Health Care

Polls show that frustration with Washington has never been higher — and who could argue? Most Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Most lawmakers openly concede that nothing will get done before the November elections. The leaders of both parties are already trading threats over the possibility of a national debt default next year. Barack Obama got elected by promising to change the tone in Washington, but clearly he's failed, as George W. Bush did before him. That should be a clue that the partisan animosity consuming the political system doesn't originate in the White House.

With this state's recovery outpacing the nation's, Governor Patrick is riding high. Sixty-one percent of likely voters say the state is heading in the right direction, according to a new Suffolk University poll — and almost the same proportion have a favorable opinion of the governor. That shows something impressive: The state's congenial, consensus-oriented CEO has become a successful, well-regarded governor in tough times. But though it's no doubt a delight to be Deval these days, the governor also faces a ticklish policy problem in the weeks ahead.

Last Monday, leaders from Partners HealthCare System Inc. gathered in the dark-paneled office of Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo to lay out their objections to his expansive 278-page plan to tame health care costs. The House proposal, unveiled 10 days earlier, called in part for closer oversight of the prices and operations of hospitals and their physicians groups, especially more costly ones like those owned by Partners, and influential board chairman Jack Connors requested a meeting.

The following was submitted by the office of state Senator Katherine Clark: BOSTON — The Senate on Thursday capped a framework of nation-leading health care reforms with landmark cost-control legislation that will save the Commonwealth $150 billion in the next 15 years while improving the quality of care and increasing the transparency and accountability of the state's entire health care system. The bill passed, 35-2. According to Senator Katherine Clark (Middlesex & Essex)

Mitt Romney's first general-election TV commercial promises he would introduce tax cuts and approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline on the first day of his presidency. The Republican candidate released the ad Friday, coupling it with a fundraising pitch. The 30-spot is upbeat, in contrast to an ad President Barack Obama is running that criticizes Romney as a businessman. Romney has called the Obama ad "character assassination. " In Romney's commercial, his first since becoming the presumptive nominee, an announcer asks: "What would a Romney presidency be like?"

Arnold Bennett, 71; backed Clinton's health care plan WASHINGTON - Arnold Bennett, a Democratic consultant and grass-roots organizer who played a key role in shaping strategy for President Clinton's unsuccessful campaign for national health insurance coverage, died Oct. 26 at George Washington University Hospital at 71. He apparently died after a heart attack, said his wife, Nancy. Mr. Bennett began his career in politics working on the campaign staff of Shirley Chisholm in 1968, when she became the first black woman elected to...

Joanne and Everett Parhiala had a plan. They would move from the Lexington house where they had raised their three children to a smaller Boston condo. Then, Joanne, 53, and Everett, 57, would work for a few more years before settling into retirement in the city. But now, instead of downsizing in Boston, the Parhialas are searching for an even bigger place in the suburbs to accommodate Joanne's aging father and developmentally disabled brother. "We had kind of pictured ourselves living in a small place in the city," said Joanne Parhiala.

An Irish adage says: "When you come to a wall that is too high to climb, throw your hat over the wall, and then go get your hat. " That's what Massachusetts started with its 2006 law requiring just about everyone to get coverage and arranging to make that coverage affordable. Now, it's time to get the hat. Legislation to contain costs is the necessary sequel. Reducing costs won't just rescue health care; it will also help rescue our schools, our roads, our museums, our wages, and the competitiveness of our corporations; that's because every additional nickel we spend on health care comes from...

The Massachusetts Senate passed its version of a health care cost reduction bill Thursday night, aimed at trimming projected health care costs in the state by $150 billion over the next 15 years. The Senate voted 35-to-2 for the measure after spending two days of debate on 265 amendments. It now goes to the House, which has proposed its own version of cost control. "Massachusetts spends 15 percent more per person on health care than the rest of the nation and 40 percent of our state budget is spent on health care," Senate President Therese Murray said in a statement after the vote.

A federal jury in Boston found former House speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi guilty yesterday of exploiting one of the most powerful offices in Massachusetts for his own personal gain when he helped a software company win multimillion-dollar state contracts in exchange for kickbacks. Prosecutors said they will seek a substantial prison sentence for DiMasi, saying he conspired to “line his own pockets.’’ The verdict, after more than 10 hours of deliberations, capped the stunning decline of a leader who served his North End neighborhood for more...

