April Thunder

Just so you know why I have become almost invisible.

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Good Morning Everyone;
After days of wishing my head was in the river somewhere, I am back to a bit more normal. (Whatever THAT is)? hehehe

Been reading a few websites; and the later comments and such about different issues.

One that reached out and grabbed me was regarding brushing teeth after throwing up.

DON'T BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS A HUGE NO~NO!
CLICK HERE to read why if you don't know this yet.

Your dentist will verify all of the info there.

I awoke yesterday morning at the first crack of thunder- about 3AM. A few minutes later my cell phone rang- Casey, also woken.

The storms weren't bad, just really grumbly, and just enough to allow me to sleep a bit and then BOOM I was awakened again and again.
Gave up that fight and went to the annual rummage sale at Sts. Edward and Isidore in Flintville.

Yes, we have a bar, a church and a graveyard. (All sort of 'related' in a very warped way).

They had lots of stuff- 2 huge rooms full of stuff, and a few other rooms with jewelry, collectibles, holiday things, books, etc

I opted to get a few of these cast iron toys/decorations...

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An old nutcracker...
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An old cap gun.
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And a few other cast iron treasures too.
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My dad had an old cast iron Studebaker bank. When it got almost full one could shake a quarter or two out of it. But boy was it heavy!
As were these "finds" of mine. (I bought them, carried them out to the car, and then went back in because I wasn't going to lug them around 'til I was done looking around).

** Please forgive the rather raunchy picture quality- I had the camera settings for another project and never gave it a second thought.

As I pulled out of the yard yesterday, there was a gaggle of seagulls in the field across the street, along with this guy.

Noisy but beautiful...

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Taken from about 300 yards away-
One of the sand cranes that return every year...
Imagine running into him in a dark alley!
hehehe
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Not much other stuff going on.
Rain, rain, and more rain.

Know that we need it, but maybe one sunny day between would be nice?
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Enough about Flintville, I hope you are all having sunny days, even if it's raining!

My love to all.

XOXO
Me

free hit counters

Posted to Y! 360, Sunday April 26, 2009 - 06:42am (CDT)

Energy vampires: Fact versus fiction

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/50/energy-vampires-fact-versus-fiction.html
Energy vampires: Fact versus fiction
By Lori Bongiorno
Posted Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:52pm PST

It's well-known that most electronic devices in our homes are sucking up energy even while they are turned off. But for all the information out there, many questions remain. I got hundreds of reader questions after writing the post What's wasting energy in your home right now. Below are answers to the five most common inquiries:

Which electronic devices waste the most energy when they are turned off but still plugged in?

Set-top cable boxes and digital video recorders are some of the biggest energy hogs. Unfortunately, there's little consumers can do since television shows can't be taped if boxes are unplugged. It also typically takes a long time to reboot boxes.

However, some of the other major consumers of standby power are more easily dealt with: computers, multifunction printers, flat-screen TVs, DVDs, VCRs, CD players, power tools, and hand-held vacuums. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) measured standby power for a long list of products.

While it's true each individual product draws relatively little standby power, the LBNL says that when added together, standby power can amount to 10% of residential energy use.

Why do electronic devices use energy when they are switched off?

Electronics consume standby power for one of two reasons, says Chris Kielich of the Department of Energy. They either have an adapter that will continue to draw electricity, or they have devices (such as clocks and touchpads) that draw power. Anything with a remote control will also draw standby power, she says, since the device needs to be able to detect the remote when it's pushed.

Does everything suck energy when it's plugged in and turned off?

No. If your coffeemaker or toaster doesn't have a clock, then it's probably not using standby power, says Kielich. Chances are your hair dryer and lamps (although they may have a power adapter for the dimmer) are not drawing standby power either, she says. Devices with a switch that physically breaks the circuit don't consume standby power.

Will switching things on and off shorten their life?

Probably not, says Kielich. You'd have to turn devices on and off thousands of times to shorten their lives. The real downside, she says, to unplugging electronics is that clocks and remotes will not work, and you do have to reset everything.

Can you ruin batteries by unplugging battery chargers and causing batteries to completely discharge?

It could be a possibility, says Kielich. Her advice: Don't let batteries get completely drained. But you don't need to have things like hand-held power vacuums and drills plugged into the charger when it's 100% charged, or even 50% charged.

Power Strip FAQs

Plugging electronics into a power strip and turning it off when you're not using it is a widely prescribed solution for curbing vampire power. Here are answers to common questions:

* Power strips draw energy when they are turned on, but not when they are switched off.
* Any decent power strip should have surge protection, according to Kielich. Flicking your power strip on and off will not create a power surge capable of damaging electronic devices. In fact, it will protect devices from other surges.
* Several readers were worried about the possibility of fires caused by plugging too many things in at once. If you plug in the allowed number of devices, then power strips are safe, says Kielich. Just don't plug your power strip into another power strip, or you run the risk of creating an overload.


Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users.

What Is Your Most Embarrassing Moment?

Good Morning Everyone!
I know it is 'cheating' somehow, no blog of my own today; but I have to share this little "story" with you...
Thank you Darla!

Besides, you all still have to recover from those malnourished pictures of CaseyFace.

From my email...

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A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's restroom stall.
Written By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we are in the library, the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked.
There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never have I wished this more than last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the last stall:

''Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now?  Mommy, what are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?''

At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and reveal my identity.

Cade continued: ''Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy! Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh...Mommy! I'm trying to see In dere. Oh! I see dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy... You are gonna get some candy!''

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of me. Where is a screaming new born when you need her?  Good grief. This was really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before exiting.
Trying to divert him, I said, ''Why don't you look in Mommy's purse and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some!''

