President Obama will hold the first in a series of “tele-town hall” meetings today with seniors across the country.  The president, joined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, focus on the upcoming $250 rebates for seniors on Medicare who fall into the so-called prescription drug “donut hole.”

Due to a flawed formula, many who use the Medicare Part D prescription drug program do not receive the needed level of benefits leaving them on the hook for much of hte cost of prescription drugs.  The health care reform bill included rebates to beneficiaries affected by this and hopes to offset some of the cost.

The president will also take questions from seniors across the country as well as discuss efforts to combat senior scams and fraud in advance of the first mailing of the rebate checks.  An estimated four million seniors nationwide will receive rebate checks.

The event will be broadcast on C-SPAN and can be seen from the following locations in Iowa:

National Council on Aging
Iowa City Johnson County Senior Center
28 South Linn Street
Iowa City

Alliance for Retired Americans
Machinists Hall
2000 Walker
Des Moines

Alliance for Retired Americans
Black Hawk Labor Temple
1695 Burton Ave
Waterloo

Alliance for Retired Americans
IBEW 405
1211 Wiley Blvd. SW
Cedar Rapids

Cedar Falls Senior Center
528 Main Street
Cedar Falls

Buchanan County Senior Center
400-5th Avenue
Independence

Marshall County Senior Center
20 ½ E. State Street
Marshalltown

Kimball Ridge Senior Center
2101 Kimball Avenue
Waterloo

If you haven’t had a reason to explore Bing, Microsoft’s so-called “decision engine” alternative to Google and Yahoo, this might pique your interest.  Bing has created a new map application that provides statistical information for the entire United States by county to visualize health status around the country. 

Bing Health Maps is simple enough to use: just pick a state and then one of the “Community Health Indicators,” which are based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  The map will re-center on the state you have chosen and color-code the counties within that state according to unit-based reporting. 

You can select health indicators such as “Birth Indicators” (low birth weight, premature births, births to women under 18, etc.); “Death Measures” (homicide, lung cancer, stroke, etc.) or “Health Risk Factors” (obesity, smokers, high blood pressure, etc.). If the map’s opacity doesn’t clearly show the differences from one county to the next, there’s a slider to increase or decrease it.

You can also call up county-specific data at any point.  Just move your mouse to a given county and the county’s name will appear, then click on the name to get the specific information. 

Bing Health Maps is one of several recently revealed online tools that are being pushed through an HHS initiative to make the department’s huge store of data more accessible and useful.  Another example, also from Bing, has Hospital Compare-based patient rating information included with search results when looking for a specific hospital. 

A less serious, though somewhat intriguing example is a game posted on MeYou Health that challenges players to put together a combination of health-related measures that will help their hometowns “win” against other cities.  The game focuses on community health measures like motor vehicle fatalities, unemployment and insurance coverage. 

Perhaps in the future we’ll see a similar game based on hospital and health care quality and safety measures.  If that happens, here’s some advice: go with Iowa.

Researchers at the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care are reacting to a recent New York Times article with pointed criticism.  Principal scientists Elliott Fisher and Jonathan Skinner said they are “disappointed” in the article’s attack on the veracity of Dartmouth Atlas data, which has been widely cited and highly influential with regard to health care reform.  

The two scientists go on to point out several factual errors and misrepresentations in the article.  Among the errors: the Times claims Dartmouth data does take into account quality of care; Fisher and Skinner show that the atlas does indeed contain quality data.  The article also claims that “neither patients’ health nor differences in price are fully considered by the Dartmouth Atlas”; the scientists respond that risk adjustments are included in their studies.  As for price, they point out that because their investigations focus on actual measures of utilization, price adjustments are not necessary, though fully price-adjusted expenditure data is also available on the Dartmouth Atlas Web site, just the same. 

