THE DAILY DOSE: THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2009

Under the Microscope

INTERACTIVE MAP: U.S. Hospital Death and Readmissions Rates
In this interactive USA Today graphic, you'll find readmissions and death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia for more than 4,400 hospitals in the nation. The data are compiled by the federal government's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and cover a three-year period from mid-2005 to 2008. The agency also has supplied the information to the hospitals included and posted them on a government website called Hospital Compare. [USA Today, 7/9/2009]

Read about how CMS has expanded information for consumers about outcomes of care in America’s hospitals.

Use the CMS Hospital Compare tool to compare hospitals around your zip code.

View maps showing geographical concentrations of poorer outcomes on select conditions.  

‘Double Failure’ at USA’s Hospitals [USA Today, 7/9/2009]
Baylor Leads the Way to Lower Heart Failure Readmission Rates [USA Today, 7/9/2009]

Health Care Headlines

• Obama Aides Press Health Bill in Boss’s Absence
  With President Barack Obama and a retinue of advisers on the other side of the Atlantic, the White House is seeking to maintain its visibility on health care this week, convening high-level meetings with lawmakers and staging publicity-generating events to compensate for the boss’s absence. [Roll Call, 7/9/2009]
• House Democrats Say CBO Projects $500 Billion in Gross Savings From Medicare
  House Democratic committee leaders late Tuesday said that a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score for Medicare provisions in their draft health overhaul projects they would achieve more than $500 billion in gross savings over 10 years. [CQ HealthBeat, 7/8/2009] Read the Tri-Committee preliminary estimate.
• Obama Budget Chief Says Health Bill ‘Not Enough’ to Fix System
  The Obama administration pressed House lawmakers to strengthen legislation to revamp health care, saying it doesn’t go far enough to fix a system plagued by spiraling costs that leaves millions of Americans uninsured. [Bloomberg News, 7/9/2009] Read Orszag’s letter to the House Chairmen.
• Discord on Health Care Dulls Luster Of New Pacts
  The Obama administration, hoping to boost its health-care reform effort with financial concessions from the hospital and pharmaceutical industries, is instead confronting deep dissension on several fronts within Democratic ranks and possible defections among key constituencies. [Washington Post, 7/8/2009] Read about or watch the press conference on the agreement with hospitals.
• Pharmaceutical Lobby Defends Savings Plan At White House
  As the hospital industry stands with the White House today to announce a $155 billion savings deal meant to help pay for a healthcare overhaul, pharmaceutical manufacturers were stuck Tuesday defending the $80 billion savings agreement they forged last month with the administration. [CongressDaily, 7/8/2009]
• For Many Americans, Health Cover is Key to a Job
  Real estate agent Lisa DeWaal serves coffee at a Starbucks outlet for four hours every morning before she goes to the office to start her "day job." [Boston Globe, 7/9/2009]
• Proposed Benefits Tax Loses Steam
  A proposal to tax generous employer-sponsored health plans to pay for health care overhaul legislation seemed to lose momentum Wednesday in the Senate Finance Committee, the only panel in Congress seriously considering the idea. [CQ Today, 7/8/2009] Read a related article here.
• House Dems Look At Taxing the Rich for Health Care
  House Democrats working on President Barack Obama's goal of health legislation are narrowing in on an income tax surcharge on the highest-paid wage earners to help subsidize insurance for the 50 million people who lack it. [Associated Press, 7/9/2009]
• EDITORIAL: Fair Pay for Caregivers
  Change is too slow coming for the nation’s one million home care aides. In 2007, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 1975 federal labor regulation that defines home care aides as “companions.” That definition exempts home care employers — often for-profit agencies — from having to pay the federal minimum wage or time and a half for overtime. [New York Times, 7/8/2009]
• OPINION: Give Up A Benefit, Gain Jobs
  By Leonard E. Burman, Director of Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute fellow & former CBO sr. analyst
  With union membership shrinking and wages strained, it might sound crazy to argue that labor should voluntarily give up a huge fringe benefit: tax-free health insurance provided by employers. [Washington Post, 7/9/2009]