''No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies...Oh! Mommy!''

He started to gag at this point.

''Uh - oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gwoss !''

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall.. I quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the
subject.. 
I began to reason with myself: OK. There are four other toilets.  If I count four flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

''Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going stinkies! Get up! Get up!''

He grunted as he tried to pull me off.
Now I could hear full-blown laughter.
I bent down to count the feet outside my door. 

''Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What were you wooking at? Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?''

More laughter.
I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the situation....

''Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now, Mommy.''
He started pounding on the door.. 
''Mommy, don't you want to wash your hands? I want to go out!!''

I saw that my wait 'em out' plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud.

My first thought was complete embarrassment. Then I thought, where's the fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my dignity and privacy?
But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.

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Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three
She lives with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, (where she no longer uses public restrooms).
***

So what has been YOUR most embarrassing moment? hehehe
(I promise not to tell anyone)!  <:-0

Have a great day! 

XOXO
Me

The truth about the Health Care Plan

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Feb/The-Path-to-a-High-Performance-US-Health-System.aspx


The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way

February 19, 2009 | Volume 105

Authors: Commission on a High Performance Health System
Contact: Cathy Schoen cs@cmwf.org

This report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers recommendations for a comprehensive set of insurance, payment, and system reforms that could guarantee affordable coverage for all by 2012, improve health outcomes, and slow health spending growth by $3 trillion by 2020—if enacted now to start in 2010. Central to the Commission’s strategy is establishing a national insurance exchange that offers a choice of private plans and a new public plan, with reforms to make coverage affordable, ensure access, and lower administrative costs. Building on this foundation, the report recommends policies to change the way the nation pays for care, invest in information systems to improve quality and safety, and promote health. By stimulating competition and delivery system changes aimed at providing more effective and efficient care, the policies could yield higher value and substantial savings for families, businesses, and the public sector.

Executive Summary

The time has come for comprehensive health reform that will put the nation on a path to a high performance health system. This report by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System presents an integrated "system" approach to change. It proposes a set of policies that would provide affordable health insurance for all, designed to support a set of payment and system reforms. In combination, the policies would provide a catalyst for an innovative delivery system capable of providing better access and improved population health while significantly slowing the growth of health spending.

The nation's health and economic security are at risk: rising costs are putting pressure on families, businesses, and governments, and sharp increases in the number of uninsured and underinsured are leaving millions without access to care or essential financial protection when sick. The U.S. health care system is already the most expensive in the world, by far, and total health spending is projected to double by 2020—rising from a projected $2.6 trillion in 2009 to $5.2 trillion by 2020 to consume 21 percent of the nation's economic resources (gross domestic product). To achieve more affordable coverage and ensure access for everyone in the country, we must change the way health care is delivered and the way we pay for care. We must focus on value. Despite having centers of excellence, our health care system falls short. It fails to produce the outcomes and care it could, wastes resources, often fails to provide the right care at the right time, and delivers unacceptably wide variations in quality and safety. Unless we move to a high performance delivery system and improve the value of care that is delivered, efforts to expand coverage will be difficult, if not impossible, to sustain over time.

The United States needs to be on a different path, one guided by a positive vision of what should be possible and by policies leading to outcomes we should expect. This is a historic political opportunity—with a majority of the public seeking profound change and a new administration and Congress taking office—for taking bold steps to ensure the health security of all.

In this report, the Commission recommends an integrated set of policies to extend coverage to all by: establishing a national insurance exchange that offers a choice of private plans and a new public plan; requiring everyone to have coverage, with income-related premiums to make coverage affordable; and instituting insurance market reforms that focus competition on outcomes and value. On this foundation, payment policies would change the way we pay for care to enhance the value of primary care and move from fee-for-service to more "bundled" methods of paying that encourage coordinated care and hold providers accountable for improving health outcomes and prudent use of resources. Investment policies would accelerate the spread and use of health information technology and establish a center for comparative effectiveness to enhance knowledge and appropriate use of evidence-based care. Population health policies would promote health and disease prevention, with benchmarks and goals to spur a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

This integrated approach could achieve access for all, improve population health, and provide more positive patient experiences. Moreover, an analysis of specific policies consistent with this approach indicates that they could slow the growth in national health spending by a cumulative $3 trillion through 2020, compared with current projections (Exhibit ES-1)—if we start now.

Path Report Figure 1

Designed to extend affordable insurance to everyone and create a foundation for essential payment and system reforms, the insurance framework would achieve near-universal coverage, ensure access and continuity, and lower premiums (Exhibit ES-2).

The Commission's Strategic Vision

The Commission has identified five essential strategies for comprehensive reform:

* Affordable coverage for all.
* Align incentives with value and effective cost control.
* Accountable, accessible, patient-centered, and coordinated care.
* Aim high to improve quality, health outcomes, and efficiency.
* Accountable leadership and collaboration to set and achieve national goals.

Together, these strategies comprise the framework for this report with recommendations for policies that would move from concept to action.
Taking the Path: Commission Recommendations

The Commission offers the following set of recommendations to move onto a path to a high performance health system. The Commission believes all the recommendations are desirable, many necessary, but none on its own sufficient to achieve high performance. Designed to move forward quickly with a sense of urgency, the comprehensive reforms include significant changes that would introduce a new dynamic and more positive path over the next decade. With cost pressures mounting and coverage eroding, the stakes are high. Starting now is crucial.