General Electric Co. extended its sponsorship with the U.S. Olympic Committee through 2020 in a deal that provides U.S. team doctors with groundbreaking technology to manage the health care of the athletes. The deal, announced Thursday, will put thousands of pages of medical records into a computerized database that will replace hundreds of pallets of paper records that used to be transported to the Olympics on a ship several weeks before the games. The Centricity Practice Solution will put the athletes' medical history at the fingertips of the USOC's top doctor, Bill Moreau, and...

What is the government's role in developing new technology? Some would say to stay out of the way. Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the national coordinator for health information technology, said that's overly cynical. But, Mostashari said in an interview, government is no longer the major producer of innovative products and services that it once was, creating things for military purposes or space exploration that work their way into the consumer market. "That's not the model anymore," he said.

Kidney dialysis services provider DaVita Inc. said Monday that it has agreed to buy the doctor network operator HealthCare Partners in a cash-stock deal worth about $4.42 billion. Denver-based DaVita said it will pay about $3.66 billion in cash and contributed common stock valued at $758 million as of last Friday to the deal. It also could pay an additional $275 million in cash if HealthCare Partners achieves performance targets this year and next. HealthCare Partners manages and runs medical groups and doctor networks, with operations in California, Nevada and...

Jeff Jacoby's May 16 op-ed column is headlined " On health care, state doesn't know best . " The private sector doesn't know best either. Jacoby cites ancient Roman history to buttress his objections to recent proposals from the Legislature to cut health care costs. He would have done better to have reviewed what we in the health sector have tried for decades, and what has created a fragmented, wasteful, mediocre, and, at times, harmful health care non-system. There has been a lot of earnest, hard work done over these years, and we didn't get it done.

Two May 14 opinion pieces missed the mark ("On Beacon Hill, some good ideas, some overreach on health care," Editorial; "In health care, cheaper can mean better," Op-ed). No question there is a great deal of waste in health care, which needs to be cut. But, as Dr. Donald M. Berwick says in his op-ed, it is "easy to say, but hard to do. " Unfortunately, every attempt to control health care costs going back to the 1970s — such as HMOs and other approaches — has failed for reasons that are separate from health care itself.

Some people are absolutely sure gas drilling threatens public health, while others are absolutely sure it doesn't. Geisinger Health Systems is looking for more facts on the debate. "Our concern is getting reliable data so we know what to do for our patients," said David Carey, director of Geisinger's Weis Center for Research in Danville, Pa. Geisinger serves many patients who live in areas that have seen a recent boom in Marcellus Shale gas drilling. The gas-rich formation thousands of feet underground has generated jobs, billions of dollars and concerns about possible...

Clinical outreach worker Ann Mutharia hears the stories all the time: the man with diabetes who couldn't afford his copayment and had stopped taking his insulin; the deaf man who needed medical attention as well as food stamps and fuel assistance but wasn't able to get through to overwhelmed social service agencies. Mutharia, 36, a licensed practical nurse, is a part of a pilot program at Medford-based Network Health to prevent its members from developing chronic conditions by connecting them with health care services.

Though education spared Massachusetts the fate of other former industrial states, like Michigan, we have an odd way of showing that our future depends on human capital. In 2001, the Commonwealth spent $8.3 billion (in current dollars) on education and a larger but still comparable amount, $10.8 billion, on health care. But in Governor Patrick's 2013 budget, the gap is far wider: The $15.2 billion for health care is more than double the $6.9 billion he proposes for education. This comparison hints at the stakes as the House and Senate discuss bills to restrain...

In this country, obstruction of justice is a crime. As a physician, I wonder why obstruction of health care is not a crime. Increasingly, in my clinical practice, my office has to contend with denials by health insurers of tests and medical treatments that I believe are important to the care of my patients. Why should a health care insurer be permitted to override my judgment about the health needs of my patients, when I know the patient better, and am better qualified as a board-certified physician to make such judgments than the so-called highly qualified reviewer that the insurer...