New on the Web 2: August 2001
We've collected information on several new reports and other resources available on the Web that we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Descriptions and links appear below.
Focus Groups on Medicare and Prescription Drugs: "Medicare and Prescription Drug Focus Groups: Summary Report"
Children's Access to Health Care: "Sign Them Up!"
SCHIP and Children with Special Health Care Needs: "Are We Responding to their Needs? States' Early Experiences Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs under SCHIP"
SCHIP and Crowd Out: "Has the Jury Reached a Verdict? States' Early Experiences with Crowd Out under SCHIP"
Class Actions Against HMOs: "Consumers Versus Managed Care: The New Class Actions"
Fact Sheets on Managed Care: www.healthlaw.org
2001 Prescription Drug Pricing Legislative Summary: "Alternatives"
Prescription Drug R&D: "Rx R&D Myths: The Case Against the Drug Industry's R&D 'Scare Card"
Preventive Medicine: Few Receive Some Important Services: "Priorities Among Recommended Clinical Preventive Services"
Web Resource for Reporters and Others: "Statehouse Reporters Internet Resource Guide"
Focus Groups on Medicare and Prescription Drugs
Medicare and Prescription Drug Focus Groups: Summary Report from the Kaiser Family Foundation discusses the findings from their recently completed focus groups designed to assess public perceptions and attitudes about Medicare and current options for reform, including the addition of a prescription drug benefit. Eight focus groups with both elderly and non-elderly participants were held in four locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and San Diego. Among the key findings are that "seniors are VERY satisfied with the Medicare system" and that "participants suffer a severe case of sticker shock when they consider the price tag of a drug benefit program for seniors."
Children's Access to Health Care
The summer edition of Sign Them Up!, the CHIP newsletter put out by the Children's Defense Fund, focuses on access to health care. More than 23 million children have been enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, but having health coverage does not mean services can be used. Articles in this edition describe improvements being made in: access to dental services, rural health services, adolescent care, and the renewal process.
SCHIP and Children with Special Health Care Needs
The Urban Institute has released the results of a new study in a report titled Are We Responding to their Needs? States' Early Experiences Serving Children with Special Health Care Needs under SCHIP. The study, which is based on interviews with government officials, providers, and advocates in 18 states, found that most states did not focus particular attention on children with special health care needs during SCHIP program development. The study also found that none of the states in the study made overt efforts in their SCHIP marketing campaigns to reach out to such children and their families, that states have experienced difficulty identifying and enrolling large numbers of such children into SCHIP programs, and that these children may be affected disproportionately by enrollment waiting periods designed to prevent crowd out.
SCHIP and Crowd Out
Has the Jury Reached a Verdict? States' Early Experiences with Crowd Out under SCHIP, a recent report from the Urban Institute, analyzes the experiences of 18 states in implementing policies to limit crowd out. Seventeen of the 18 states in the study adopted policies to address crowd out. The study identified seven types of crowd out strategies, including the use of waiting periods, and the implications of those strategies for enrollment.
Class Actions Against HMOs
In the July/August issue of Health Affairs, an article titled Consumers Versus Managed Care: The New Class Actions explores the potential implications of class action lawsuits against HMOs. The article focuses particularly on alleged discrepancies between what health plans' ads, literature, and contracts promise consumers and what enrollees actually receive. It makes the point that the managed care industry is facing a severe crisis of public confidence, and that injunctive relief compelling more extensive disclosures and clearer contracts might help legitimize HMOs' methods and improve the performance of the health care marketplace.
Fact Sheets on Managed Care
The National Health Law Program has released five fact sheets, written for a general audience, that together serve as an introductory course on how to be a savvy user of managed health care. Available in both English and Spanish, and including explanations of many terms that may not be widely understood, the fact sheets address the following: how the U.S. health care system and managed care plans work, understanding performance measures for quality of health care services, how to figure out which health plans meet one's needs, health plan report cards, and consumer surveys.
2001 Prescription Drug Pricing Legislative Summary
In the summer edition of its newsletter Alternatives, the Center for Policy Alternatives has published a prescription drug fair pricing legislative summary for 2001 as part of its compilation of legislative developments in progressive issues. This year, 27 state legislatures introduced fair pricing bills for prescription drugs similar in scope to Maine's landmark law, but more than 40 state legislatures were involved in providing solutions to the problem of escalating prescription drug prices. Those strategies include offering Medicaid prices to seniors, Medicaid waivers, creating or expanding senior pharmacy discount programs, supporting multi-state purchasing alliances, and setting prices at the lowest market rate available.
Prescription Drug R&D
A new report from Public Citizen debunks industry claims about the costs of prescription drug R&D (research and development). The study, Rx R&D Myths: The Case Against the Drug Industry's R&D 'Scare Card, is based on an extensive review of government and industry data and a report obtained through the Freedom of Information Act from the National Institutes of Health. Among the key findings of the report is that the actual after-tax cash outlay-what pharmaceutical manufacturers actually spend on R&D for each new drug-is approximately one-fifth of what the industry claims it spends.
Preventive Medicine: Few Receive Some Important Services
Priorities Among Recommended Clinical Preventive Services, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that fewer than half of all Americans receive some of the most valuable, cost-effective preventive services in medicine. The study ranked the services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force according to the diseases that could be prevented by the service, and according to cost-effectiveness.
Web Resource for Reporters and Others
Statehouse Reporters Internet Resource Guide, a new resource from Stateline.org, is a compendium of useful Web sites that includes brief descriptions and links to the sites. Although this resource was designed to "turn the Web into something manageable for reporters on deadline," it includes information on many health care resources that could help advocacy groups and policymakers as well. The section devoted to health care includes government, foundation, advocacy, and university sites.
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