1. Affordable Coverage for All: Ensure Access and Provide a Foundation for System Reform
To build on the current mixed private and public coverage system to extend affordable health insurance to all with a strategy designed to ensure access and continuity and provide a foundation for payment and system reforms, the Commission recommends policies that:

* Establish a health insurance exchange that offers an enhanced choice of private plans and a new public plan. This new public plan would offer comprehensive benefits with incentives for disease prevention and payment methods that reward results. It would build on Medicare's claims administrative structure and national provider networks. The exchange and new public plan would be open to all, including large employers.
* Require individuals to have coverage and employers to offer coverage or contribute to a trust fund for insurance, sharing responsibility to pay for insurance for all.
* Provide income-related premium assistance to make coverage affordable.
* Expand eligibility for and improve payment under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to improve affordability and access. Eliminate Medicare's two-year waiting period for the disabled.
* Set a minimum benefit standard to ensure access and adequate protection from the financial burden of obtaining needed health care.
* Reform health insurance markets to improve insurance efficiency, access, and affordability by prohibiting premium variation based on health and guaranteeing offer and renewal of coverage to all regardless of health status.

By moving from fractured to continuous insurance coverage, these reforms would lower insurance administrative costs and provide a foundation for more coherent and effective payment and system reforms. All payment reforms would apply to current public programs (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) and to the new public plan offered through the exchange to the under-65 population. Market reforms would focus competition among insurers on improving health outcomes and adding value. Businesses, patients, and families could choose among an array of national and regional private plans and the nationwide publicly sponsored option.

2. Aligned Incentives and Effective Cost Control: Payment Reform to Enhance Value
Change the way we pay for care to reward high quality and prudent stewardship of health care resources and to encourage reorganization of care so that it is well-coordinated and responsive to patients' needs. To move away from the current fee-for-service payment system toward one that emphasizes value rather than volume, the Commission recommends policies to:

* Strengthen and reinforce patient-centered primary care through enhanced payment of primary care services and changing the way we pay for primary care to encourage the adoption of the medical home model to ensure better access, coordination, chronic care management, and disease prevention.
* Promote more effective, efficient, and integrated health care delivery through adoption of more bundled payment approaches to paying for care over a period of time, with rewards for quality, outcomes, and patient-centered care, as well as rewards for efficiency tied to high performance.
* Correct price signals in health care markets to better align payments with value.

3. Accountable, Accessible, Patient-Centered, and Coordinated Care: Organize and Redesign the Delivery System to Improve Patient Experiences
Move from the current fragmented health care delivery system to one that is patient-centered, accessible, and organized so that patients and families can navigate care easily and one that holds providers accountable for high-quality, effective care across the continuum of care and over time. To move toward a delivery system in which everyone has a personal source of care that is accessible, coordinates care, and is accountable for obtaining the best health results, the Commission recommends policies that:

* Have patients designate a personal source of care that meets standards of accessibility, quality, and coordination and can serve as a medical home.
* Facilitate appropriate care and manage chronic conditions through integrated delivery systems that provide a continuum of care or provide funding and technical assistance for statewide and community efforts to support and connect primary care and more specialized resources in informal or virtual networks.
* Develop provisions in which providers participating in a hospital-physician organization receiving bundled payments would be eligible for medical liability coverage on favorable terms.

4. Improved Quality and Health Outcomes: Invest in Infrastructure and Public Health Policies
Invest in infrastructure to improve the availability, quality, and usefulness of information for health care decision-making by patients, providers, and payers and encourage a culture of continuous learning. To achieve these goals the Commission recommends actions that would:

* Accelerate adoption and use of health information technology (HIT) by establishing system standards, requiring electronic reporting of clinical information, and providing start-up funding for a national health information network so information follows the patient and is available to providers and patients.
* Support and inform better health care decision-making by establishing a Center for Comparative Effectiveness and Health Care Decision-Making, encouraging shared decision-making based on evidence, and using recommendations to develop value-based benefit designs that preserve choice but encourage appropriate care.
* Provide more transparent information to guide and drive innovation by requiring all-population, all-payer quality, patient experiences, and cost data with benchmarks of top performance.

Invest in improving population health with the goal of lowering the rates of preventable illness and improving health outcomes for chronic conditions with efforts to:

* Target public health initiatives on prevention of illness, including expansion of immunizations that are demonstrated as effective and public health actions and tax incentives and other initiatives to reduce obesity and decrease tobacco use and promote healthy lifestyles.
* Design health insurance benefits to encourage and support preventive care and essential care for chronic conditions, with positive incentives for patients to engage in health promotion and keep existing chronic conditions under control.
* Intensify the focus on preventing and managing chronic conditions, including incentives for more coordinated care and setting goals to improve outcomes for chronic conditions that account for the bulk of health care needs and spending.

5. Accountable Leadership and Collaboration: Coordinated Efforts to Improve the Health System
Leadership, new national policies, and collaboration among the public and private sectors will be necessary to set and achieve national goals for high performance. To provide accountable leadership and foster collaboration, the nation will need to establish mechanisms to set and achieve national goals, enable public programs to serve as prudent purchasers of care, and ensure coordination of practices and policies that cut across public programs and private sector activities. In addition to insurance reforms, we need national leadership to:

* Set performance targets and provide incentives and technical assistance to meet them.
* Authorize public programs, including Medicare, to be more active purchasers of high-value health care for their beneficiaries, rather than passive payers. This would include implementing and facilitating the adoption and rapid spread of innovative payment policies to elicit a more effective, efficient, and responsive delivery system.
* Establish a national insurance exchange that would operate at national, state, and regional levels to allow participation of regional private health plans and integrated delivery systems
* Establish a Center for Comparative Effectiveness and Health Care Decision-Making.
* Set national standards to accelerate adoption and use of health information technology and a national health information network.


