In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC Welcomed Congressional Staff and Expert Panel to Discuss Patient-Centered Health Care, click here to view the presenter’s slides.
2. New York Times: In Congress, Obama’s Health Care Act Is Still a Target, click here to view the full article.
3. Gaston Gazette: Public employers, like private ones, dealing with costs of Obamacare, click here to view the article.
4. PCORI Blog: Meeting Up to Promote Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, click here to view the blog.
5. American Thinker: Patient-Centered Medicine and the Struggle to Survive Obamacare, click here to view the full article.
6. Ortho Spine News: Patient-centered and patient-reported outcomes are primary topic at ACR conference, click here to view the full post.
7. Med Page Today: MS Community Flares Over AHRQ Report, click here to view the full article.
8. The Pink Sheet Daily: Industry Warming To Outcomes-Based Payments For Real Innovation, click here to view the article (subscription required).
9. Health Affairs Blog: Shifting From Depression Screening Alone To Evidence-Based Depression Treatment In ACOs, click here to view the blog.
10. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. PIPC Welcomed Congressional Staff and Expert Panel to Discuss Patient-Centered Health Care, click here to view the presenter’s slides.
2. New York Times: In Congress, Obama’s Health Care Act Is Still a Target, click here to view the full article.
3. Gaston Gazette: Public employers, like private ones, dealing with costs of Obamacare, click here to view the article.
4. PCORI Blog: Meeting Up to Promote Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, click here to view the blog.
5. American Thinker: Patient-Centered Medicine and the Struggle to Survive Obamacare, click here to view the full article.
6. Ortho Spine News: Patient-centered and patient-reported outcomes are primary topic at ACR conference, click here to view the full post.
7. Med Page Today: MS Community Flares Over AHRQ Report, click here to view the full article.
8. The Pink Sheet Daily: Industry Warming To Outcomes-Based Payments For Real Innovation, click here to view the article (subscription required).
9. Health Affairs Blog: Shifting From Depression Screening Alone To Evidence-Based Depression Treatment In ACOs, click here to view the blog.
10. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. PIPC Welcomed Congressional Staff and Expert Panel to Discuss Patient-Centered Health Care
PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho moderated a forum on November 19, 2014 on Building a Patient-Centered Health System. At the forum, Congressional staffers discussed their ongoing work in Congress and appreciation for PIPC’s work to keep patients at the center of health care. Ms. Sue Sheridan provided the audience with an update on the ongoing work of PCORI to engage patients in research. Dr. Kristin Carman presented the Patient and Family Engagement Roadmap developed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Ms. Sally Okun discussed the work of PatientsLikeMe to connect networks of patients and their recent work on an Open Research Exchange. And finally, Dr. Tanisha Carino discussed the ongoing work of Avalere to support alternative payment models, and particularly their work on the use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures. Chairman Coelho closed the event by stating, "I come away from this discussion knowing that investments in patient-centered outcomes research and dissemination, quality measures, patient-reported outcome measures, and shared decision-making tools can support an evolution to a patient-centered health system.” Click here to view the presenter’s slides.
2. New York Times: In Congress, Obama’s Health Care Act Is Still a Target
The New York Times opined on health reform last week, calling out PCORI as a potential target in the following excerpt: "There are two other less noticed provisions of the huge bill that have been targeted by big drug makers, hospitals, the American Medical Association and congressional Republicans. One is the independent payment advisory board that would recommend cuts to the program (subject to congressional approval) if the rise in Medicare spending becomes excessive. The other provision is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which analyzes the effectiveness of medical treatments. Click here to view the full article.
3. Gaston Gazette: Public employers, like private ones, dealing with costs of Obamacare
Writing for the Gaston Gazette, Michael Barrett reported, "[Gastonia Assistant Human Resources Director Judy] Smith said some of the most noticeable new costs that the Affordable Care Act has brought upon the city are tied to new fees with alphabet soup names. Chief among those are the “patient-centered outcomes research institute fee,” which pays for research into the effectiveness of medical treatments, and the “transitional reinsurance fee,” which goes to insurers that cover high-cost patients. “Those two fees alone are costing us close to $93,000 this year,” Smith said. “That’s the biggest impact we’ve seen.” Melanie Davis, an employee benefits executive with Watson Insurance in Gastonia, said the fees get some of the most criticism from employers, across the board. “These are fees employers are having to pay, but they’re actually helping to stabilize the market,” she said. Employers, public or otherwise, also have to worry about penalties if they don’t provide plans that meet “minimum value.” “The plans have to be considered affordable,” Davis said. “Employers have to ensure that, so they don’t get penalized if somebody goes to the exchange to get a subsidy.” Click here to view the article.
