Rural healthcare advocate to head HRSA
Mary Wakefield, director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, will serve as the new chief of the Health Resources and Services Administration. The agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administers healthcare programs aimed at helping to deliver healthcare to those who are uninsured and underserved. HRSA will administer $2.5 billion allocated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to invest in U.S. healthcare infrastructure and train healthcare professionals.
Cardiac conditions lead personal health spending
Americans spend more treating heart conditions and mental health disorders than any other medical conditions, according to a recent study published in the journal Health Affairs. The study, published in the online version of the journal, provides annual estimates of national personal health spending by medical condition. Circulatory system spending was highest among the diagnostic categories, accounting for 17 percent of personal health spending in 2005 and reaching $253.9 billion. Nearly half of circulatory system spending is attributable to heart conditions.
Physicians will receive incentives for EHR use
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides financial incentives of $44,000 to $64,000 over five years, beginning in 2011, to physicians who adopt and use Electronic Health Record technology. However, physicians who haven’t adopted certified EHR systems by 2014 will have their Medicare reimbursements reduced by up to 3 percent beginning in 2015. The act provides $20 billion in health information technology funding, divided between $2 billion in discretionary funds and $18 billion in investments through Medicare and Medicaid.
New York leads states in long-term care spending
New York’s Medicaid program spends more on long-term health care than any other state, but indicators of quality are “about average or slightly above average,” according to a new report issued by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. New York spent almost $45 billion on combined federal, state, and local Medicaid benefit payments in 2006. New York also led all states in Medicaid spending on long-term care.