Estimated Impacts

Using a set of policies to illustrate concepts proposed by the Commission, this report analyzed the potential impact of those policies. The findings indicate that if all were implemented in 2010, it would be possible to extend affordable coverage to all and improve population health, while simultaneously reducing the growth in national health spending by a cumulative $3 trillion by 2020 compared with current projections.* This substantial sum is the accumulation of incremental savings each year, with a reduction in the projected annual rate of growth in national health expenditures from 6.7 percent to 5.5 percent. Notably, even after this substantial reduction, national health spending still would exceed the projected annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Although the percent of GDP spent on health care would be lower in 2020 than what is currently projected—18.4 percent of GDP compared with the projected 20.8 percent—it would account for a higher share of the U.S. economy than in 2009 (16.9 percent).

*These estimates are based on an extensive modeling effort by The Lewin Group. Lewin used specifications developed to reflect each component of the Commission’s recommendations. The results based on those specifications drew from available evidence as to their potential impact on those who would be affected and their behavioral responses. The Lewin Group is one of the leading health care and human services consulting firms in the United States, with more than 35 years of experience serving organizations in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. The Lewin Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ingenix, which in turn is owned by UnitedHealth Group. The Lewin Group maintains editorial independence from its owners and is responsible for the integrity of any data that it produces for the Fund.

The policies included in the analysis interact and are mutually supporting. All contribute to the net cumulative effect on potential savings and improvement in value (Exhibit ES-3). Each slows the rate of growth in national health spending compared with current projections. (See summary for policies used for purposes of modeling coverage and cost estimates.)

Path Report figure 3

These estimated impacts are contingent on their effectiveness in stimulating change in the way providers, patients, and insurers (both public and private) behave, and how they react to the new opportunities the proposed policies would create. The Commission developed the set of policies with a vision of potential dynamic change—a chain of events that interact over time. A central feature is the insurance exchange structured to expand choice of plans in the context of market rules that prohibit competition on the basis of risk selection. This design could promote competition based on value to drive innovation among insurers and better organization of care. The public plan plays a central role in harnessing markets for positive change.

The effectiveness of these reforms depends on payers becoming more prudent purchasers. Transforming Medicare into a more active purchaser of care—with innovative payment methods that move away from fee-for-service to more bundled payments and mechanisms to hold providers accountable—could stimulate and support changes in behavior that improve performance. Comprehensive insurance with premium differences reflecting value and cost-sharing, aligned with effective care and better outcomes, would provide patients with incentives to seek high-value care and promote appropriate use of resources.

Success will require that key stakeholders join together to make difficult decisions and undertake the steps necessary to transform the health care delivery system and move along the path to high performance.

Impact on Health Insurance Coverage
The insurance framework proposed by the Commission includes the creation of a new national insurance exchange that would offer private insurance plans and a new public plan option, expansion of existing public programs, market reforms, provisions for affordability, and requirements that all have coverage to reach universal participation. By establishing a new public plan available nationwide, the framework would also provide the basis for a new competitive dynamic in insurance markets and provide a strong foundation for payment and system reforms.

The insurance expansion would achieve near-universal coverage. The number of uninsured would drop from an estimated 48 million in 2009 (16 percent of the U.S. population) to 4 million by 2012 (1 percent of the population), with nearly everyone insured over the next decade (Exhibit ES-2). Absent new directions, the number of uninsured is projected to rise to 61 million or more by 2020.

By building on existing insurance coverage, this framework would permit individuals to keep their current coverage if it works for them while providing new choices through the insurance exchange, including a range of private plans and the new public plan. Small employers in particular would be able to offer their employees a choice of multiple plans. Large employers would gain a nationwide plan plus employee choice of regional plans. All those enrolled through the exchange would be able to keep their coverage as jobs or circumstances changed. The exchange could be open in stages to allow reasonable time to set up. In the modeling, the exchange starts out by opening to small firms and individuals, opens to midsized companies in two years, and opens to all employers by 2014. With the advantages of continuity and choice, including a public plan option, the modeling estimates that over time most of the privately insured market (about two-thirds) would elect to receive coverage through the exchange.

The new public plan option would provide a less expensive alternative for the uninsured and underinsured than what is currently available in the individual and small business insurance markets. Savings would derive from significantly lower administrative costs and use of Medicare's reformed provider payment rates. Estimates indicate premiums for the public plan would be at least 20 percent below those currently available for a comparable benefit package in the private market (Exhibit ES-4). The availability of the public plan option would thus provide a catalyst for private plans to innovate and reexamine the way they operate and pay for care.

Path Report Figure 4

With the flexibility to establish more integrated care networks and a variety of payment policies, private plans—by focusing on quality and value—could compete with each other and outperform the public plan, if they innovate. Provisions could encourage multipayer synchronization to ensure coherent policies and reduce administrative complexity. The goal is more vigorous, innovative, and value-driven competition focused on outcomes and a more streamlined, efficient health insurance financing system.

Impact on Care, Quality, and Outcomes
Changing the way we pay for care to align incentives with value is critical. The payment reforms proposed by the Commission would enhance the value of primary care and change the way we pay to stimulate care delivery through patient-centered medical homes with the capacity to provide access, coordinate care, and use information systems and teams to manage chronic conditions. Moving to more bundled payments, with provisions for accountability for outcomes, would align incentives with the value rather than volume of care delivered and would support hospitals, physicians, and other clinicians working together to care for patients. Building a solid infrastructure of information systems and programs to enhance prevention of disease and promote population health would emphasize innovation to meet current and future community health needs.

