Guide to state requirements and policy choices in the Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) requires the establishment of significant new state-level structures by the year 2014. This document summarizes major ACA requirements and policy choices for states between now and 2014.* The two most significant ACA requirements for state implementation between now and 2014 are: To establish health insurance exchanges for individuals and small …
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Antibiotic prescribing and use
The Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified antibiotic resistance as a major public health problem in our country. One of the biggest contributors to antibiotic resistance is the inappropriate prescribing and use of antibiotics. Of particular concern is the prescribing of antibiotics for infections that are usually viral in nature—colds, sore throats, …
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Preterm and premature birth in Michigan and the U.S.: Prevalence, risk factors, and disparities
One in eight babies are born prematurely in the United States and Michigan, with serious consequences for infant morbidity and mortality. Premature and preterm are defined as less than 37 weeks of completed gestation. Premature babies experience a variety of medical problems, resulting in more doctor visits and hospitalizations. Having a premature baby takes an enormous emotional toll on a …
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Health care use variation in Michigan
For more than 20 years, researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice have been sharing data on regional variation in the use of health care services: Variation that does not seem to be explained by health status or other relevant differences among the populations studied. Most of work done on geographic variation has been done on …
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Health care cost drivers: Chronic disease, comorbidity, and health risk factors in the U.S. and Michigan
In the wake of national health reform, health systems, health plans, providers, and policy makers will be discussing what can be done to contain health care costs — within the provisions of reform or beyond them. For that discussion, it will be important to understand that health care spending is not distributed evenly across the population—or by condition. In fact, …
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Cover Michigan 2010: The state of health care coverage in Michigan
Cover Michigan 2010 is CHRT’s annual report of health care coverage in the U.S. and Michigan, including data on the uninsured, publicly and privately insured, premiums and cost-sharing, the health care safety net and, new for this year, health reform (also available separately in the CHRT Issue Brief, Impact of Health Reform on Coverage in Michigan). Cover Michigan 2010 presents …
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Impact of health reform on coverage in Michigan
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) will affect the picture of coverage in Michigan in many different ways. While it is relatively easy to project the impact of some ACA components, such as the number of individuals who will be eligible for Medicaid after 2014, it is more difficult to project many other elements, such as how many …
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the state and local level
While health care reform has its foundation and framework at the federal level, many key elements will be carried out at the state and local level. Considerable attention has been focused on insurance reforms that will substantially alter the picture of coverage in the country, but the Affordable Care Act also includes other provisions that will affect the way care …
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Cover Michigan Survey 2010
In January of 2009, CHRT released the first edition of Cover Michigan, a report designed to provide a comprehensive picture of health care coverage in the U.S. and Michigan. In August 2009, to better understand the impact of coverage trends on the people behind the statistics, CHRT commissioned a survey of 1,022 Michigan adults about their sources of coverage, perceived …
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Health care spending by country, state, and payer
Experts on all sides of the health reform debate agree that the current rate of growth in health care spending is unsustainable and ultimately damaging to the country’s economy and health system alike. Patients experience this stress in a more personal way, through rising out-of-pocket costs or by struggling to get the care they need. Most agree that measures to …
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