Vital Signs
A law that was passed last year set the course for major changes in Vermont's health care system, but the details are being worked out this year in the Legislature. One of the key issues will be the structure of the health care exchange, a type of marketplace for consumers to compare health insurance plans. We talk with Rep. Michael Fisher, chair of the Health Care Committee, and Sen.
All week we've been hearing from physicians, lawmakers and health care experts on the many ideas for revamping health care. On the last in our Vital Signs series of programs we want to hear from you. Among the changes we've been discussing and debating: Adopting a public/private single payer health care system that insures everyone. Containing costs by moving away from fee-for-service payments and providing incentives to doctors for preventative care and payments based on outcomes.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health CarePhysical Therapist Jason Zullo Jason with one of the telemedicine cameras the VA is now using(Host) State lawmakers struggling to create an affordable health care system may want to take a closer look at the VA. The Veterans Administration runs the largest integrated health-care system in the country, actively serving over six million Americans, about 24,000 in Vermont While the VA spends less per patient, this government-managed health-care program is managing to outperform the private sector on many fronts.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care Legislation backed by the governor and Democratic leaders puts Vermont on track to an eventual single payer health care system. Other states have tried incremental changes to the way care is delivered and paid for, but none has attempted what is being tried in Vermont.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care For the last five years, Marathon Health in Colchester has been advising large companies on how to contain health care costs. Part of the plan is assigning "health care coaches" to employees to develop individualized health care plans. By most accounts, this has been a very effective program.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care This week Vermont Edition explores the big concepts and the bedeviling details involved in overhauling the health care system in our series, Vital Signs. Governor Peter Shumlin often speaks of health care costs rising at a rate of one million dollars per day and many Vermonters have seen dramatic increases in insurance rates.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care AP/M. Spencer Green One local doctor who's been at the center of the debate over changing health care is Elliot Fisher. Fisher is the Director of Population Health and Policy at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. The institute's work has shown that spending more on care doesn't always produce the best outcomes for patients.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care This week Vermont Edition explores the big concepts and the bedeviling details involved in overhauling the health care system in our series, Vital Signs. On day two of the series, we look at Governor Peter Shumlin's health care proposal, which is currently making its way through the legislature.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care AP/Vanderbilt University, Anne RaynerVermont Edition has spent the past few weeks gathering ideas from doctors, legislators, listeners and health care administrators about what they see as the biggest problem in our health care system. We got a lot of different answers to that question.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care This week Vermont Edition explores the big concepts and the bedeviling details involved in overhauling the health care system in our series, Vital Signs. Vermont's health care experiment is unlike any other approach, but there are lessons to be learned from what other states have tried.
Vital Signs Blog
In reflecting back on this week of discussing Vermont's attempt at inventing a new health care system, a few voices resonate: Nancy Turnbull, Harvard School of Public Health: "It's a very big and bold ambitious proposal of a kind that's never been tried in the United States before.... to actually cut the connection between employment and health insurance.
Today's Vital Signs Vermont Edition takes stock of what we've learned in the past week. We've heard how the new health care exchange would work, listened to ideas about controlling costs, and weighed the pros and cons of the proposed single payer system. We've heard from doctors, policy experts and lawmakers. Now we'd like to hear from patients: You.
Although Governor Peter Shumlin's plan to restructure Vermont's health care system this year doesn't commit the state to adopt a single payer system, the Governor says it does provide the foundation needed to implement a publicly financed, single payer approach in several years. On Thursday's installment of the Vermont Edition "Vital Signs" series, we heard the pros and cons of going the single payer route.
One of the guests in this week's Vital Signs series told us before the program that he'd just returned from a conference where he gave a presentation to doctors from around the country on Vermont's plans to overhaul health care. "They looked at me like I was from Mars," he said. There are many ideas about changing the health care system in Vermont, and some of them compare to what's happening in other states, but Vermont's single-payer approach is unique.
Today's program gave us a lot to consider when it comes to slowing the pace of rising health care costs. A quick recap: Personal responsibility in terms of healthier lifestyle choices, coupled with a payment system that rewards preventative care. Our guests also pointed to Vermont's Blueprint for Health as a model for care because it takes a team approach to patient care.
We've heard lots of different takes on how to fix our health care system, but one thing everyone agrees on is controlling spiraling costs is an absolute must. It's perhaps the toughest part of overhauling health care. We've already heard this week that changing how we pay for the system isn't going to succeed unless we control costs. That's what we'll look into on today's Vermont Edition (at noon and 7pm).
As the governor's health care bill moves through the Senate, there's been a lot of focus on how newly created health care exchanges will work in Vermont. These exchanges were a big topic on Tuesday's Vital Signs Vermont Edition program. The exchanges are mandated by the federal health care law and due to go into effect in January of 2014. They're designed to act like a marketplace for consumers.
On Tuesday's Vermont Edition (at noon and 7pm) we'll be going over how health care will change over the next several years under the Shumlin plan. Just based on the questions host Bob Kinzel was peppered with yesterday when he was describing the plan to a group of VPR staffers, there's a lot we have to learn. There's been quite a bit of debate centered on the role of a proposed health care board, which would have broad oversight powers (see this VPR story: http://www.