The Commission envisions a health system that provides patients with personal sources of care who know their medical history, ensures timely access, helps coordinate care, and uses essential clinical information to provide the right care with an emphasis on health and disease prevention. Payment and information systems would stimulate and support a patient-centered care system that is coordinated, accessible, and safe.

With a focus on prevention and improving outcomes for chronic disease, the nation could achieve substantial improvements in population health with policies that align incentives with the provision of right care and prudent use of resources, provide clinicians with information system tools and decision support, and build and expand public health programs. We should aim for healthier, more productive lives through prevention of disease, earlier intervention, and effective management of chronic conditions, including people with multiple comorbidities. In addition, more effective and humane care for people with late-stage diseases could address the huge variations in care.

By setting targets and implementing policies that meet and raise benchmarks of top performance, we have the opportunity to save lives, improve the quality of life and care experience, lower safety risks to patients, and prevent the onset of disease and complications. As illustrated by key indicators from the Commission's National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, improving average performance to targets or benchmarks set by current top performers by 2020 would achieve substantial gains in population health and patient experiences (Exhibit ES-5).

Path Report figure 5

Impact on Providers
While slowing expenditure growth to 5.5 percent per year is a significant change from recent years, hospitals, physicians, and other providers' revenues would continue to experience growth each year. This growth would be only marginally slower than what is currently projected, as revenues continue to increase due to medical advances and an aging population (Exhibit ES-6). Payment reforms would support and provide incentives for practice innovations and more productive resource use.

Path Report figure 6

Distribution of Impact Across Major Payer Groups
All major sectors would benefit from improved health and from slower growth in spending, compared with projected trends. By 2020, the cumulative reduction in the growth of national health spending compared with trends of $3 trillion would be distributed across the major groups that pay for health care: the federal, state, and local governments; private employers; and households (Exhibit ES-7).

Path Report figure 7

Most of the savings would accrue to individuals and families as a result of slower growth in premiums and out-of-pocket spending, federal premium assistance, and expansion of public programs to make insurance affordable. The savings would accrue across all income groups, including higher-income households. State and local governments would also realize substantial savings relative to current projections.

Employers who currently provide insurance and their employees would also realize significant savings as a result of lower premiums and more equitable sharing of the costs of family coverage across all employers. Over time, new system savings would offset costs for employers and workers as premium growth slows, with net cumulative employer savings of $231 billion by 2020.

As the central source of financing for coverage expansions, the federal government's costs would increase during early years to make coverage affordable. The insurance design specified for modeling also provides federal funding to offset state and local costs of expanding Medicaid and raising Medicaid payment rates to Medicare levels. As a result, there would be an increase in net federal government spending during the decade. With system reform policies in place, however, the net federal cost of insurance expansion and investing in the care system declines rapidly. By 2020, payment and system reform savings would offset nearly all the increase in annual federal spending compared with baseline projections (Exhibit ES-8). Over the 2010 to 2020 period, the net federal budget outlays are estimated to be $593 billion—with most incurred in the first five years.

Path Report figure 8

The Commission did not specify a plan to finance the federal expansion. As the report discusses, there are a number of ways to pay for such costs, with net gains to all as the nation invests in a healthier and more secure future. As state governments, households, and employers all save significantly, policies could recapture some of the savings or modify design features to finance federal support of insurance for all.
Conclusions

Moving forward on a comprehensive reform agenda and making significant progress quickly require major changes. In a care system that touches so many lives and generates over $2 trillion in revenue per year, such changes will be very difficult to make. Yet, if we fail to act now with bold reforms, the situation we face in the future will be much worse.

The insurance design, including the exchange and new public plan, seeks a dynamic, competitive strategy that retains a mixed private and public insurance system, with the best of what each sector has to offer. The challenge will be achieving a balance in which the public and private plans compete within market rules or regulations that stimulate innovation and outcomes in the public interest. It will be important to develop a mechanism to set the price point and payment policies in a nonarbitrary fashion. The goal should be to provide incentives and support for high-quality and efficient care systems, with rational public and private insurance payment policies. The Commission will continue to explore and address this issue in upcoming reports.

It will take time and flexibility to develop innovative payment reforms to stimulate the kinds of delivery system changes needed. Currently, public programs like Medicare, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program set payment policies in multiple ways. If the new public plan and Medicare are to support improved performance, they will need the authority and flexibility to act on behalf of beneficiaries, with targets set by Congress and the President. This will also require accountability for preserving and enhancing access and health outcomes. A new national health council, Medicare board, or other mechanism will be necessary to enable Medicare and the new public plan to serve as prudent purchasers, to facilitate and spread innovative payment policies, and to collaborate with private and other public payers within a multipayer system.

Significant reform will also be needed to change the way we pay for care to focus on value and to set up a national exchange in which all insurers agree to accept everyone and charge the same premium, regardless of health. Providing positive incentives for patients to seek high-quality, effective care and assess alternatives will require investment in information systems, public reporting, and support for evidence-based medicine and mechanisms for applying that evidence.

Overall, moving on a path to high performance will require that we, as a nation, reach consensus that the status quo is not acceptable. It will require bold action on behalf of the greater good of the population, health outcomes, and economic security. Successful implementation of effective policies will require leadership with authority to act and collaboration across sectors to achieve targets and goals.

