Health Care Reform
July 2, 2010 by Dan Sinas
While businesses and individuals continue to be concerned about the impact of the heath care reform bill, the details of how this law will actually work are still unknown. Many of the Act's provisions are still unclear, and there is a significant amount of government agencies, commissions, committees and oversight counsels that are going to be created. Here's just a sampling of the type of government bureaucracy that the Act establishes:
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Medical Reimbursement Data Center - will establish fee schedules and other tools that reflect market rates and geographic differences in those rates to make health care cost data available to the public.
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Public Health Prevention Councils - will promote health policies at the federal level and establish a prevention and public health investment fund to provide prevention and health programs to the public.
* Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute - Establishes a private, non-profit institute to identify national priorities and compare the effectiveness of health treatments and strategies.
* National Health Care Workforce Commission - establishes a commission to provide information and recommendations to Congress and the Administration for aligning federal health care workforce resources with national needs.
* Health Care Quality and Efficiency - establishes a new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models.
* Consumer Assistance - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to States to establish health insurance consumer assistance or ombudsman programs to respond to inquiries and complaints concerning health insurance coverage.
* Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes - establishes incentives for enhanced quality outcomes for acute care hospitals, and requires Secretary of HHS to submit a plan to Congress by 2012 on how to move home health and nursing home providers into a value-based purchasing payment system.
These are just some of the mandated layers of government oversight associated with the Act, and only cover years 2010 through 2012. More to come. Anyone who thinks the Act will not result in massive government expansion is simply ignoring the facts. And anyone who believes this Act will reduce heath care costs is in need of a serious reality check...