Health Care Reform: Implications of Pending Legislation

At yesterday’s monthly health policy forum, we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Valerie Arkoosh discuss the health care reform battle currently underway in Congress. From her professional perch as President of the National Physicians Alliance in Washington, DC, Dr. Arkoosh has witnessed the wrangling up close. Her detailed yet straightforward side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate bills was illuminating and highlighted several key elements with the potential to affect academic medical institutions, either positively or adversely. Some of the issues she mentioned included: changes to Disproportionate Share payments for Hospitals (DSH), allowing for Medicaid reimbursement at Medicare levels for primary care, payment bundling, provision of resources for education and training of health care providers, and malpractice reform, to name just a few.

What do you think about the House Bill versus the Senate Bill? How can we help move the dialogue in Washington beyond a discussion of health insurance to a more comprehensive conversation about health care reform?

David Nash, MD, MBA
Dean, Jefferson School of Population Health