The 2005 White House Conference on Aging: Ten Years Later

2015 White House CoA Mike Magee, MD We are rapidly approaching a 2015 White House Conference on Aging. It will mark the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, and the 80th anniversary of the Social Security Act. (1) A decade ago, in preparation for the 2005 event(2), and as a commissioner on the National Commission on […]

The 62 Billion Dollar Question: Can Health Care Overcome Geography?

Mike Magee Sixty-two billion. That is what Medicare spent in 2012 on post-acute care. (1,2) “Post-Acute Care” is the term applied to various types of intermediate care provided to newly released patients from an acute care hospital. The care is provided by home health agencies in the home or by brick and mortar employees at […]

Drew Altman, Ronald Reagan and Constructive Leadership in Medicine.

Mike Magee In the fractious world of U.S. Health Policy, contentiousness is an art form. It’s been that way as long as I can remember. When I was 14, late in May of 1962, sitting at the Sunday dinner table with my then 9 brothers and sisters (there were eventually 12 of us), I can […]

Medicare Funded Home Health Care

Steve Landers MD New England Journal of Medicine Feature this week on Home Health Care funding. “Most older Americans want to age in place.1 The Medicare home health benefit is a prominent national policy supporting older Americans at home and provides for visiting nurse and therapist services from home health agencies (HHAs). In 2012, Medicare […]

Artist Randy Souders – One of the 47% – Clear Eyed and In His Own Words.

Randy Sounders After writing this week about “The New RomneyCare – Reinforcing The Status Quo”, I heard from a number of people whose lives would be impacted by a Romney election. One of them was Randy Souders, the artist and a C3/C4 tetraplegic since his accident at age 18 in 1972. Randy and I served for […]

How Long Will I Live And How Much Will It Cost?

Mike Magee People are getting older and they want to age in place at home. No news there! But in the past the weight of financing this choice fell heavily on the shoulders of families who provided a large portion of the dollars and the heavy lifting as part of the unpaid informal family caregiver […]

Thank You, Dr. Berwick!

Under the most difficult circumstances, Dr. Don Berwick has served his country well. Injecting a vision for the future while keeping his eyes focused on the needs of patients, he has helped steer Medicare and Medicaid in the right direction. We trust as well, that what he has learned – both good and bad – […]

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