Rather than the Times article, which cites “critics” of Dartmouth’s work but fails to present any substantial criticism (or at least none that can hold up to scrutiny) and Skinner and Fisher describe as “superficial,” the researchers urge readers to take the time to read their initial but very thorough responses to the reporters’ questions, which the Times posted as a sidebar. 

In an article that ran in the Dartmouth campus newspaper, Fisher reiterated that the Dartmouth Atlas findings – essentially, hospitals that spend more on high-intensity health care “are less likely to deliver safe and effective care” – remain largely undisputed in the scientific community.  

“All of this research and all the findings they cite [in the Times’ article] are consistent with ours,” Fisher said. “The Times is not helping advance the public’s understanding of what’s going on.” 

Fisher went on to say that the potential remains to save “about 20 to 30 percent of health care spending” if more hospitals engage in “better performance measures, greater accountability and payment systems that reward improved performance.”

Like the scientists at the Dartmouth Atlas, IHA and Iowa’s hospitals are committed to understanding variations in health care delivery for the purpose of ensuring access to high-value health care.

 The New York Times, meanwhile, appears less interested in improving health care and more interested in creating controversy where there is none.

In an effort to meet the ever growing needs of patients, continuing to lead health care best practices and improve quality and technology, many Iowa hospitals and communities across the state are making investments into their health care infrastructure this spring and summer.

Hospitals in Algona, Clarion, Clarinda, Chariton, Belmond and Sioux Center, just to name a few, are undergoing some changes.

In Algona, a new three-story addition is being added, and should be finished by June. Scott Curtis, CEO of Kossuth Regional Medical Center said the first phase of the hospital’s new construction will be completed in June.

The new addition will allow for private inpatient rooms, each equipped with a full private bath. The addition will also bring about improvements on the first floor of the hospital, restructuring the dining area, kitchen and materials management area.

Curtis said that the new inpatient rooms will also include enhancements aimed at improving patient and staff safety. “We’re also adding new patient lifts to each room to increase patient and staff safety,” Curtis said.

On the exterior, the hospital is adding a healing garden, to provide recreational and scenic space for patients while in recovery.

Kossuth Regional Health Center operates a 24-bed critical access hospital, two physician clinics, home care, hospice and public health nursing agencies.

“We’re excited about the improvements this will bring for our patients and the efficiencies it will bring for our staff,” Curtis said.

The second phase is expected to be completed by December.

IHA is excited to be hosting its third Hospital Celebration for 2010 this afternoon with the folks at Iowa Health-Des Moines.  The celebration will take place at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, one of four hospitals in the IH-DM family that also includes Blank Children’s Hospital, Iowa Lutheran Hospital and recently opened Methodist West Hospital. 

Leading the event will be IH-DM CEO Eric Crowell, who is not only the chair for IHA District E but also a member of the IHA Board.  Eric sets a good example with his IHA involvement: more than 50 IH-DM employees are members of IHA affiliate groups or councils. 

In addition, IH-DM hospitals have produced several outstanding employees who have been recognized by IHA recently, including two Iowa Hospital Research and Education Foundation Health Care Careers Scholarship recipients in each of the last two years; the 2009 and 2007 recipients of the Iowa Organization of Nurse Leaders leadership award; and Iowa Hospital Heroes Award recipients in all three years of the program. 

As a business entity, there are few comparables to IH-DM. The four hospitals and their associated clinics provide nearly 6,000 jobs and pump almost $300 million into the metro-area economy.  Only a few Des Moines companies can boast anything near that kind of impact.  And when you combine the IH-DM hospitals with their metro area colleagues – Broadlawns Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines and Mercy Medical Center-West Lakes – there simply is no comparison.  Even heavy hitters like Principal Financial and Wells Fargo fall deep into the economic shadow of Des Moines health care. 

IHA looks forward to these hospital celebrations as informal opportunities to meet employees, help them understand IHA’s role and remind them of the unique and important place they have in their communities. 

It’s a privilege to work on behalf of these dedicated health care providers!