Health & Medicine (HMPRG)

WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT SUMMER FILM SERIES

Press Release from The Independent Television Service (ITVS)

WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT SUMMER FILM SERIES

Sundays, August 15 and 22 at the Chicago Cultural Center

Film Series Shines a Light on Women and Girls Working to Create Social Change Around the World
Post Screening Panel Discussions Bring a Local Perspective to International Issues
Such As Youth Empowerment, Labor, Human Rights, among others

Chicago, IL -The Independent Television Service (ITVS), which brings independently-produced, public broadcast and new media programs to local, national and international audiences, announces a film screenings series highlighting stories of women and girls in the United States and around the world who are making real change on critical social issues in their communities. Two films will be presented on Sunday, August 15, and another two films on Sunday, August 22, at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E.
Washington Street, in partnership with the Chicago Foundation for Women<http://www.cfw.org/>and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs<http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca.html>.
 Each screening will be followed by a post screening panel discussion organized by local Chicago organizations engaged in the issues explored in the film. Admission is free, and seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

The screening series is one of several taking place in a dozen cities across the country during the month of August. More than 15 documentary films from ITVS's award-winning catalogue will be shown in cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Louisville, Rochester, New York, St. Louis, and Denver.  View the complete line up and locations

NYT Letter to the Editor on Cuts in Home Care

Pat Volland is the co-founder and co-chair of the National Coalition of Care Coordination with Health & Medicine Board member Robyn Golden. The issue Ms. Volland raises in her New York Times letter to the editor regards the “quick” fix of cutting home care services and the resulting long-term cost increases; which is a budget concern for all long-term care systems throughout the country.  In her letter, and the NYT article she cites, Volland reiterate the necessity for our country to “reorganize and refocus” our health care system.  The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is only the beginning. We must do all we can  to find better long-term solutions for complex issues like these that place elderly and disabled Americans at risk.

July 26, 2010

Cuts in Home Care

To the Editor:

Re “Cutting Home Care Now, Paying for It Later?” (news article, July 21):

The recent cuts to home care services may prove devastating for those who rely on them, especially low-income older adults with multiple chronic conditions who want to age in place in their homes. Cutting programs to save money in the short term will likely backfire, as it leads many of these isolated older adults to require hospitalization and costly long-term care.

America’s health care system needs to be reorganized and refocused to successfully meet the needs of older adults, especially the 25 percent of Medicare recipients who account for 85 percent of Medicare spending. Additionally, the distribution of federal Medicare money to states should rely not only on their provision of nursing home care, but also on their development of cost-effective home care and community-based programs.

Helping older adults avoid institutionalization and remain in their homes should be a top priority. It’s the right path not only for our nation’s budget but also for our communities.

Patricia J. Volland
Senior Vice President
New York Academy of Medicine
New York, July 23, 2010

Health & Medicine Hosts Forum on Effects of Federal Health Reform on Illinois’ Health Care Safety Net

Health & Medicine hosted a forum on July 9, 2010 to examine how federal health reform legislation will potentially impact the health care safety net in Illinois. The term ‘health care safety net’ means the institutions that care for the uninsured, Medicaid, and other vulnerable populations. 

The forum explored the impacts of reform on:

•    community health centers,
•    safety net hospitals,
•    the healthcare workforce, and
•    vulnerable populations such as undocumented immigrants. 

While there are many provisions in health reform that help people gain health insurance, including Medicaid, access to care may remain difficult because of the lack of an adequate and well-trained health workforce.

Speaker Dr. Linda Rae Murray addresses problems in health workforce. During the forum, Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, the Chief Medical Officer at the Cook County Department of Public Health and President-Elect of the American Public Health Association, presented data showing the lack of diversity amongst the health workforce as well as the imbalance of specialty care versus primary care professionals in the United States (about 70% of our physicians are in specialty care with only 30% in primary care, compared to most other developed countries having about 50-60% in primary care). 

Dr. Murray also pointed out that it takes years (entire generations), for educational pipeline programs to change the make-up of the health workforce.  We must invest deeply in our workforce, developing incentives and training opportunities to get underrepresented students to go into the health professions, primary care, and to work in underserved areas if we ever hope to have a well-trained, diverse, and adequate health workforce.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allotted $96 million for educational health profession programs. Apropos to this discussion, on July 13th the Washington Post published an article about education grants aimed at increasing diversity in health profession programs at colleges and universities.  The federal grant funding, while not sufficient to address the entire shortage or diversity of professionals, will help stimulate programs for underrepresented students by off-setting some of the financial barriers to entering into health professions programs. 

Health & Medicine will continue to be a source of information on the impact of federal health reform in Illinois. Health & Medicine will continue our analysis of health reform and provide opportunities for providers, researchers, advocates, and systems leaders to come together to learn about reform, help shape the vision for reform in Illinois, and educate the public on the real impact of reform in their lives.  We also have fact sheets on the impact of federal health reform in Illinois posted on our website.

Please contact Janna Stansell, Policy Analyst at Health & Medicine, for more information on the upcoming forum or our on-going work on health reform.  

