ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The summer issue of INQUIRY, the journal of health care organization, provision, and financing, was released today and features the following articles of note:
* Dialogue: “Executive Compensation in Nonprofit Health Care Organizations” - The first of a new feature produced in collaboration with the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, this discussion by leaders in the nonprofit health care arena focuses on the timely topic of pay levels for executives in nonprofit organizations. This Dialogue provides an edited version of a Dec. 4, 2004, discussion amongst: -- Ken Ackerman, M.H.A., president of Clark Consulting-Healthcare Group in Minneapolis. -- William E. Kibler, Jr., vice president of investments with Smith Barney, and immediate past chairman of the board of the AnMed Health System in Anderson, S.C., and its compensation committee. -- Glenn D. Steele, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., president and CEO of the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa. -- R. Lawrence Van Horn, M.P.H., M.B.A., Ph.D., associate professor of economics and management at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, in Rochester, N.Y. -- Katherine Swartz, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, and editor of INQUIRY. -- Bruce McPherson, M.H.A., executive director of the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, in Washington, D.C., moderator. The article can be accessed for free at http://www.inquiryjournalonline.org/inqronline/?request=index-html. * Opinion: Proposals for Health Policy - “Responsible Health Insurance Revisited: Pouring Liberal Wine Into a Conservative Bottle,” by Laurence Seidman - This article considers developments of the past decade and looks anew at “responsible health insurance” (RHI), an idea proposed in 1991 by conservative policy institutions. The author suggests that liberals, rather than reject RHI now should support it, provided conservatives agree to adequate funding. * “Welfare Reform, Insurance Coverage Pre-Pregnancy, and Timely Enrollment: An Eight-State Study,” by E. Kathleen Adams, Norma I. Gavin, Willard G. Manning, Arden Handler - This study found that welfare reform implemented through the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 led to a 12 percent decline in health insurance coverage among low-income pregnant women. The results, however, refer to the early years of welfare reform, and states likely can improve Medicaid outreach and enrollment of eligible women prior to pregnancy, the authors note. * “Plan Choice and Changes in Access to Care Over Time for SSI-Eligible Children with Disabilities,” by Pamela N. Roberto, Jean M. Mitchell, and Darrell J. Gaskin - Findings of this analysis show that special needs children receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and enrolled in a partially capitated managed care plan were much less likely to experience difficulties in obtaining care than SSI children enrolled in a fee-for-service (FFS) plan. Moreover, FFS enrollees experienced persistent problems in access to care. The authors suggest that the deterioration in care associated with FFS might be due to lack of case management services, lower reimbursement and less availability of providers. * “Incentives and Physician Specialty Choices: A Case Study of Florida’s Program in Medical Sciences,” by Gary M. Fournier and Cheryl Henderson - This paper examines the impact of Florida’s Program in Medical Sciences, which was created in 1971 at Florida State University to alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs) in rural counties of northwest Florida. Results show the program was rather unsuccessful in affecting the specialty choice and location decisions of its graduates and did not produce additional PCPs for the state’s rural areas. * “Unmet Long-Term Care Needs: An Analysis of Medicare-Medicaid Dual Eligibles,” by Harriet L. Komisar, Judith Feder, and Judith D. Kasper - This analysis draws on a survey of community-based elderly people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Few of these low-income people reported difficulty in getting medical care; however, 58 percent needing long-term care (that is, help with fundamental tasks) said they didn’t get such care - and as a result experienced serious consequences, such as falls. Such unmet needs were substantial in the six states surveyed, but lower in states with better access to paid home care. * “Has Price Competition Changed Hospital Revenues and Expenses in New York?” by Jack Zwanziger and Cathleen Mooney - This study examines the effect of the New York State Health Care Reform Act of 1996 (HCRA), which was expected to encourage price competition. Findings indicate that revenues and expenses both grew more slowly for New York hospitals in more competitive markets; hospital systems that increased concentration tended to have higher revenues. While HCRA-induced price competition constrained growth in both hospital expenses and revenues in the short run, the increase in hospital mergers countered the trend. * “The View From Here: healthresearchfunding.org - Add Your Voice to Increase Funding for Investigator-Initiated Research,” by INQUIRY Editor Katherine Swartz - This editorial argues that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), faced with serious budget cuts similar to those that threatened the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, sorely needs a “Big Bird” - or some equivalent - to help garner greater funding for research on how changes in health care financing and organization might affect expenditures and access to care. The article is available free at http://www.inquiryjournalonline.org/pdfserv/i0046-9580-042-02-0107.pdf.
INQUIRY is a peer-reviewed scholarly publication. Now in its 42nd year, it is published quarterly by Excellus Health Plan, Inc. Press releases and article abstracts are available at http://www.inquiryjournal.org .
INQUIRY journal
CONTACT: Kevin Kane, APR, +1-585-399-6635, or Ronny Frishman,+1-585-264-9122, both for INQUIRY journal
Web site: http://www.inquiryjournal.org/