4. PCORI Blog: Meeting Up to Promote Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
PCORI’s Bea Smalley and Sarah Greene commented in The PCORI Blog last week: “[W]e're pleased to see that many members of the PCORI community are participating in Partnering for Cures, a major conference November 16–18 in New York City focused on fostering collaborations to more quickly bring new treatments to patients and those who care for them. […] A panel on patient-reported outcomes, patient preferences, and patient-centered outcomes research also has several PCORI-associated participants. […] Members of PCORI's Board of Governors also will play important roles at the conference.” Click here to view the blog.
5. American Thinker: Patient-Centered Medicine and the Struggle to Survive Obamacare
Last week in the American Thinker, “As we near some sort of attempt at compromise regarding the future of Obamacare, you will hear from health care workers that we need to bring the focus of medicine back on the patients. The past few years, in which there has been a well-intentioned desire to control costs through bureaucratically oriented goals, the role of doctors and nurses has morphed away from patient care. They have found that their role as “documenter of services rendered” through electronic medical records and coding for billing purposes has significantly taken away time spent with patients. […] Becoming more patient-centered will be relatively easy. Strip away a good bit of the size of the entity managing the dollars. That way, more will be left for individual patient care. Look into the silly restrictions on portability of policies, not competing across state lines, and allowing insurance pools.” Click hereto view the full article.
6. Ortho Spine News: Patient-centered and patient-reported outcomes are primary topic at ACR conference
Josh Sandberg of Ortho Spine News comments, “One approach to the problem of capturing and quantifying patient centered outcomes like fatigue, is employing measures called patient reported outcomes. These are the types of symptoms or feelings that a patient can relay directly to a doctor. Along with the familiar tests for physical and biological signs of disease severity, researchers are looking to collect valuable data regarding the patient’s physical, mental, and social quality of life, directly from the patient. The problem is that all patients are different. If a doctor or researcher just asks the patients how they are doing, the answers would be extremely difficult to compare to each other. How can you quantify fatigue?” Click hereto view the full post.
7. Med Page Today: MS Community Flares Over AHRQ Report
A post last week on Med Page Today notes that “despite the ostensibly neutral tone of the review, the MS research community reacted quickly and forcefully. By the Nov. 10 deadline, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Medical Partnership 4 Multiple Sclerosis (MP4MS), the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition, and several other patient-centered and researcher-centered organizations submitted highly critical comments. Their main concerns centered on the potential for healthcare providers and patients to misinterpret the document as justification to go off treatment when they should not. The commenters were also concerned that insurance companies would use the document to guide their decisions about which medications to cover, and for how long. "It galvanized the MS community in a way that's never been galvanized before. We've never had such a unified response," Daniel Kantor, MD, of MP4MS said in an interview with the Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum (MSDF). ‘It's scary that we need a near-crisis to bring us together.’” Click here to view the full article.
8. The Pink Sheet Daily: Industry Warming To Outcomes-Based Payments For Real Innovation
Recently, The Pink Sheet Daily reported “[Shire PLC CEO Flemming Ornskov] said getting the right products that offer real value is essential. Ornskov also said people who believed trials on these small populations were cheaper were mistaken. ‘On average, they are 20%-25% more expensive,’ he added. ‘The value that you bring in terms of prolonging life significantly stacks up pretty well, when compared with “me-toos”,’ Ornskov added.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
9. Health Affairs Blog: Shifting From Depression Screening Alone To Evidence-Based Depression Treatment In ACOs
Robert Ferguson of Health Affairs Blog commented early last week, “By complementing the depression screening measure with an outcomes measure — such as depression remission and response at six or twelve months — ACOs can shift the focus towards evidence-based integrated care models for depression in primary care, including collaborative depression care management, which is based on 69 randomized controlled trials.” Click here to view the blog.
