Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The 911 call came too late. Fresh out of rehab, Leo Espinosa told his mother he was ready to kick his heroin habit for good. “I had seen it in his eyes. That’s what he wanted. He wanted to be able to stay away from it. But he just yearned for it,” said Helen Alvillar. The two talked on a Tuesday morning in 2008. Espinosa sounded optimistic. He planned to look for a new job. That night, Alvillar got a call from the coroner’s office. They told her that her son had died from a drug overdose….
Category: Trends In Health Care - Part 13
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon of Solutions COLORADO SPRINGS An attack seizes Chaz Moores body, stealing much of his breath. Spasms in his throat, lungs and diaphragm cause the 17-year-old to speak in hiccups, one syllable at a time. He says it feels like a grown man is jumping on his chest as the muscles in his belly roll like waves. Chaz opens a jar labeled MMJ, pulls out some fresh green buds and crumbles the marijuana into a small pipe. He lights up the bowl and inhales as deeply as possible through the spasms, turning to blow smoke out his…
By Diane Carman Listening to the candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination might lead your average health care consumer to think the system is on the verge of collapse. While the Affordable Care Act is not yet fully implemented and remains in large part unproven, some health care systems around the country are demonstrating the potential for significant improvements in cost control, access to care and better outcomes. They also are acting as testing grounds for such health care reform concepts as medical homes, virtual health care, electronic medical records, integrated behavioral health care and revenue pooling across care…
By Bob Semro Prescription drugs are a big part of the monthly budget for many seniors on Medicare, and provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are working to lower those costs. In 2011, 3.6 million Medicare recipients nationwide saved $2.1 billion in prescription drug costs, according to estimates released last week by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In Colorado, 39,746 Medicare recipients saved $22.8 million on prescription drugs, or $579 per person on average, according to these estimates. HHS projects these savings will increase over time totaling nearly $4,200 for the average Medicare recipient by 2020….
By Diane Carman Despite the spirited testimony of seven opponents to routine circumcision, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Thursday voted 6 to 3 to restore Medicaid funding for the procedure. A change in the long bill, the budget document developed by the Joint Budget Committee, dropped funding for the procedure last year, making Colorado one of 18 states to defund circumcision under Medicaid. Senate Bill 90, introduced by Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, would restore the funding, estimated at $186,500 annually. Foster told the committee that the bill was about disease prevention, fairness and social justice. More important, she…
By Diane Carman When the Colorado Springs City Council voted 9 to 0 last weekto endorse a proposed lease agreement between the University of Colorado Hospital and city-owned Memorial Health System, it moved the Rocky Mountain region one step closer to a tectonic change in the landscape of health care. If Colorado Springs voters approve the plan, the University of Colorado Hospital (which is affiliated with the university, but is an independent legal and financial entity) will assume administration of the nonprofit Memorial Hospital. That would be one more step in the long-term drive to expand the University of Colorado…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an unprecedented five hours of oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act early next year and should rule by next summer in the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign. Colorado is one of 25 states that have joined Florida and the National Federation of Independent Business in challenging the Affordable Care Act. The justices could invalidate the most controversial part of the law, the individual mandate, which requires all individuals to buy health insurance. Legal scholars and lower court judges have opposing views on whether the individual…
By Diane Carman The success of health care reform depends on technological innovation. Otherwise, if health care costs continue to rise at the rate they have in the last few years, “we will buy nothing but health care in this country,” said Phil Weiser, dean of the University of Colorado Law School, at a conference Wednesday on health information technology. Aneesh Chopra, the White House Chief Technology Officer, told a the audience of lawyers, health care practitioners and business leaders at the event sponsored by the Law School and the School of Public Affairs that an array of incentives are…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon More than 5,200 people are on a waiting list to receive primary care through Denver Health, and across Colorado at least 20,000 more low-income patients are waiting to receive care. In Denver, the waiting list at the citys safety net health system began in 2008 when the economy started its freefall. At its peak, Denver Health had 7,200 patients on its waiting list. About 80 percent of those waiting for care in Denver have no health insurance while the rest have either Medicaid, Medicare or private health insurance. The reality is that there are more patients…
By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon AURORA — Colorado is aiming to become the “Silicon Valley for obesity research” with the opening of a new health and wellness center at the Anschutz medical campus on April 1. Now under construction, the center will combine multiple functions in one building: state-of-the-art research, education, patient care facilities and a high-end fitness center. The concept is to unite cutting-edge science with direct patient intervention. “We think we will set a new standard. We’ve put things together in a seamless way from discovery of research to taking that research out and impacting people’s lives,” said Dr….