women a year suffering from postnatal depression across the UK.

Unite is campaigning against the imposed three-year NHS pay deal which will mean pay rises being barely 50% of the current rate of inflation. More information is available on the ‘campaigns’ page of the website amicustheunion

Unite Health Sector web page unitetheunion/health
Unite/CPHVA press releases can be seen on the CPHVA website: unitetheunion/cphva

Unite is the largest union in the UK. It has seven professional sections: the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association, the Mental Health Nurses Association, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the Society of Sexual Health Advisers, the Medical Practitioners’ Union, College of Healthcare Chaplains, and the Hospital Physicists Association.

Unite was formed by an amalgamation of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union in May 2007.

Unite The Union Continue reading →

Prize winners are Prof Alan Hall, Medical Research Council, London, and Prof. Svante P??bo, Max Planck Institute for
evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig –

The Louis-Jeantet-Prize for Medicine encourages further projects of excellence in the prize-winners’ laboratories. Alan HALL
receives the prize for pioneering work on the regulation of cytoskeleton dynamics in cell adhesion, migration and polarity.
With the prize, Alan Hall will further investigate the role of certain enzymes, known as small GTPases and guanine nucleotide
exchange factors, in relation to the cytoskeleton, as they may play an important role in metastatic tumour cell invasion.
Svante P??bo receives the prize for his innovative research on the evolution of the human genome in comparison to that of
other primates. With the prize, Svante P??bo wants to identify genes involved in traits that are unique to humans such as
speech and language faculties or other cognitive functions. He will investigate the role of these genes in mice. THE
Louis-Jeantet Foundation for Medicine awards the two prize-winners a cumulative sum of 0.8 million Euros to carry out their
new research projects. In addition each prize-winner receives a personal award of 75,000 Euros. The ceremony to present the
prize will take place in Geneva (Switzerland), on Friday April 22nd, 2005.

Professor Alan Hall

Alan Hall is a professor of molecular biology and the director of the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell
Biology & Cell Biology Unit at the University College London. Alan Hall is a British citizen. He was born in 1952.

The cytoskeleton, composed of actin and myosin, is important for epithelial cells to adopt the correct polarity and to
organize cell-cell junctions that attach them firmly to neighbouring cells so that they form a cell layer. The cytoskeleton
is also profoundly rearranged when cells migrate. Alan Hall receives the Louis-Jeantet Prize for his discovery that specific
enzymes, small GTPases known as Rho and Rac, locally modify the assembly of the cytoskeleton and thereby control both
cell-cell adhesion and cell migration. Since tumour invasion requires an inhibition of cell-cell adhesion and an increase of
the cell’s migratory activity, Alan Hall’s work is of great importance for the understanding of how epithelial tumour cells
become metastatic. Alan Hall is particularly interested in finding out what genetic alterations affect the signalling
pathways of Rho GTPases, for instance, to modify the regulation of the cytoskeleton and to permit epithelial tumour cells to
escape from the primary tumour.

With the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine, Alan Hall wants to further investigate how the specificity of Rho GTPases for
their targets is controlled. To this end he plans to increase or diminish the expression of about 85 different human guanine
nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) that potentially interact with Rho GTPases and to test how they influence the migratory
properties of tumour cells. Alan Hall plans to recruit two new collaborators to his project.

Professor Svante P??bo

Svante P??bo is an honorary professor of genetics and evolutionary biology. He is the director of the Max-Planck-Institute
for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. Svante P??bo is a Swedish citizen. He was born in 1955.

Svante P??bo is a pioneer in the study of ancient DNA. He has developed techniques that make the retrieval of DNA from museum
specimens and archaeological remains possible and instituted controls that set standards in this field. More recently, he has
focused on comparative evolutionary studies of primate genomes. His work aims to discover specific genetic changes that took
place in the recent human evolution when our species acquired phenotypic traits that set it apart from our closest relative,
the chimpanzee. By comparing the human genome and its functional expression to that of other primates, it has become feasible
to identify changes that were fixed in the genome by positive selection and may thus have conferred an advantage to human
ancestors. Understanding the genetics of such traits not only broadens our fundamental knowledge about evolution and human
biology, it may also contribute to our understanding of the basis of diseases that affect traits specific to humans, for
example speech or cognitive abilities.

With the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine, Svante P??bo wants to study the function of genes which were positively selected
in human evolution that show differences between humans and apes. One of these genes, FOXP2, is involved in speech and
language development. To this end he will create transgenic mice that carry either the human or chimpanzee version of the
gene. Svante P??bo plans to recruit two new collaborators to his project.

The Louis-Jeantet Foundation for Medicine

The Louis-Jeantet Foundation for medicine was established according to the will of Louis Jeantet, a French businessman with a
vast fortune, who died in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1981.

Based in Geneva, the Louis-Jeantet Foundation for medicine started its activities in 1983. The Foundation awards a major
scientific prize, the purpose of which is to foster innovative biomedical research in Europe.

In addition, the Louis-Jeantet Foundation for medicine encourages high-quality research at the University of Geneva Medical
School by endowing professorships. Louis-Jeantet professors are provided with funds for research and administrative
personnel.