10. Medical Journal Articles
What's in a Name? Developing Definitions for Common Health Technology Assessment Product Types of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA): Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Di'ao Xin Xue Kang Capsule and Compound Danshen Tablet in Patients With Symptomatic Chronic Stable Angina: Click here to view.
Improving Adherence to Cardiovascular Disease Medications With Information Technology: Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Pharmacologic Treatments to Prevent Fractures: An Updated Systematic Review: Click here to view.
Editorial: Comparative Effectiveness of Pharmacologic Treatments to Prevent Fractures: Is This All We Need to Know? Click here to view.
Examining the Risks of Cardiac Arrhythmia and Mortality Among New-Generation Macrolides, Fluoroquinolones, and Beta-Lactam/Beta-Lactamase Inhibitor: A Nationwide Study: Click hereto view.
Underdetermination in Evidence-Based Medicine: Click here to view.
Generating Health Technology Assessment Evidence for Rare Diseases: Click here to view.
Interventions for Enhancing Medication Adherence: Click here to view.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Treatment of Non-Metastatic Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Click here to comment by December 10.
PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho moderated a forum on November 19, 2014 on Building a Patient-Centered Health System. At the forum, Congressional staffers discussed their ongoing work in Congress and appreciation for PIPC’s work to keep patients at the center of health care. Ms. Sue Sheridan provided the audience with an update on the ongoing work of PCORI to engage patients in research. Dr. Kristin Carman presented the Patient and Family Engagement Roadmap developed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). Ms. Sally Okun discussed the work of PatientsLikeMe to connect networks of patients and their recent work on an Open Research Exchange. And finally, Dr. Tanisha Carino discussed the ongoing work of Avalere to support alternative payment models, and particularly their work on the use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures. Chairman Coelho closed the event by stating, "I come away from this discussion knowing that investments in patient-centered outcomes research and dissemination, quality measures, patient-reported outcome measures, and shared decision-making tools can support an evolution to a patient-centered health system.” Click here to view the presenter’s slides.
2. New York Times: In Congress, Obama’s Health Care Act Is Still a Target
The New York Times opined on health reform last week, calling out PCORI as a potential target in the following excerpt: "There are two other less noticed provisions of the huge bill that have been targeted by big drug makers, hospitals, the American Medical Association and congressional Republicans. One is the independent payment advisory board that would recommend cuts to the program (subject to congressional approval) if the rise in Medicare spending becomes excessive. The other provision is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which analyzes the effectiveness of medical treatments. Click here to view the full article.
3. Gaston Gazette: Public employers, like private ones, dealing with costs of Obamacare
Writing for the Gaston Gazette, Michael Barrett reported, "[Gastonia Assistant Human Resources Director Judy] Smith said some of the most noticeable new costs that the Affordable Care Act has brought upon the city are tied to new fees with alphabet soup names. Chief among those are the “patient-centered outcomes research institute fee,” which pays for research into the effectiveness of medical treatments, and the “transitional reinsurance fee,” which goes to insurers that cover high-cost patients. “Those two fees alone are costing us close to $93,000 this year,” Smith said. “That’s the biggest impact we’ve seen.” Melanie Davis, an employee benefits executive with Watson Insurance in Gastonia, said the fees get some of the most criticism from employers, across the board. “These are fees employers are having to pay, but they’re actually helping to stabilize the market,” she said. Employers, public or otherwise, also have to worry about penalties if they don’t provide plans that meet “minimum value.” “The plans have to be considered affordable,” Davis said. “Employers have to ensure that, so they don’t get penalized if somebody goes to the exchange to get a subsidy.” Click here to view the article.
4. PCORI Blog: Meeting Up to Promote Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
PCORI’s Bea Smalley and Sarah Greene commented in The PCORI Blog last week: “[W]e're pleased to see that many members of the PCORI community are participating in Partnering for Cures, a major conference November 16–18 in New York City focused on fostering collaborations to more quickly bring new treatments to patients and those who care for them. […] A panel on patient-reported outcomes, patient preferences, and patient-centered outcomes research also has several PCORI-associated participants. […] Members of PCORI's Board of Governors also will play important roles at the conference.” Click here to view the blog.
