gopprimary

Logo

January 16, 2024

Congressional Leaders Agree on Extension of Funding The four congressional leaders announced a deal to extend government funding to March 8 to avoid a government shutdown.  This is a concession by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, who originally said he would not extend government by a short-term continuing resolution (CR). A number of items are left out of the funding package. Conservatives in the House GOP caucus are not happy with Speaker Johnson’s (one of their own) endorsement of the extension. Additional articles here: https://insidehealthpolicy.com/daily-news/short-term-cr-carries-extenders-through-march-8 and https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4410728-congress-shutdown-conservative-anger/ Additional article on status of healthcare bills, including hospitals’ opposition to site-neutral payments that is in a passed bill that would forestall disproportionate share hospital(DSH) funding cuts: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/congress-spending-deal-hospitals-dsh-medicare-site-neutral (Some articles may require a subscription.) #governmentshutdown #crs Link to Article More Fallout From MedPAC Report On Medicare Advantage The fallout from the MedPAC meeting continues.  A leading member has argued that the analysis by

Read More »
Logo

January 15, 2024

Good Articles On Takeaways From JPM Healthcare Conference Two good articles summarizing some major trends and topics at the JPM healthcare conference.  Highlights include: Additional article here: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/finance/jpm-2024-takeaways-commonspirit-mayo-clinic-centene-cvs-cigna-teladoc (Some articles may require a subscription.) #healthplans #providers #hospitals #stars #pbms Link to Article AI Can Help Drive Social Determinant Information And Extraction Stories on the ability for generative AI to identify social determinants of health (SDOH) data in notes is a key development. The study indicates that extraction from clinical notes in tuned models show success in insights into housing, employment status, etc. Language models were able to identify about 94% of cases where SDOH barriers existed compared with 2% using diagnostic codes. We know that social determinants may be a greater predictor of health outcomes than underlying disease status.  This will be key to driving outcomes in the future. Additional article here: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/digital-health/generative-ai-social-determinants-of-health-mass-general-brigham (Some articles may require a subscription.) #sdoh

Read More »

The GOP Primary: My Dilemma From A Healthcare Perspective And Other Policy Issues

Update: Posted early on January 1/15/2024 — Martin Luther King Day. The Iowa Republican Caucuses were on 1/15. After the Iowa Caucus results, Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump. In Iowa, Trump won at least 20 delegates, at least DeSantis 8, Haley at least 7, and Ramaswamy at least 3. While you have learned I definitely have opinions, I try to keep politics per se out of my blogs. You do know, though, I am a Republican. As we approach the primary season, I have to try to pick a candidate. My decision will be a mix of healthcare and non-healthcare issues. So here is how I view it. As a Florida resident, I have until March 19 to make my decision on whom I want to win the GOP nomination. Forgive my delving into non-healthcare issues, but I believe the nation is on

Read More »
Logo

January 12, 2024

What Would A Nikki Haley Healthcare Agenda Look Like? The Republican debates continue with Donald Trump bowing out and Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley taking center stage.  A recent CNN debate saw the two sparring, sometimes on healthcare issues. Both Haley and DeSantis declared that they would like to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a block grant.  It is a horrible idea. With Chris Christie’s departure from the race and Haley rising in the polls, Kaiser Health News (KHN) did a feature on what a Haley administration’s healthcare agenda may look like. Additional article on Haley’s views on entitlement reform here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/politics/nikki-haley-social-security-medicare-reform/index.html #gopprimary #haley #desantis #trump #healthcare #aca #obamacare Link to Article Fight (Verbal Anyway) Breaks Out at MedPAC Meeting A verbal clash broke out at a MedPAC meeting, with one member reasonably arguing that MedPAC is not truly as non-partisan as it says it is. I generally

Read More »

Available Now

$30.00