The Louis-Jeantet Foundation for Medicine

The Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine is not intended to honour past, or already celebrated, achievements. Rather, it is
awarded with a view to stimulating the highest quality of research projects that the prize-winners’ institutions would not be
able to fund in their entirety.

Prize-winners must be engaged in basic or clinical medical research in a member country of the Council of Europe, although
they need not be themselves European nationals.

Since its inception in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine has been awarded to sixty researchers working in Europe:
nineteen in the United Kingdom, twelve in Switzerland, ten in Germany, nine in France, three in the Netherlands, three in
Sweden, two in Belgium, one in Austria and one in Finland.

The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine receive an award to carry out new research projects, as well as a
personal prize. The total sum awarded by the Foundation, since 1986, to the prize-winners for the pursuit of their research
work, amounts to about 25 million Euros.

[Louis-Jeantet-Foundation]

Related links:
[1] Louis-Jeantet-Foundation for Medicin

PDF (50 KB)

Contact:

Professor Bernard C. Rossier (Secretary of the Science Committee)
Louis-Jeantet-Foundation for Medicin, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 21 692 53 51, secretary 50 or 60
E-mail: bernard.rossierunil.ch

Professor Alan Hall
MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology & Cell Biology Unit,
London/ Great Britain
Tel.: +44 20 7679-7909
Fax: +44 20 7679-7804
E-mail: alan.hallucl.ac

Prof. Svante P??bo
Max
Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
Tel.: 0341 3550-501, secretary -500
Fax: 0341 3550-555
E-mail: paaboeva.mpg.de Continue reading →

Veterans diagnosed with any psychiatric illness appear to have an elevated risk of suicide, and men with bipolar disorder and women with substance abuse disorders may have a particularly high risk, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

An estimated 90 percent to 98 percent of individuals who die from suicide meet criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder, according to background information in the article. “Prior research has consistently found associations between psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], schizophrenia and alcohol and/or drug use disorders) and risk of fatal and non-fatal suicide attempts,” the authors write. However, determining the association between individual psychiatric conditions and suicide risk has been difficult, in part because of the low numbers of suicides in many research studies.

The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System is the largest single healthcare system in the country, and recent research indicates veterans have an elevated risk of suicide when compared to the general population, the authors note. Mark A. Ilgen, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examined the associations between different types of psychiatric diagnoses and suicide risk among more than 3 million veterans who received any type of care at a VA facility in 1999 and were alive at the beginning of 2000. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained from 1998 and 1999 treatment records and deaths by suicide were tracked over the following seven years.

During this follow-up period, 7,684 veterans died by suicide. Slightly less than half (46.8 percent) of those who died by suicide had at least one psychiatric diagnosis, and all of the psychiatric diagnoses examined-depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, PTSD and other anxiety disorders-were associated with an elevated risk of suicide.

“In men, the risk of suicide was greatest for those with bipolar disorder, followed by depression, substance use disorders, schizophrenia, other anxiety disorders and PTSD,” the authors write. “In women, the greatest risk of suicide was found in those with substance use disorders, followed by bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, PTSD and other anxiety disorder.”

Overall, the least common diagnosis-bipolar disorder-was more strongly associated with suicide than any other condition. Bipolar disorder was diagnosed in 9 percent of those who died by suicide. “This makes bipolar disorder particularly appropriate for targeted intervention efforts or attempts to improve medication adherence,” the authors write.

“In all likelihood, many individuals with psychiatric disorders who were at risk for suicide were not identified by the treatment system,” the authors conclude. “This could be owing to stigma, which may have made individuals less likely to report their mental health symptoms to physicians, an effect that could be more pronounced among men with military experience. These findings highlight the importance of improved identification, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric diagnoses (particular bipolar disorder, depression, substance use disorders and schizophrenia) of all health care system users.”

(Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67[11]:1152-1158.)

Source:

Archives of General Psychiatry Continue reading →

Canadian researchers found that skin to skin contact with their mothers, often termed kangaroo mother care (KMC), helped very preterm babies
born between 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy by reducing the stress of painful medical procedures.

The study is published in the online issue of the BioMed Central journal BMC Pediatrics and is the work of researchers at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada, and other colleagues in Canada.

Neonatal units often use the “heel prick” test to recover blood to test blood sugar. Babies can take several minutes to recover from such a
procedure, and the longer they are stressed, the higher the risk to their health.

There is some evidence that skin to skin contact or KMC lessens the pain response in full term and moderately preterm babies, but there are no
studies on how very preterm babies may benefit.

Corresponding and lead author Dr Celeste Johnston who is James McGill Professor and Associate Director for Research at the McGill School of
Nursing said, in a statement reported by the BBC, that:

“The pain response in very preterm neonates appears to be reduced by skin-to-skin maternal contact.”

Using a single-blind randomized crossover study, Johnston and colleagues performed the heel prick test on 61 babies between 28 and nearly 32
weeks gestational age at three neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Canada.

