Secrets of the City

Welcome back!  As always, if you have suggestions for stories you’d like to see covered or discussed, please let me know in the comments. –shyestviolet

THE BEST

Congress doing health care the hard way (NPR)

Congress is back in action on health reform, but from behind closed doors, and Republicans and C-SPAN ain’t happy (eh, who watches C-SPAN, anyways?).*  From here, health reform will hit some informal House-Senate negotiations and, most likely, come out looking a bit leaner, and possibly a bit hairier.  Informal negotiations, you ask?  From behind closed doors?  What happened to the conference committee step?  Has Schoolhouse Rock finally failed me? Yeah, I’m with you.  Dems claim the closed-door sessions are a means to avoid the messy cloture issues that dogged the Senate prior to Christmas.  Lack of transparency–regardless of the end result–is rarely a good option.  Especially when Republicans are already crying socialist foul (and lawsuit foul?) and the uber-Dems are crying campaign-promises foul.  I know it’s pretty obvious that I lean Dem on most issues, but I’m still not entirely happy with this.

* I kid.  I know C-SPAN is good for the transparency and the documentation of important Congressional events and the BookTV.

THE REST

Health bills would shift Medicare money to Mayo and other ‘high-value’ hospitals (Washington Post)

So starts the fight over quality and cost.

Minnesota pulls plug on Canadian drug import program (AP)

Guess it’s back to Tijuana for those drugs after all, Ethel.

Minnesota food pantries and homeless shelters get $3M in federal funds (MinnPost)

The recession has hit some of us a little harder than others.  It’s nice to know that a small–if completely insufficient amount–is being directed toward the folks that need it most.  Especially since state money won’t surface for a good long while.

Video: Watch for signs of frostbite (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

I’m not convinced it’s the ice fishers that need help with the extreme cold (see: Minnesota food pantries and homeless shelters get $3M in federal funds).

Pawlenty: No budget cuts for veterans (WCCO)

Governor Pawlenty says there’s no-way, no-how he’ll unallot any money directed at veterans’ programs.  It’s a nice sentiment (and, as the wife of a vet, I’ll be the first to tell you that those benefits reeeeally help a lot of vets out in a pajillion different ways), but honestly, knowing T-Paw, I won’t hold my breath.

Judge rules against unallotments (MPR); Courts grant restraining order against Pawlenty in unallotment lawsuit (Minnesota Independent)

This could have some pretty interesting implications if someone starts getting fidgety about other cut programs.

Database to start tracking addictive-drug prescriptions in Minnesota (AP)

Seems like a good way to start tracking prescription drug abuse and re-sale within the state.  Admittedly, I get nervous about the law-enforcement aspect of it, and fear that a number of patients will be erroneously identified as users.  But what good is tracking without punishment, I guess?

Dental therapists being trained in Minnesota to do dentists work at a lower cost (AP)

And you’d better believe that dentists are stinkin’ pissed about it.  Scope of practice issues–which arise when a profession feels as though its territory in being encroached upon–are frequent in the health care world.  When another profession starts doing what you’re doing while unlicensed, less educated, and yet for cheaper, the screaming begins.  And with just cause.

However, this isn’t the case with dental therapists.  While they’ll certainly steal some revenue from dentists and dental hygienists, they’ll do so honestly and safely.  Dental therapists will have completely adequate education and will be required to undergo licensure exams (and, one can presume, yearly continuing education).  In the end, dental therapists are meant to serve as middle step between dentists and hygienists, and all will theoretically work together in one big happy dental care delivery family.  And dental therapists will serve populations that might not ever have access to dentists–especially those folks in rural areas.

What’s mildly surprising to me is that dental therapy legislation passed in Minnesota at all, in the face of opposition from the state and national dental associations, who are pretty damn powerful.

Then again, state legislatures make all sorts of calls defining scope of practice based on little more than lobbying handouts and their own personal beliefs.  Very few of them are health professionals themselves, and have little background in what it’s like in the trenches.  Go ahead–Ask me about the time the studio artist was heading up the Health and Human Services Licensing Subcommittee.  I’ve got all sorts of hooey to say about it.

Sen. Byron Dorgan’s announcement surprises Democrats (Politico)

Wonder who our new neighbor will be next year?  Come on, North Dakotans, you loveable populists–don’t disappoint.  And by “disappoint,” I mean elect someone not as cool as Byron Dorgan.  Governor Hoeven will be hard to beat, given ND’s non-deficit, oil boom, and low jobless rate.  Should be interesting.

MORE

Autism clusters linked to parents’ education (NPR)

Blog: Radiologists strike back: Mammograms should begin at 40 (NPR)

Blog: How a spoonful of medicine can vary (NPR)

Popular drugs may help only severe depression (NY Times); Blog: Increase in psychiatric drug combos prompts safety concerns (NPR)

Health care spending appears to slow in 2008 (NPR)

Costly case raises issues of immigration, health care (Washington Post)

Afghan aid fails to feed the hungry (BBC)

Giving up smoking ‘raises diabetes risk’ (BBC)

Blog: IRS would take big health role under overhaul (NPR)

Blog: EPA review of toxic chemicals: Slow, often secret (NPR)