5. American Thinker: Patient-Centered Medicine and the Struggle to Survive Obamacare
Last week in the American Thinker, “As we near some sort of attempt at compromise regarding the future of Obamacare, you will hear from health care workers that we need to bring the focus of medicine back on the patients. The past few years, in which there has been a well-intentioned desire to control costs through bureaucratically oriented goals, the role of doctors and nurses has morphed away from patient care. They have found that their role as “documenter of services rendered” through electronic medical records and coding for billing purposes has significantly taken away time spent with patients. […] Becoming more patient-centered will be relatively easy. Strip away a good bit of the size of the entity managing the dollars. That way, more will be left for individual patient care. Look into the silly restrictions on portability of policies, not competing across state lines, and allowing insurance pools.” Click hereto view the full article.
6. Ortho Spine News: Patient-centered and patient-reported outcomes are primary topic at ACR conference
Josh Sandberg of Ortho Spine News comments, “One approach to the problem of capturing and quantifying patient centered outcomes like fatigue, is employing measures called patient reported outcomes. These are the types of symptoms or feelings that a patient can relay directly to a doctor. Along with the familiar tests for physical and biological signs of disease severity, researchers are looking to collect valuable data regarding the patient’s physical, mental, and social quality of life, directly from the patient. The problem is that all patients are different. If a doctor or researcher just asks the patients how they are doing, the answers would be extremely difficult to compare to each other. How can you quantify fatigue?” Click hereto view the full post.
7. Med Page Today: MS Community Flares Over AHRQ Report
A post last week on Med Page Today notes that “despite the ostensibly neutral tone of the review, the MS research community reacted quickly and forcefully. By the Nov. 10 deadline, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Medical Partnership 4 Multiple Sclerosis (MP4MS), the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition, and several other patient-centered and researcher-centered organizations submitted highly critical comments. Their main concerns centered on the potential for healthcare providers and patients to misinterpret the document as justification to go off treatment when they should not. The commenters were also concerned that insurance companies would use the document to guide their decisions about which medications to cover, and for how long. "It galvanized the MS community in a way that's never been galvanized before. We've never had such a unified response," Daniel Kantor, MD, of MP4MS said in an interview with the Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum (MSDF). ‘It's scary that we need a near-crisis to bring us together.’” Click here to view the full article.
8. The Pink Sheet Daily: Industry Warming To Outcomes-Based Payments For Real Innovation
Recently, The Pink Sheet Daily reported “[Shire PLC CEO Flemming Ornskov] said getting the right products that offer real value is essential. Ornskov also said people who believed trials on these small populations were cheaper were mistaken. ‘On average, they are 20%-25% more expensive,’ he added. ‘The value that you bring in terms of prolonging life significantly stacks up pretty well, when compared with “me-toos”,’ Ornskov added.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
9. Health Affairs Blog: Shifting From Depression Screening Alone To Evidence-Based Depression Treatment In ACOs
Robert Ferguson of Health Affairs Blog commented early last week, “By complementing the depression screening measure with an outcomes measure — such as depression remission and response at six or twelve months — ACOs can shift the focus towards evidence-based integrated care models for depression in primary care, including collaborative depression care management, which is based on 69 randomized controlled trials.” Click here to view the blog.
10. Medical Journal Articles
What's in a Name? Developing Definitions for Common Health Technology Assessment Product Types of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA): Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Di'ao Xin Xue Kang Capsule and Compound Danshen Tablet in Patients With Symptomatic Chronic Stable Angina: Click here to view.
Improving Adherence to Cardiovascular Disease Medications With Information Technology: Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Pharmacologic Treatments to Prevent Fractures: An Updated Systematic Review: Click here to view.
Editorial: Comparative Effectiveness of Pharmacologic Treatments to Prevent Fractures: Is This All We Need to Know? Click here to view.
Examining the Risks of Cardiac Arrhythmia and Mortality Among New-Generation Macrolides, Fluoroquinolones, and Beta-Lactam/Beta-Lactamase Inhibitor: A Nationwide Study: Click hereto view.
Underdetermination in Evidence-Based Medicine: Click here to view.
Generating Health Technology Assessment Evidence for Rare Diseases: Click here to view.
Interventions for Enhancing Medication Adherence: Click here to view.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Treatment of Non-Metastatic Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: Click here to comment by December 10.