The results presented in this report underscore several key themes and build on the Commission's earlier analysis of strategies to achieve a high performance system:

* We should aim high. Better access and health outcomes, along with slower cost growth, are possible. It is urgent to start now. The consequences of maintaining the status quo—in terms of both human and economic costs—put the nation at risk. Early action has the potential for substantial cumulative benefits. Delay increases the magnitude of the problems. We cannot afford to continue on our current path.
* A comprehensive system approach is essential. We need to simultaneously expand coverage and take bold action to improve quality and efficiency. There is no "magic bullet" that can alone address rising costs, access, and quality. A coherent set of policies aimed at misaligned incentives, an information deficit, and structural flaws that drive costs up and drag outcomes down is necessary to improve.
* Better information is a key to improved performance. We need to invest for the future. Improving the health system requires a clinical information system to support patients and clinicians; better evidence on the effectiveness of treatments, drugs, and devices; and information to compare performance at the national, community, and provider levels.
* Insurance provides an essential foundation for payment and system reforms. If designed to ensure access and improve insurance efficiency, coverage expansion provides a base for payment and system changes that create more consistent signals and drive delivery systems to higher performance. Benefit design can provide incentives for preventive care and essential care for chronic disease. Less fragmented coverage enables purchasing leverage for change. Universal coverage, coupled with payment and system reforms, would provide a catalyst for significant gains in value.
* Value means more than savings. Higher value includes improvements in quality, equity, access, and healthy lives, in addition to savings. The potential to improve health outcomes, not just savings, should drive decisions for the future.
* Achieving high performance will require all stakeholders to take part in solutions and come together to focus on the gains for patients and the nation. Expanding coverage to everyone, improving performance, and achieving national health system savings will not be easy. It will require a shift in the way we pay for and deliver care, as well as major insurance reforms. Payers and providers must address current payment inequities and reach consensus on reforms to support efficient, high-value care.
* Leadership is critical. Building consensus requires leadership and public-private collaboration. Successful implementation of effective policies requires leadership with authority to act and collaboration across sectors to achieve targets and goals.

As a nation, we all gain by moving in new directions to expand coverage and implement payment and system reforms, with a focus on improving health, patient experiences, and value. The stakes are high if we fail to act.

Windows of opportunity for real health reform do not stay open for long. While the challenge is daunting, it is imperative that our new federal leadership move swiftly to change direction and put the U.S. health system on the path to high performance.
Summary of Policy Modeling Specifications for Coverage and Cost Estimates

Coverage

* National Health Insurance Exchange. Offers businesses and individuals a choice of private plans and a new public plan, phased in by size of firm with all eligible by 2014. Premium of the public plan would be community rated within broad age bands. Benefits are similar to the standard option in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The plan would use Medicare's claims administrative structure and reformed payment methods and rates.
* Individual Mandate. All individuals are required to obtain coverage.
* Affordability. Premiums are capped at 5 percent of income for low-income individuals and 10 percent of income for those in higher-income tax brackets.
* Shared Financial Responsibility. Employers are required to provide coverage or contribute to a trust fund. The example used in the model included 7 percent of payroll, up to $1.25 an hour.
* Medicaid/SCHIP Expansion. All individuals with incomes up to 150 percent of the federal poverty income level are eligible for Medicaid acute care benefits. Medicaid provider payment rates are raised to Medicare levels. The federal matching rate is increased to offset state costs.
* Medicare. The two-year waiting period for coverage of the disabled is eliminated. Medicare beneficiaries are offered a supplement with the same acute care benefits as in new public plan and premium affordability provisions.
* Insurance Market Reforms. Require community-rate premiums (age bands permitted) and guaranteed issue and renewal of policies. Premium and insurance information would be publicly available on the Web.

Payment Reform: Aligning Incentives to Enhance Value

* Enhance Payment for Primary Care. Increase Medicare payments for primary care by 5 percent and apply differential updates for primary care and other care.
* Encourage Development and Spread of Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Provide payment per patient in addition to fee-for-service to practices qualified to provide patient-centered care. Reduced premiums and cost-sharing available to patients who designate a primary care practice as their medical home. Shared savings would be distributed on the basis of performance.
* Bundled Payments for Acute Care Episodes. Expand acute care payment to include services during the hospital stay and 30 days post-discharge in a global fee. The policy would be phased in, starting with inpatient services in 2010, then post-acute care in 2013, and hospital inpatient and outpatient physician care in 2016.
* Correcting Price Signals. Modify payments by: 1) slowing the rate of Medicare payment updates in geographic areas with high costs; 2) reducing prescription drug costs by having Medicare pay Medicaid prices for drugs used by dually eligible beneficiaries and determining Medicare payments for unique drugs with effective monopolies based on prices paid in other countries; and 3) resetting benchmarks for Medicare Advantage plans in each county to projected per-capita spending under traditional Medicare.

Investing in Information Infrastructure

* Accelerate the Adoption and Use of Health Information Technology. Require all providers to report key health outcomes electronically by 2015 to qualify for payment updates. Provide funding to support health information networks and assistance for safety-net providers and small practices through a 1 percent assessment on insurance premiums and Medicare outlays.
* Center for Medical Effectiveness and Health Care Decision-Making. Create a mechanism to develop information on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of alternative treatment options. Fund the Center with a .05 percent assessment on insurance premiums and Medicare and Medicaid spending. Use the information in benefit designs with higher out-of-pocket costs or differential pricing depending on comparative effectiveness and include physician-patient shared decision-making.

Promoting Health and Disease Prevention

* Reduce Tobacco Use. Increase federal taxes on tobacco products by $2 per pack of cigarettes. Use revenues to fund public health programs and insurance expansion.
* Reduce Obesity and Alcohol Use. Establish a new tax on sugar-sweetened soft drinks of 1 cent per 12-ounces to finance state obesity prevention programs, and increase the federal excise tax on alcohol by 5 cents per 12-ounce can of beer, with proportionate increases on other alcohol products. Use funds for prevention and insurance expansion.

