Harvard Medical School professor David Blumenthal, named by the Obama administration to head federal efforts to spur the adoption of health information technology, says that federal funding, hand-holding "geek squads" to help doctors and hospitals learn how to adopt and use the technology, and performance-based payment systems are key to overcoming formidable national obstacles to adoption of health IT. Read more »
The conversation heated up in Washington over comparative effectiveness research--but it proceeded in very different ways in different parts of town. Read more »
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee says the toughest single issue confronting lawmakers drafting a health care overhaul is whether to create a government-run insurance option to compete with private health insurers. Read more »
Democrats who want universal health coverage will need all the savings they can get to pay for it, so it was no surprise when House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark, D-Calif., said he favored backing all of the recommendations issued by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to reduce Medicare spending compared to current law. Read more »
President Obama vowed not to scale back his health care, education, or environmental initiatives during debate on the fiscal 2010 budget, despite the prospect of higher deficits and wariness in Congress. Read more »
As the congressional budget panels prepare to write their fiscal 2010 blueprint, members of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats want to make sure that any expansion of health care coverage is fully paid for--and that its tax or spending offsets are guaranteed to yield savings down the road. Read more »