Schwimmer Script Blog
Will It Be “Summer of Hell” In Health Care, Too?
As I travel home from the nation’s capital on my delayed Amtrak train, I’m reminded that summer 2017 has been labeled the “summer of hell” for commuters in the Northeast Corridor. Much-needed fixes to our transportation infrastructure are causing agonizing delays, but the long-term repercussions of doing nothing will be far worse. That sounds close…Read More…
NJ Leaders Should Continue Work on Increasing Efficiencies and Reducing Waste in State Medicaid Program
Health care is essential to everyone in New Jersey. Today our uninsured rate (8.75%) is at a 30 year low. Proposals to decrease funding for Medicaid and political threats of eliminating subsidies for people to buy insurance are harmful to NJ’s insurance market and NJ residents. People want to go to work, enjoy their weekends,…Read More…
Help Us Expand ‘Conversation of Your Life’ And You’ll Improve Life — and Death — in New Jersey
Do you know anyone who wants to die in a hospital ICU, perhaps intubated and on dialysis, surrounded by strangers? I don’t. Most New Jerseyans want to die at home surrounded by the people they love. They want comfort and compassion. They don’t want interventions that have little value to patients with advanced illness. Yet…Read More…
Dear Next Governor …
Dear Lt. Governor Guadagno and Ambassador Murphy: This November, the people of New Jersey will likely elect one of you to lead our state. You will face both great opportunities and great challenges. I write to ask that you pay close attention to health care, which affects all of our citizens — and accounts for over…Read More…
End Secret Safety Reports Now
At the Quality Institute, transparency is critical to our mission to promote quality and safety. We know that giving consumers easy-to-understand data drives better decision-making and therefore better care. Private, national accrediting companies — such as The Joint Commission — assess the safety of health care facilities. But their reports are kept from the public. A private…Read More…
To Reduce Costs and Improve Health Care, Start at the Beginning — and the End.
At our Spring All Council Conference Tuesday, Dr. Neel Shah recalled hospital higher ups chastising young physicians over some medical procedure or intervention they failed to perform. “But you never saw anyone get called on the carpet for doing a procedure they should not have done,” he said. Dr. Shah, our keynote speaker, knows we…Read More…
Medicaid Must Stop Paying For Early Elective Deliveries
No matter how you get your health insurance — and no matter what happens in Washington — we’re all in trouble if we don’t get serious about reducing costs. The ever-rising price of health care means fewer people will be able to afford coverage even with help from their employers or the government. We spend…Read More…
ACA Lives On For Today, But What About Tomorrow?
For now, the ACA lives on. But destruction of the program — even without legislation — can still be inflicted. Here’s how the Trump administration can mortally wound health care reform. Kill Cost Sharing Subsidies: In 2014, House Republicans challenged the legality of the cost-sharing subsidies. These subsidies are critical to help people who make less than…Read More…
Uncertain National Landscape Won’t Derail Health Care Innovations
Last week I traveled to the other side of the country for a gathering of more than 500 leaders from every sector of health care — insurance executives, hospital leaders, technology experts, academics, business and union leaders as well as physicians and nurses. Here was an array of competing interests and perspectives. With so much health…Read More…
Modernize Medicaid for the Future
Earlier this week, in a crowded room in the New Jersey State House, we unveiled Medicaid 2.0: A Blueprint for the Future. The Blueprint is the culmination of a year of work that took us around New Jersey — and also to several other states — as we explored ways to make the program more efficient and…Read More…