Methodology Note: Modeling the Commission recommendations required detailed specifications for each of the policy approaches. The above specifications were used for illustrative purposes. Recognizing that multiple policy variations are feasible for key policy reforms, the Commission endorses the strategic approaches rather than the specific policy parameters used to model potential effects. The main report provides further detail. The Lewin Group technical report, The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: Technical Documentation, is available online at www.Lewin.com for data and parameters used to estimate 2010–2020 impacts.
Citation

The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way, The Commonwealth Fund, February 2009

Tuesdays Tardy Ten..

 

Just wondering what, if anything, everyone is doing to contribute to Earth Day?
(Picture stolen years ago from 360~Land).

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Good Evening Everyone;

I am posting a late blog tonight-
Again, not much going on around Flintville, (but I think I can still come up with 10 little random thoughts).
er, I hope...

1.
A few of you have asked about Casey- She has posted a new blog, so be sure to "visit" her when you can. CLICK HERE.

She is also losing more weight- Maybe 90 pounds soaking wet now.
(She corrected me when I'd written 95 pounds earlier).

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.Though she sure has healed nicely once again...



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No she is not 'sucking it in'.

Does anyone have any real good diet suggestions?
Please keep in mind that she is still on insulin
to give her Islet Cells a real chance to succeed.
Also keep in mind her dietary enzymes.

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2.
Although I posted those 'warm' pictures of my mercury over 80, please know that I woke to snow this morning.

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Oh well.
And yes, it is all gone now-
even though we only had a high of 38 today.
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Tomorrow in the 50's. Thursday in the 60's and Friday to be in the 70's
Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about...

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3.
Sure wish someone would magically appear and finally fix my drain s(h)ituation. Now the kitchen drains, but the back and the tub do not drain well at all.
(Unless I am barefoot and in a puddle, I hate standing in water when I am taking a shower, makes me sad).

4.
I spent upwards of an hour talking to Master Gabriels foster mom last night.
She may not be foster mom for long. They would love to adopt him.

Thoughts anyone?
I know that many many of you have seen me at my worst dealing with Roberta and her 3 sons, and most especially with respect to Gabriel who seems to not even have a mom that can see him every now and then.
If you are new here, please CLICK HERE.

I realize posting the above link etc may cost me a few of your 'connections'.

That's OK, just believe me when I say there are worst things in life than people dropping off my blog.

Baby Sam left to live with his dad about 2 months ago. They now live in Clintonville, WI

5.
Sad now.

6.
Recovering...

I hate to be political. But inside I am very much so.
And "inside" I also have a very warped sense of humor...

Case in point:
On Gw's watch we lost a whole planet. (Remember Pluto)?
Now, on Obama's watch we have found a new one. CLICK HERE. hehehe
Hmmmm

7.
I have rarely ever agreed with Simon on the American Idol Show. (I really don't watch the show, only that it was on in the background here).
I completely agreed with him tonight as he did not like Anoop's rendition of "Dim All The Lights" originally by Donna Summer. Anoop slaughtered it royally. IMHO. Perhaps because it was one of the best dance tunes from 'way back...


8.
Want to read a great (true) story of a family who is really beating the economic state we are all struggling with? CLICK HERE. It goes hand in hand with Earth Day too.

9.
My butt has fallen asleep, and so I am happy that I am almost done on the computer for tonight. I have been trying to install Y! messenger, with no success. I miss that every now and then.

10.
Is anyone eating anything that even resembles a peanut or a pistachio?
Who is doing what to our nuts?!?!?

And did you know...
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
hehehe

Have a "wunnaful" Wednesday!

XOXO
Me

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Posted to my Y! 360, Tuesday April 21, 2009 - 09:53pm (CDT)

Hello! - Is Loneliness An Emergency??? I thought it was....

http://edbdkcn.multiply.com/journal/item/122


Click the link!
Too funny.
And TRUE too! (I should know, I was there...) *kinda*

"Kids today!"


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

XOXO
Me

April 20 ~They Blew Up!

he
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Sunset Saturday night, driving home,
Just before the rains finally came

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Good Monday Morning!
Not much news from Flintville today- Just a few pics, and maybe a giggle

But what a difference a day makes!

In my Saturday blog I had posted this photo, taken on Friday...
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And then overnight,

a bomb must have went off and blew them both up!

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So miraculous is Springtime!

Maybe the temps had a bit to do with it...

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The national weather service for Green Bay reported a high of 75.
But we are always colder in winter and warmer in summer...
(Never did figure out why that is,
something to do with being at the bottom of the hill).
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I hope too that the temps and the advent of a real Spring/Summer will also cause Casey to rebloom a bit.
She is only at about 95 pounds... And in need of Pa's suspenders! hehehe
(By contrast, Punk has her beat by a couple of bags of potatoes).

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This little beast (fortunately for him/her) lived to see Sunday.
And if it keeps eating all my birdseed it too will have Casey beat.
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Brave too, as it sat there -almost posing- for my camera and I.
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It is currently 36 degrees, but we will only have this for another day or two- Temps will climb back to the 70's by Friday. And that's close enough to perfect for me!
As is the rain that is falling as I type- A slow soaking rain too.
The weatherman on TV keeps saying the damnable "S" word. Know that I used to respect him (before this past Winter). hehehe

I hope your week is close enough to perfect for you too !
Love to all,

XOXO
Me

free hit counters
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...a little smile to start your week.

A man and a woman were sitting beside each other in the first class section of an airplane.

The woman sneezed, took out a tissue, gently wiped her nose, then visibly shuddered for ten to fifteen seconds.

