Massachusetts Commonwealth Care Premium Could Increase
The proposed increases would affect about half of Commonwealth Care beneficiaries. Premium increases would affect residents with incomes greater than 150% of the federal poverty level, and copay increases would affect those with incomes greater than 100% of the poverty level. Under the proposal, premiums would increase by $5, $10 or $15 per month based on income, according to Jon Kingsdale, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority. The lowest premium would increase from $35 to $40 a month. Copays for office visits and prescription drugs could increase by $5 or $10. The Connector board is expected to vote on the proposed increases within the next two weeks. The increases could be altered or avoided if insurers reduce their rates or if the state can find additional revenue sources. The state is currently negotiating with insurers.
Some advocates and Connector board members are concerned the increases would force people out of the program. However, other board members said the increases are necessary to prevent employers from dropping coverage and sending their employees to Commonwealth Care. Leslie Kirwan, Massachusetts' top budget officer and chair of the Connector board, said, "If we're not only trying to insure the uninsured, but insure the previously insured, that's going to blow the doors off" (Dembner, Boston Globe, 2/15). Hospital Infections
The Massachusetts Public Health Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to implement a new reporting and inspection system designed to reduce hospital infections, the Globe reports. Under the approved plan, state inspectors will examine hospitals regularly to determine whether they are following state rules for preventing infections and reporting infections in a timely manner. In addition, the state will issue report cards for each hospital and post the results online. The report cards initially will be limited to infections in hip and knee surgery patients, as well as those who have had a central venous catheter inserted while in the intensive care unit. Eventually, reports card on infection rates for other procedures will be made public. Hospitals that do not comply with infection-prevention rules or continue to experience an excessive number of infections could lose their license, according to John Auerbach, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health.
The state plans to begin inspections and collecting data in three to six months. According to Auerbach, it is unclear when the information will be posted online because the public health department and another agency are considering combining other quality data on a single Web site (Smith, Boston Globe, 2/14). Prescription Drug Errors
One in every 10 patients admitted to six community hospitals in Massachusetts experienced serious and avoidable prescription drug errors, according to a report released on Thursday by the New England Healthcare Institute and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the Globe reports. For the report, researchers examined the medical histories of 4,200 randomly selected patients admitted at six community hospitals between January 2005 and August 2006. Researchers examined how often physicians ordered a brand-name drug when a generic was available, whether an intravenous delivery of a medication was used when an oral pill was available and whether physicians order redundant laboratory tests.
Researchers estimated that a medication error on average added four days onto a patient's hospital stay. An average of 10.4% of patients experienced a serious adverse event related to a medication mistake, the study found. The report recommended that all hospitals in the state implement an electronic prescribing system within three years to reduce errors. According to the report, hospitals would be able to recoup costs within two years of implementing the system (Wen, Boston Globe, 2/14).
The report is available online (.pdf).
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