News in brief - March 10, 2003

Government issues guidelines for HIV/AIDS palliative care - Kaiser study takes aim at Mich. Medicaid drug program - Quality clearinghouse established - Calif. single-payer bill offered

Government issues guidelines for HIV/AIDS palliative care

The Dept. of Health and Human Services has released "A Clinical Guide to Supportive and Palliative Care for HIV/AIDS," which offers practical, experience-based advice and authoritative guidelines.

"This guide urges clinicians to treat not just the symptoms of this terrible disease, but to provide care that meets the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the individual," said HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. The guide will be available at the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau Web site (http://hab.hrsa.gov).

Kaiser study takes aim at Mich. Medicaid drug program

A Michigan prior authorization program for prescription drugs for Medicaid patients is so burdensome and time-consuming that beneficiaries are sometimes harmed, says a study by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.

For example, the study found that seven of the 17 most prescribed drugs for heart disease were not on Michigan's formulary, requiring patients to switch medications or go through the prior authorization process. Physicians noted instances in which Medicaid patients were rehospitalized after they were discharged from a hospital because they could not get the medicines they needed.

Quality clearinghouse established

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has launched a new resource for doctors and others seeking the most current evidence-based quality measures and measure sets on the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse Web site (http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov).

Physicians can search the database by any combination of criteria, including disease/condition, treatment/intervention, age range, gender, vulnerable population, setting of care or contributing organization.

The NQMC Web site features summaries of the measures and their development, side-by-side comparisons of quality measures, and full-text versions of quality measures or ordering details for the full measure.

Calif. single-payer bill offered

A bill introduced in February in the California Legislature would establish the California Health Care System, a state-run single-payer system to offer coverage to all Californians. The bill proposes taxes on employers and employees, as well as on tobacco and alcohol, to pay for this universal coverage.

The measure also would create an agency to run the program, a board to set medical policies and the elected position of commissioner to oversee the whole system.

According to Physicians for a National Health Program, the legislation is based on the California Health Care Options Project, which concluded that eliminating administrative excess would allow the state to offer all of its residents affordable, comprehensive health care coverage.