Single blind means the people handling the babies knew what was happening and why, and crossover means the same babies went through the
experimental condition and the “control” condition.

Thus, in the experimental condition, a baby would be held in KMC for 15 minutes before and during the heel lance or heel prick test. In the control
condition, a baby would be just lying down swaddled in a blanket in the incubator when the test was carried out.

The researchers measured pain response using the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) which assesses three facial expressions (these were
filmed continuously), maximum heart rate, minimum oxygen saturation in blood from baseline at 30-second intervals. They also used a secondary
measure, the time for the heart rate to return to baseline.

The results showed that:

PIPP scores 90 seconds after the heel prick test were signficantly lower when the babies were held in KMC.
Non-significant differences favouring KMC also occurred at 30, 60 and 120 seconds.
Time to recover was a significan minute shorter (123 versus 193 seconds) when babies had the heel prick while in KMC than when they were
not.
Facial actions during KMC were signficantly lower at all intervals after the heel prick test, with a two-fold difference at 120 seconds.
And heart rate was also significantly lower across the first 90 seconds when the babies were in KMC.

The researchers concluded that:

“Very preterm neonates appear to have endogenous mechanisms elicited through skin-to-skin maternal contact that decrease pain response, but not
as powerfully as in older preterm neonates.”

They wrote that KMC for managing pain in preterm babies “is obviously cost-effective and has now been shown to be effective in infants from 28
weeks through term”, and suggested that it should be policy for NICUs to offer KMC to mothers, not only to help them feel closer to their babies, but
also for the benefit of the babies’ health.

“The shorter recovery time in KMC is clinically important in helping maintain homeostasis,” wrote the authors.

“Kangaroo mother care diminishes pain from heel lance in very preterm neonates: A crossover trial.
C Celeste Johnston, Francoise Filion, Marsha Campbell-Yeo, Celine Goulet, Linda Bell, Kathryn McNaughton, Jasmine Byron, Marilyn Aita, G Allen
Finley, and Claire-Dominique Walker.
BMC Pediatrics 2008, 8:13
First published online 24 April 2008.
Featured as cover article 24 May 2008 (full text).
doi:10.1186/1471-2431-8-13

Click here for Article.

Sources: journal abstract, BBC News.

: Catharine Paddock, PhD

Continue reading →

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga) on Wednesday announced they will work together to promote legislation to spur the adoption of electronic record-keeping applications by the health care industry, the… AP/Las Vegas Sun reports (Freking, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/12). Clinton and Gingrich appeared at a news conference in support of a bill (HR 2234) introduced in the House on Wednesday by Reps. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) that would provide doctors and hospitals with incentives to adopt health information technology networks.

Kennedy-Murphy Bill Details
The bill would provide $50 million in fiscal year 2006 for 20 three-year grants to help fund the development of regional health information organizations, or RHIOs, as well as “such sums as necessary” to fund the grant programs from FY 2007 through FY 2010 (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). The funds also could be used to fund 10-year loans to develop RHIOs, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/12). The bill would require HHS to certify that the networks complied with privacy, interoperability and other standards (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). RHIOs would allow hospitals, doctors and nurses to quickly transfer patient information between facilities, the AP/Boston Globe reports (Barrett, AP/Boston Globe, 5/12). In addition, the legislation would provide $2.5 million annually from FY 2007 through FY 2010 to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality “to help doctors’ offices make sound IT investments,” CQ HealthBeat reports. Under the bill, Medicare payment “adjustments” would be available to physicians and suppliers who participate in the networks, but an amount is not specified (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11).

Senate Legislation?
Clinton said she plans to soon introduce broader Senate legislation addressing health care IT with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) (CongressDaily, 5/11). According to USA Today, Clinton for a year has worked with Frist on the legislation (Stone, USA Today, 5/12). Clinton declined to disclose additional details about the bill. Kennedy said that Frist’s support of the effort could increase the likelihood of Medicare funds and federal matching funds for states to develop and implement electronic networks in their Medicaid programs being allocated to it (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). In addition, Kennedy said the support of Clinton and Gingrich could indicate Senate action this year on provisions of HR 2234 (Mulligan, Providence Journal, 5/12).

Comments
Clinton and Gingrich “joined a growing chorus of experts” who support health care IT systems, the New York Times reports (Hernandez, New York Times, 5/12). Clinton and Gingrich said that overreliance on paper records is unsafe for patients and increases the total cost of providing health care. “If we can begin to move to using more information technology, we will help reduce errors, we will improve quality, we will save money,” Clinton said (Meek, New York Daily News, 5/12). Gingrich said hospitals would be willing to pay for 80% of physician offices nationwide to install the systems if they were guaranteed not to violate federal laws against referral inducements (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). Clinton said that she and Gingrich “have a lot in common in the way we see these problems and have to deal with in order to have a 21st century health system” (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/12). “Paper kills. … This is not complicated. If you see paper in the health system, it risks killing people,” Gingrich said (New York Daily News, 5/12). He added that the Murphy-Kennedy bill “sets the stage for the House and Senate to do something decisive this year” to reform health care (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. Continue reading →