Kaiser Network

Shannon Brownlee, a researcher at the nonprofit New America Foundation, said that the VA's average readmission rates were in some ways an achievement, given the extensive problems in the system before it was revamped. The VA's history shows "that you ...

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., probably did not anticipate the kind of trouble his plan for privatizing Medicare would cause members of his own party. Ever since Democrats scored an upset in a New York state special congressional election that turned on the Republican candidates support for the Ryan plan, GOP presidential hopefuls and lawmakers have been stumbling around the negative reaction the "Path to Prosperity" has drawn from many voters.

The new budget uses exactly the same trick (Megan McArdle, 2/15). With an outright repeal of the national health system reform law blocked by the Senate, congressional Republicans aim to make 2011 a year of rolling back individual parts of the statute. ...

With Republicans vowing to dismantle the health law and courts wrestling with its constitutionality, some health policy experts are pondering a possible "Plan B" in case the individual mandate – the requirement that everyone get health insurance starting in 2014 – is weakened or struck down.

The buzzwords of health reform can sound abstract and confusing. Yet ideas like patient-centered medical homes, integrated care teams and chronic disease management are already reality in what some might consider an unlikely setting for a health-care innovator - Southcentral Foundation, a nonprofit health provider owned by, led by, and serving Alaska Natives.

About a decade ago, Southcentral’s patients made it clear they were unhappy with the care they received. That led to a sweeping patient-driven overhaul of how care is delivered – and defined.