The man went back to his reading.

A few minutes later, the woman sneezed again, took a tissue, wiped her nose, then shuddered violently once more.

Assuming that the woman might have a cold, the man was still curious about the shuddering.

A few more minutes passed when the woman sneezed yet again.

As before, she took a tissue wiped her nose, her body shaking even more than before.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, the man turned to the woman, 'I couldn't help but notice' he said, 'that you've sneezed three times, wiped your nose and then shuddered violently. Are you OK?'

'I am sorry if I disturbed you ,' she replied. 'I have a very rare medical condition; whenever I sneeze I have an orgasm.'

The man, more than a bit embarrassed, was still curious.

'I have never heard of that condition before' he said.

'Are you taking anything for it?'

The woman nodded, 'Black Pepper.'

um... Please pass the pepper?

Posted to Y! 360, Monday April 20, 2009 - 07:38am (CDT)

Pant, Like You Mean It!

After such a long Winter,
the grass is so desperate to grow
even through this pine cone its shoots are thriving.
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Wherever the sunshine goes growth will follow
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Good Morning Everyone, and Happy Weekend too.

My apologies for being away. I am trying to be outside work a bit more done- Catching up from last Fall is probably closer to the truth.

It has been a wonderful~way~of~warm for the past few days. If there is a choice of being outside in the sunshine, or inside; suffice to say I will be inside only long enough to mess the place up.
The warmth won't keep yet as the high tomorrow is to be only 46; giving me plenty of time to clean up my messy house.

There is a burning ban now- not one single April Shower for us yet. It is so very dry that the hose is already hooked up.

I raked some, weeded some, and transplanted a few of Casey's perennials- Her Salvias, to up front where they can be enjoyed. They are just now breaking ground.

And yes, already there are a few brave flowers that had the strength to survive Winter and proudly poke up their heads (and their petals).

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Back by the woods a few days ago, to spy the first brave butterfly!
There were two- the other not as brave as this one.

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.Such are the signs of Winter ending...
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Even Mr Miller and Miss Punk are more than happy
being able to have the warmer fresh air.

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They even pant and mean it!
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I have a few leftover pictures from Minnesota that I still want to post for you.

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Casey took this one as we visited her and we all got to walk outside
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I returned that favor as she found the piano.
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Whether it's music or a sheet of plain paper, the girl is an artist.

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Case in point,
Greg recently made the mistake of leaving Casey alone...

...with a laundry marker

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hehehe
Nice job!
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While we were at the hotel, Punk was very restless one night- At 3 AM, I took her out for a walk-

All was well...

...Until we came back inside.

She stopped for a moment at a door down the hall from ours. And suddenly got very upset by something she had smelled/seen/(whatever).
With a low growl, she came running to me with her tail between her legs.

This is not her nature at all.

Nor was this...
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Bewildered by something.
(There had been no noise from within that room).
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The rest of that night was spent with her staring at our door.
Watching and waiting with an occasional growl.
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We slept about 5AM-
She remained oddly vigilant.

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After the following day at the hospital, I was bit hungry. I had stopped at the Arbys right across the road from the hotel.

Not sure of what the difference was on the ham sandwiches, I asked the guy to recommend one or the other.
He did, saying that one had the wheat bread, was toasted; and with the tomato, the mustard, and the mayo was very good.
I chose to believe him.

I was more than let down when I opened the wrapper to eat it a few moments later.

I could have gotten a paper cut from the 2 tomatoes in it; and barely even saw the mustard and the mayo.
The lettuce was brown under the meat too.
One little teeny slice of cheese.
What you can't tell from the picture is the fact that this bread was thicker sliced than your regular bread.

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Needless to say, as I picked at the sandwich I was dreaming of home.
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Casey's "leftover" colon is healing well. But not without pain either.

While we were in Minnesota, we only got 1/3rd of her prescribed meds, knowing that she would get these refilled much cheaper here than at the pharmacy there.
(I'd paid $1800.00+ the last time she was discharged from that hospital).

She still has much pain going on, and had an appointment with her pain management office yesterday morning, with the nurse practitioner. She would not refill Dr. Sutherland's prescription.
Nor would she even contact U of Minnesota. It throws a nasty wrench into the mess that Dr. Sutherland is out of the country until the end of the month.
Casey has enough meds to get her through for a while, but will need to visit either Minnesota now, or her regular doctor here.
When you go to a pain management doctor you sign a paper that says you will only get your painkillers ONLY from them.
That does make sense, until this happens anyway.
She asked to see the doctor instead of only the nurse practitioner, and was told he wasn't in. She had to make an appointment to see him. (May 7th).
She does not have enough to get her through to that, so they gave her another extension to call. That lady (Rita, another NP) wouldn't do anything either.
Dr. Sutherland's office will have his on-call surgeon contact Casey on Monday. They know she only got a partial fill on all of her prescriptions.

Casey puts on this great face to the world, walks proudly with her cane; and quite like that Energizer Bunny just keeps going and going and going.

That my friends is only one of the things that make her so great.

Shari wrote yesterday and asked if Casey was able to tolerate solid foods yet.
I am happy to say that she is more than able, and has been "on" normal foods since she was released from the hospital too.
(Sheesh, I do hate to use "normal" and "Casey" in the same sentence). hehehe

Truth of the matter is that if Casey can't have those foods, 'she' becomes a bit less than tolerable...

As do I -when the sun is out, and I am "in".

Have a "wunnaful" weekend!

XOXO
Anne

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posted to my Y! 360, Saturday April 18, 2009 - 11:15am (CDT)