Supreme Court upholds Obama’s health-care law by Robert Barnes
June 28, 2012 (The New York Times) - Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Thursday joined the Supreme Court’s liberals to save the heart of President Obama’s landmark health-care law, agreeing that the requirement for nearly all Americans to secure insurance is permissible under Congress’s taxing authority.
The court’s 5 to 4 ruling was a stunning legal conclusion to a battle that has consumed American politics for two years. Roberts’s compromise offered a dramatic victory for Obama and Democrats’ decades-long effort to enact a health-care law and a bitter defeat for Republicans and tea party activists, who had uniformly opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The decision keeps in place the largest new social program in a generation, a major overhaul of the health-care system that could extend coverage to about 30 million Americans. It creates state-run insurance exchanges and eliminates what have been some of the most unpopular insurance practices.
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AMA president: health care will require larger workforce
July 2, 2012 (The Washington Post) - Ardis Hoven is an HIV specialist based in Lexington, Ky., who in June was elected president of the American Medical Association. Last week she learned of the Supreme Court decision the same way the rest of us did: from television. “I was in my home in Lexington and watching television,” Hoven said. “Luckily I wasn’t on CNN, so I didn’t go through the back-and-forth.”
Hoven was happy to see the news. The AMA has long supported the Affordable Care Act, though doctors look to be split in their opinion of the law. While the law will take big steps toward expanding insurance coverage, Hoven cautions that there are still big challenges for doctors ahead.
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Obama administration and states move forward to implement health care law
June 29, 2012 (HHS News Release) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today a new funding opportunity to help states continue their work to implement the health care law -- the Affordable Care Act. When the law is fully implemented in 2014, the affordable insurance exchanges will provide people and small businesses with one-stop shops to find, compare and purchase affordable, high-quality health insurance. Today’s announcement makes more funding available to build all models of affordable insurance exchanges available to states. HHS also issued further guidance today to help states understand the full scope of activities that can be funded under the available grant funding as they work to build exchanges.
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Updated: Lists of Designated Primary Medical Care, Mental Health, and Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas
June 29, 2012 (Federal Register) - his notice advises the public of the published lists of all geographic areas, population groups, and facilities designated as primary medical care, mental health, and dental health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) as of April 1, 2012, available on the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Web site. HPSAs are designated or withdrawn by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the authority of section 332 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act and 42 CFR part 5.
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Hospital Leaders Ponder Impact of Political Uncertainty
by Cheryl Clark
July 2, 2012 (HealthLeaders Media) - What will be the impact on hospitals now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of most of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act?
Will the Republicans' July 11 threat to repeal the law—unlikely as it may seem—hold back providers' plans to implement pieces of the law? Should organizations wait to see if the party's nominee, Mitt Romney, pushes out President Obama in November? And if Romney is president, should they be prepared for several more seasons of debates and new versions of more bills?
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States Face a Challenge to Meet Health Law’s Deadline
June 28, 2012 (The New York Times) - The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act shifts the focus from whether sweeping changes to the health insurance market should take place to a scramble to meet the law’s rapidly approaching deadlines.
A number of largely Republican-led states that gambled on delay now face the unsettling prospect that the federal government could take over their responsibilities, particularly in setting up the health insurance marketplaces known as exchanges, where people will be able to choose among policies for their coverage.
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Healthcare Reform In Rural America by Janell Baum
June 28, 2012 (Farm Futures) - Regardless of today's Supreme Court decision, the Affordable Care Act still has an effect on rural American healthcare and insurance issues.
"In a lot of respects, this is a very rural-focused law," said Jon Bailey, Director of Research and Analysis at the Center for Rural Affairs. "It talks about the rural healthcare infrastructure system, how we pay for that, how we incentivize that, and how we get people to become healthcare professionals in rural areas."
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The Daily Yonder Collected Responses about the Impact of the Supreme Court's Decision Will Have on Rural Health
June 28, 2012 (The Daily Yonder) - What does the Supreme Court ruling on the health care law mean for rural America? We'll publish responses as they come in. Here are a few that have come in within the first hour after the ruling.
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Sharp increase expected in number of nurse practitioners
by Victoria Stagg Elliott
July 2, 2012 (amednews.com) - The nurse practitioner population will nearly double by 2025, according to an analysis published in the July Medical Care, the official journal of the medical care section of the American Public Health Assn.
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Healthland Clients Continue to Gain Momentum and Meet Stage 1 Meaningful Use
July 2, 2012 (BusinessWire) - Healthland, America's market leader of healthcare information technology solutions for rural hospitals, today announced that 25 additional clients have successfully attested for Stage 1 Meaningful Use. This latest group of rural hospitals now joins a long list of Healthland clients to reach the milestone.
“For rural hospitals, meeting Stage 1 Meaningful Use requirements can be a challenge, but Healthland helped us overcome those challenges,” said Eric Rice, St. Joseph’s Hospital
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HHS grants bolster health care and public health disaster preparedness
July 2, 2012 (HHS News Release) - The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded more than $971 million to continue improving preparedness and health outcomes for a wide range of public health threats within every state, eight U.S. territories, and four of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.
“Health care and public health systems that are prepared to respond successfully to emergencies and recover quickly from all hazards are also able to deliver services more effectively and efficiently every day,” said Dr. Nicole Lurie, HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response. “Having systems in place to provide better treatment for disaster survivors and improved public health for our communities also leads to better health outcomes on a day-to-day basis.”
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