Two interesting points from today's discussion with national experts Nancy Turnbull of the Harvard School Of Public Health and Andrew Hyman of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One (not surprisingly) is that controlling costs remains the most significant challenge for states trying to overhaul their health care systems. Turnbull pointed out that efforts to fund Maine's Dirigo Program have run into a political buzz saw and the plan hasn't been able to cover as many people as affordably as originally planned.
Our Vital Signs series of Vermont Edition programs kicks off today at noon and 7pm when we talk with two highly regarded national experts about how other states are revamping their health care systems. Details are here: http://www.vpr.net/episode/50901/. We want to find out what's worked and what hasn't in states like Maine and Massachusetts - and discover what Vermont can learn from their mistakes and successes.
Here’s a story from a candid doctor about two factors that contribute to higher health care costs: a physician's fear of lawsuits and a patient's demand for unnecessary procedures. Rutland family physician Dr. Peter Hogenkamp had a patient who was suffering from a severe headache. The patient wanted a CAT scan. Hogenkamp says the woman&rsquo
One contends single payer will drive doctors from Vermont, another claims it would attract doctors. Results from one survey were released this week by Representative (and doctor) George Till (D-Georgia). Till sent a questionnaire to nearly 1700 licensed physicians in Vermont. Approximately 610 took part. While the majority who responded (55%) support a single payer health care system in Vermont, a significant minority (28.
Welcome to VPR’s Vital Signs blog. As our Vermont Edition series gets underway next week, we’ll be highlighting some of the voices we’re hearing and pointing you to resources that might help you untangle the complexities around health care access and costs. When we planned the series, our aim was to go step by step through Vermont’s effort to retool health care and present a clearer idea of where we are, where health professionals, policy makers and Vermonters feel we should go and how we get there.
Everyone has a stake in improving the health care system. Now the debate has shifted into high gear. The legislature and Governor have put Vermont on the path to a single-payer system, raising both hopes and concerns. Next week, Vermont Edition explores the big concepts and the bedeviling details involved in overhauling the health care system. Tune in April 11th 15th at noon and 7pm, and follow the series at the Vital Signs page at VPR.
Vital Signs Commentary
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) The effort to revamp health care is focused on improving care and controlling costs. Commentator Mary Barrosse Schwartz believes one approach to providing care promises to do both. (BARROSSE SCHWARTZ) Health care reform is often fraught with controversy.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) Commentator Rich Nadworny says he's been doing the math on what health care would cost his business under a single payer system - and he believes it will save him money. (NADWORNY) When I look at the proposed single payer health care plan for Vermont, I look at it from the perspective of a small business owner, and as someone who has actually experienced a single payer system when I lived in Scandanavia.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) Commentator Dick Mallary says some difficult questions need to be raised in the current health care overhaul discussion. Those questions have to do with the need for limits on how much care can be provided. (MALLARY) As we labor at the state and national levels to reform the delivery of health care, there is one unpleasant truth that few are willing to discuss.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) Commentator Larry Doane says changing our health care system is a balancing act between the care we demand and the care we can afford. He says these days even the military is feeling the pinch. (DOANE) Growing up in a house with a heavy Beatles playlist I figured they knew what they were talking about when they said that 'Love is all you need'.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) This week, VPR presents Vital Signs, our series on Vermont's overhaul of health care. Commentator Deborah Luskin thinks that universal health coverage would be great for patients - if there were enough physicians to go around. First hand experience tells her that family practitioners willing to go into rural practice are an aging breed.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) As the Vermont legislature prepares to launch a state-wide, single-payer health care insurance plan, commentator and Dean of the Vermont Law School, Geoff Shields, is trying to assess it's potential impact. (SHIELDS) President Obama's health plan already assures coverage to 95% of Vermonters.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) This week VPR is presenting Vital Signs, a series of programs on what health care overhaul means for providers and patients. As he watches the debate unfold, former governor Jim Douglas says his successor and lawmakers have a great deal to build on as they go forward.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) This week, VPR presents "Vital Signs", our series on overhauling Vermont's health care system. As lawmakers debate bills, and policy makers crunch numbers, UVM medical student Clair Ankuda reminds us that on the most important level, health care is about relieving suffering.
Visit the Series Homepage Vital Signs: Vermont Charts A New Course For Health Care(HOST) This week, VPR presents "Vital Signs," a series of Vermont Edition programs looking at health care overhaul and how it will change the way we get care. As part of the series, we're bringing you perspectives on health care from VPR commentators. John Killacky says a painful personal experience underscores for him what's at stake as changes are made - and what we have to be careful to preserve.
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Vital Signs
This week, Vermont Edition explores the big concepts and the bedeviling details involved in overhauling the health care system. Everyone has a stake in improving the health care system, and we want your participation. What do YOU think? What is wrong with the system? What works in the system? What are the right solutions?