Quality measurement and pay-for-performance have major flaws, say speakers at World Health Care Congress

Press Releases • April 24, 2007

Quality measurement and pay-for-performance are not without their problems, said participants of a panel chaired yesterday at the World Health Care Congress by a Thomas Valuck, MD, JD, the director of Value-Based Purchasing at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

CCHC Asks Governor Pawlenty to Withdraw the Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange Legislation

Press Releases • April 19, 2007

If the Exchange becomes law, Minnesotans will no longer be allowed to purchase health insurance privately. In the future, the Exchange could be empowered to determine insurance benefits, limit choice of insurers, set prices, and monitor every aspect of the insurance industry, included the insured,” warned Twila Brase, president of CCHC.

MN Health Committee Tables Governor's Online Medical Records Bill after CCHC Testified

Press Releases • March 16, 2007

The Governor's bill, House File 1726, was written by the Minnesota Department of Health. It was developed by the Minnesota e-Health Advisory Committee, a group primarily made up of the health care industry, health plans, government, and large employer groups.

CCHC's Reaction to Governor Pawlenty's SOTS Address...and Today's MDH Adverse Events Report

Press Releases • January 17, 2007

First, he mentioned the proposed Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange, but he didn't say that he'd require all individual policies to be purchased through it. This is not a market-based idea. All individual purchasers would have to engage in a new bureaucratic process that would also eliminate their privacy of insurance purchase.

CBO Says: Free Market Can Negotiate Better Drug Prices than Government

Press Releases • January 11, 2007

The CBO was responding to a request from U.S. Rep. John Dingell, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, to review H.R. 4, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 which was introduced last week.

Publishing Physician Death Statistics Threatens Patient Access to Innovative Care

Press Releases • January 08, 2007

Due to the efforts of Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC), the Minnesota Department of Health will hold a public hearing on the department's proposed revision of the newborn screening rule. The hearing is scheduled to take place in two weeks, on Tuesday, January 23, 2007.

Publishing Physician Death Statistics Threatens Patient Access to Innovative Care

Press Releases • December 11, 2006

Physician report cards threaten patient access to medical treatment. Doctors who fear that the death of a patient will be a black mark against them have been found to avoid the patients that need them the most. Increasingly, patients may find doctors unwilling to try a risky procedure that could actually save them.

CCHC Responds to Today's Speech by Governor Tim Pawlenty

Press Releases • November 14, 2006

Twila Brase, president of Citizens’ Council on Health Care, provides the following comments-pro and con-to points made by Governor Tim Pawlenty in his speech at the Midwest States Health Reform Summit in Minneapolis. The forum focused on bringing the 2006 Massachusetts universal coverage law and in particular, its controversial health insurance mandate, to Minnesota.

Stolen Allina Medical Records: Just the Tip of the Privacy Breach Iceberg

Press Releases • October 20, 2006

Electronic medical records are insecure by their very nature. Very private data on hundreds of thousands of individuals can sit in a tiny computer and be carried anywhere by car, train, plane, boat or on foot. And with one click of a mouse, that data can be sent to China or Africa or Timbuktu. And once it's gone, it's gone. There's no retrieving it.

Candidates for MN Governor have been Advised to Respond to Speaking Invitation by Sat., October 7

Press Releases • October 03, 2006

Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC), announces that it has advised all Minnesota candidates for governor that CCHC needs to hear back from them by no later than 12:00 noon on Saturday, October 7 regarding their participation in next week's health care forum.