Presentations from this and other Health & Medicine forums can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/HMPRG

Quentin Young in the July 13, 2010 Chicago Sun Times, On the Cook County Health System's Reorganization

County health plan focuses on outpatient care
(http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2491290,071310cookhealth.article)

July 13, 2010

BY LISA DONOVAN AND MONIFA THOMAS, Sun-Times Media

Cook County's health system is looking at a dramatic overhaul, shifting away from costly inpatient care at two hospitals in favor of more extensive outpatient services.

While the move is being praised by health experts, a new strategic plan that lays out the overhaul is likely to face strong opposition when it's introduced to the full Cook County Board this week, particularly ahead of November's elections.

Under the five-year plan, Oak Forest Hospital would discontinue all inpatient care and become a regional outpatient center that would provide a wide range of primary care services.

Inpatient services would also be scaled back at Provident Hospital, but the emergency room and a few short-stay beds would stay open.

Provident could retain more of its existing services, though, if a partnership is brokered with the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Inpatient care reductions are expected to generate $72 million in savings, which would be used to beef up primary and specialty services and compensate community hospitals for treating displaced patients from Oak Forest and Provident.

The hospital system would also spend $202 million on capital improvements.

More outpatient centers should translate to shorter waits for mammograms, colonoscopies and other routine exams, hospital system CEO William Foley said.

"We feel strongly that we're expanding services, not taking services away," he said. "We're placing our services where our patient population is to make it more accessible."

The plan, the culmination of a year-long $950,000 study with Chicago-based Integrated Clinical Solutions Inc., was unanimously approved last month by the independent Cook County Health and Hospitals System Board. Today, it is scheduled to be introduced to county commissioners, who will have the final say on whether the plan advances.

Dr. Quentin Young, a longtime health care reform advocate and former chief medical officer of Stroger Hospital, called the planned reorganization "very forward-looking" and said the emphasis on preventive medicine is the right one.

"Obviously, you want to have a skilled hospital when that need arises, but the real solution to the county's care of the population it serves is properly placed outpatient clinics," Young said.

He added that it's critical for the county hospital system to form solid partnerships with private hospitals that would be able to treat patients who would be displaced from Oak Forest and Provident.

County Commissioner John Daley (D-Chicago) said the key to this plan's suc cess is changing some patient attitudes, including seeing a doctor for regular checkups instead of waiting until they're gravely ill to go to the emergency room.

That was the goal of expanding the county's clinic system over the years, Daley said, "but we still have a lot of people who wait to the last minute."

Commissioner William Beavers (D-Chicago) said Provident needs to continue offering obstetric and gynecological services, not cut them as the plan calls for, and Oak Forest needs a true emergency room, not just a walk-in ER. His district is sandwiched between the 113-bed Provident and 115-bed Oak Forest.

"If these were full-service hospitals, they would pay for themselves," Beavers said.

Heather O'Donnell's July 12th Chicago Tribune Letter to the Editor on Medicaid Managed Care

Letter to the editor in The Chicago Tribune, July 12, 2010, from HMPRG Board member, Heather O'Donnell, policy director for Health Care and Human Services, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, Chicago

Download the letter from The Chicago Tribune site

Medicaid Managed Care

Unfortunately your July 5 editorial "Mending Medicaid" makes the false assumption that enrollment and spending for Illinois' Medicaid program, the primary federal-state health care program for the poor, is out of control.

The primary reason for growth in Illinois' Medicaid program is that the private sector has failed to provide affordable health insurance for poor and low-income families.

Health care costs have far outstripped wage growth over the past several decades.

Between 1999 and 2008, the cumulative cost growth in average premiums for private family health coverage increased 119 percent. This is more than four times cumulative inflation and more than three times cumulative wage growth over the same period.

For these reasons public health care programs like Medicaid have become increasingly important in ensuring access to basic health care for those struggling to make ends meet.

Enrollment in Illinois' Medicaid program also grew over the last 10 years in response to a national effort to provide health coverage to poor, uninsured children. Between 1999 and 2001, as Illinois implemented the federally enacted State Children's Health Insurance Program, the state saw a spike in enrollment. Today more than 1.5 million poor Illinois children have health coverage through Medicaid/SCHIP. Most of these children would be uninsured but for the program.

Countless studies show that children with medical coverage are healthier and do better in school than uninsured kids.

The most recent surge in Medicaid enrollment is due to the recession. As workers lose their jobs, they also lose their employer-sponsored health insurance.

The loss of income and coverage forces many people to turn to Medicaid.

As Illinois faces a $13 billion budget deficit, many have touted managed care as a panacea to controlling the state's Medicaid costs. However, managed care is no magic bullet that will close the state's budget gap. Certainly if managed care is implemented in a responsible manner, it has the potential to improve access to primary care and, as a result, will reduce emergency-room use and hospitalizations, curbing unnecessary costs.

On the flip side, however, if care is better coordinated — a principal goal of a well-run managed-care program — specialty-care costs are bound to increase as individuals battling long-term disease gain improved access to diagnostic and specialty services.

Medicaid managed care should be pursued carefully and thoughtfully as a way to better serve the medical needs of those who become ill or get injured while marginalized by poverty, not as a budget-cutting mechanism.

