Health Care

There is a way to use health insurance exchanges to both reform our health care entitlements and reduce premiums for those with private insurance. This transition could take four steps....

...the largest digital records companies like Allscripts, Cerner and Epic Systems have generated enormous profits and Wall Street-style executive pay because of the legislation they supported financially....

...examining standardized definitions and payment approaches for patient-centered medical homes and care management services....

The Ball Corporation is the only manufacturer of metal cans in the islands. The company employs 45 people and the beverage tax places their jobs directly at risk.

The Obama administration issued its long-awaited final rule on essential health benefits that insurers must offer consumers in the individual and small-group market beginning in 2014....

$964 million in fiscal year 2013 will be withheld from more than 3,000 hospitals....

The exchanges create the appearance of private-sector delivery but instead create politically favored monopolies....

“Taxes shouldn’t be a tool for social engineering or an instrument to penalize Hawaiians for doing nothing wrong....”

...market withdrawal of select Organic Baby Spinach products with the potential to be contaminated with Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)....

During a special premiere at the State Capitol, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) today launched a new teen-focused multi-media campaign to combat obesity....

Medicare will begin adjusting payments to physicians based on “the value of the care provided” in 2015....

...hospice care was hit by a $17 billion payment cut from 2013 to 2022.  Now, contrary to all of the misleading claims, this effect is already beginning....

...lobbyists are relied upon heavily to vie for the interests of the higher-income consumers and producers, leaving the burden of the new tax to lower income consumers who cannot afford representation....

...states that have enacted malpractice reforms experienced a mere 2 percent to 5 percent reduction in health care spending compared to states that have not....

Any successful program "must be mandatory (no one can opt out), public (government-supported and managed) and limited (will not provide full coverage)," the ILWU said....

State Senator Josh Green has introduced legislation, SB 639, to require a prescription for medications that contain the decongestant pseudoephedrine (PSE).

Under this proposed legislation, Hawaiians would be subject to warrantless entry into their homes, warrantless seizure of their firearms and other weapons based solely on a mere “report” by a so-called “mental health professional.” 

Through information technology and system design, Banner is able to make a profit in a Medicare environment by DATA driven health care....

IRS regulations issued Wednesday failed to fix the problem as liberal backers of the president's plan had hoped, says the Associated Press....

"Hilo Medical Center, the other thirteen HHSC facilities, and hospitals nationwide are being pushed to the brink of collapse, given the new health reform law changes."

...continued attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, gambling and physician-assisted suicide....

State ranks third lowest in the country for adult smoking and second lowest for youth tobacco use....

Hundreds of thousands of consumers have their health insurance applications declined each year according to a 2010 congressional study....

• Queens: 54 patients waiting
• Maui Memorial: 41 patients waiting
• Kuakini Hospital: 20 patients waiting

As public audits recently revealed, it's difficult to trust the Department of Health to spend our tax dollars wisely....  

...who is going to be held responsible if one of their patients decides to take out some poor store clerk? Is the shooter's doctor now a potential target for a lawsuit? Can the shooter claim at his trial that he was not properly counseled by his physician?

In 2011, he had attempted to pass a soda tax under the Orwellian title “Sugary Beverage Healthy Hawaii Fee,” but the state legislature saw through the obfuscating rhetoric and defeated it.

A 12 ounce soda would cost 12 cents more....

Many small-business owners haven't yet realized that the way they structure their firm in 2013 could determine their status under the law in a year's time....

“Given the weak track record of federal mental health programs, states should exercise primary responsibility for determining appropriate mental health services, which will entail eliminating restrictions currently imposed by the federal government.”

ER visits spiked when the ban went into effect. Relative to other counties, ER admissions increase by at least one fourth, and deaths exhibit a similar increase....

"Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health." 

Approximately four years ago, the Hawaii State Legislature commissioned Stroudwater Associates to evaluate our Hawaii Health System Safety Net Hospitals....

According to the data, there were no decreases in emergency admissions or inpatient charges....

...Maui County Office on Aging, will expand ongoing transitions efforts to reduce Medicare hospital readmissions....

In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions....

The editorial board of The Washington Post is absolutely right: “Medicare as we know it is not sustainable,” and the “ultimate solution” is structural reform.

The Supreme Court's surprise ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has left many observers wondering about the implications of the ruling on the law itself....

Hobby Lobby gained national attention when its leadership announced they would not bow to the Obama Administration’s violation of their religious liberty....

If enrollment in consumer-directed plans increased to 50 percent, there would be an annual savings of $57 billion....

With a new study pointing the finger at high fructose corn syrup as a culprit in America’s explosive epidemic of obesity, it is important to remember just why we are consuming so much of this commodity as opposed to table sugar....

...update on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and healthcare transformation in Hawaii....

Hawai‘i secures conditional approval from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to operate a state-based health insurance exchange....

The mother claims that her daughters teacher and state administrators not only failed to investigate the abuse that occurred on and off school grounds, but conspired to cover it up, and then suspended her.

A growing number of hospital systems are moving to start their own insurance plans, aiming to broaden their roles and prepare for the changes coming under the federal health care overhaul, says the Wall Street Journal....

OHA is partnering with The Queen’s Medical Center, Waianae Coast Comprehensive Center, the Hawaii Department of Health, the Department of Native Hawaiian Health and Hawaii Medical Service Association....

The Healthcare Association of Hawaii (HAH) invites the public to participate in the Hawaii Community Feedback Survey.

10th annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report, Hawaii scored 4 out of 10 ....

Experiment with cash or cash-like incentives to encourage people to adopt healthy behaviors in the form conditional cash transfers....

“We have emptied the nation's hospitals, gutted state and local mental health programs, and turned involuntary treatment into a debate point instead of using it as a viable option to prevent tragedy...."