Here's What Electronic Health Record Interoperability Looks Like (Not)

NCPA recently released an Issue Brief questioning the federal government’s dominance of health information technology, especially electronic health records (EHRs). Our conclusion came from the failure of the federal government to bring about so-called interoperability between EHRs. Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth, a provider of EHRs, illustrates how appalling this failure has been:

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

FDA Approves First Biosimilar, Still No Guidance on Names

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first biosimilar therapy in the U.S.

There is a rough – but very imperfect – parallel between biosimilars and generic drugs, which now make up the vast majority of prescriptions filled in the U.S. The innovative biotech industry long argued that it was harder to make a generic biologic therapy than a generic drug, because the former is made from living sources, not just molecules.

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

VHA Sitting on Results of 140 Investigations

We recently noted that the government’s own watchdog has noted that the Veterans Health Administration is at high risk for fraud, waste, and abuse. Unfortunately, the public has little ability to see the evidence. USA Today has discovered that  the Veterans Health Administration has not been very forthcoming about the department’s shortcomings:

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Weak Health Jobs Growth; Mostly in Hospitals, Physicians' Offices

Today’s employment report, cheered as positive, had a grey lining for health workers. January’s report showed a big boost in health jobs, but that reversed itself in February.

Total nonfarm payroll increased by 295,000 from January, but only 24,000 (fewer than 8 percent of the total) were health jobs. And 9,000 of those jobs were in hospitals. Physicians’ offices saw 7,000 jobs, but employment in other health facilities grew only slightly or shrank.

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Galluping Away with the Uninsured

Gallup has released a teaser for its quarterly update of health-insurance coverage. Although the polling firm released only one datum (that the rate of uninsured fell to 12.3 percent in the first quarter from 12.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014) this was enough for President Obama to send forth a victory tweet.

Read the entire article at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Safety-Net Hospitals Profit Under Obamacare

Guess what? Those safety-net hospitals in states that did not expand Medicaid, which were pleading that they would go bust unless that welfare program grew, are doing just fine:

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.

Senate Dems: Get Pregnant, Then Get Health Insurance

While everyone else is wondering whether the Supreme Court will replace Obamacare in 37 states with the actual Affordable Care Act as written, some Democratic U.S. Senators are urging women to dive deeper into Obamacare’s perverse incentives by encouraging them to delay getting health insurance until after they become pregnant.

Read the entire column at NCPA's Health Policy Blog.