— Heather O'Donnell, policy director for Health Care and Human Services, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, Chicago

20-30 Year Olds In Chicago - Help Ensure Social Security's Robust Survival!

Posted by Kristen Pavle,  Policy Analyst, Center for Long-Term Care Reform

Social Security Will Be Around When You Retire… If You Want It To Be!

There seems to be a growing opinion among 20 and 30 year olds about the United States Social Security program:  that it will not exist upon our retirement, so why should we care?  Perhaps I am missing something here, but the mere fact that we are paying into the Social Security program NOW, for others’ benefits, is reason enough to care!  I want this program to exist in my retirement, too.  But even this is only a minor reason to become more involved in the discussion surrounding Social Security as a younger person. 

As of 2006, the Social Security program has provided more than $541.6 Billion dollars in benefits to over 49 million individuals.  Social Security allows citizens of this country to retire with the earned privilege—an enforceable right—of an income after a lifetime of work.  Social Security retirement income, with benefits also paid to spouses, widows (or widowers), minor children, and people with disabilities represents a fundamental cornerstone of our society.  Because of Social Security, older Americans are no longer the poorest demographic in the country.  It is the most visible symbol of intergenerational connectedness and the last remaining leg of the three-legged stool (savings, pensions, and Social Security) that its founders envisioned.  Today it is the bedrock of economic security, particularly in old age, for thousands of people, especially older women.  Not only do I urge you to care about Social Security, but I want to start the discussion on WHY we should all care about the concept of “social security” as manifested by the Social Security program.   

What Does the Data Say About Social Security in the Long-Term?

Did your parents ever tell you not to worry about Social Security, because the program would not be around for you would not enjoy its benefits?  Well, they were not exactly right.  According to the “2009 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance Trust Funds” (read: Annual Report on the Social Security Program), intermediate (neither conservative nor liberal) projections for the solvency of the Social Security program are as follows:

• By 2016 the benefits program will be paying out more than it will be gaining in revenues, thus beginning to deplete the trust fund.
• By 2024 the Social Security pot of money, the trust fund, will no longer be growing. 
• By 2037 the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted, empty, no money left. But income will still be coming into the system from payroll taxes so benefits will be paid but at a reduced amount.

Maybe your parents were right…?  But, these figures about financing Social Security in the long-term function under a rather large assumption:  that there will be no structural changes in how the Program operates.  However, last time I checked we live in a democratic nation.  As citizens, we have a choice to demonstrate our commitment to Social Security so that benefits can be available IN FULL when we retire.

Advocates for Social Security are equipped with many ideas for how we can change the structure by which the Program operates, giving it full financial sustainability beyond 2037, when WE retire.  Social Security’s problems are political, not financial.  Contrary to popular opinion it is not in crises; it does not contribute a single penny to the deficit.  In fact, it is in surplus.

A Call for Your Voice to be Heard: Focus Group

• Are you in your 20’s or 30’s?
  
• Do you have an opinion on Social Security?
  
• Do you have questions about Social Security or an interest to learn more?

In an attempt at brevity, I will close this blog article with an invitation to continue the discussion.  Health & Medicine Policy Research Group (HMPRG) wants to talk with you.  On Wednesday, July 28^th from 6-8pm, HMPRG will host a focus group for individuals in their 20s and 30s on Social Security.  We look to you to help us build a campaign to get all younger people committed to Social Security’s robust survival.  Quite honestly, we want to turn you into an informed advocate for a strong Social Security program, one that will be there for each succeeding generation.  Remember, it is the only source of income that you cannot outlive.

Please contact Kristen Pavle for details and to RSVP.  

 

Photo courtesy of cayusa on flickr.com.

Quentin Young's Chicago Sun Times Letter to the Editor, Advocating "Medicare for All"

Download the letter from the Sun Times website

Medicare for all is best system

July 8, 2010

Your article about the new restrictions on access to the free clinics at NorthShore Evanston Hospital ["Free clinics tighten boundaries," July 6] is a chilling harbinger of the accelerated decline of our broken health-care system.

These are clinics "of last resort," standing between health care and total neglect. To see them shrink in this way shows how heartless and untenable our present arrangements are. The resultant suffering -- and even death -- that will ensue is unacceptable in a country as compassionate and wealthy as ours.

Tragically, this kind of diminished access to care will not be seriously ameliorated by the new health law. We will continue to face an acute shortage of primary care physicians. The private insurance industry will continue to erect barriers to care with high premiums, co-pays and deductibles. The drug companies will continue to charge astronomical prices, putting needed medications out of reach for millions.

The solution, favored by a solid majority of the American people and physicians, is an improved Medicare for all -- single-payer national health insurance. Such a program would cover everyone, without exception, and give us the cost-control tools we need to deliver high-quality care over the long haul.

Given the power and resources of the multimillion-dollar private health industry, it will take a mass movement -- much like the women's suffrage or civil rights movements -- to achieve this goal. The alarming news about Evanston's curtailed clinics should spur us on to build this movement without delay.

Quentin D. Young, M.D.,

Hyde Park