CHRTlines Blog
Recent Posts
01/23/2012 Federal Health Research Cuts: You Can’t Have it Both Ways
01/09/2012 The Latest (Not Greatest) on Essential Benefits
12/19/2011 Complexity and Confusion: The Challenge of Communicating About the Affordable Care Act
Spotlight
August 31, 2011
CHRT Releases Policy Paper on Advance Directive Registries
The third of CHRT's Policy Papers explores how statewide electrionic registries can improve the effectiveness of patients' advance directives by ensuring providers are aware of their existence and are able to access them easily.
Related CHRT Publication:
Advance Directive Registries: A Policy Opportunity »
August 24, 2011
New CHRT Policy Paper Focuses on E-Prescribing
The second of CHRT's new series of Policy Papers looks at E-Prescribing: Barriers and Opportunities. Advocates of e-prescribing tout its potential for improving patient safety and lowering health care costs. Although the use of e-prescribing is increasing, providers continue to encounter significant barriers to the implementation and effective use of e-prescribing systems.
Related CHRT Publication:
E-Prescribing: Barriers and Opportunities »
July 17, 2011
Lansing State Journal:
Can Michigan win the battle against obesity?
CHRT Director Marianne Udow-Phillips weighs in on the cost of obesity, explaining to the Lansing State Journal how reducing obesity—a preventable condition—could free money for other things.
CHRT Press Release
July 13, 2011
Wacky BackQuack™ game is helping consumers and physicians determine the best course of treatment for acute back pain
The BackQuack online game takes players through animated scenarios demonstrating what not to do
Read the press release »
Press Release PDF »
Related CHRT Project:
Radiology »
July 7, 2011
CHRT facilitates new health care collaborative in Washtenaw County
CHRT facilitates the recently announced Washtenaw Health Initiative, a voluntary health care collaborative that aims to improve access to health care today for the low-income, uninsured, and Medicaid populations in Washtenaw County. Reports from Crain’s Detroit Business and AnnArbor.com detail the group’s work to date and also explain how members are preparing for 2014, when provisions of federal health care reform that expand Medicaid eligibility and establish health insurance exchanges go into effect.
Upcoming Event
April 13, 2012
Healthcare Policy and Research: Can We Speak the Same Language?
Health Policy Symposium
Now open for reservations
More info »
Reservation form »
December 16, 2011
ACA Coverage Flowchart
The Path to Health Care Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act in 2014
ACA Flowchart (2-Page Letter)
ACA Flowchart (Tabloid)Updated! Even as the U.S. Supreme Court considers constitutional challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), efforts continue at the state and federal levels to prepare for implementation of key provisions of the Act scheduled to take effect in 2014. This flow chart provides a high-level picture of the ways that people will obtain health coverage in 2014, assuming the Act is implemented as it exists today, reflecting the complexity of the public/private hybrid of U.S. healthcare coverage retained by the Act.
October 17, 2011
The Affordable Care Act and Its Effect on Midsize and Large Employers
CHRT Policy Brief October 2011
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a number of provisions designed to increase the number of individuals with health insurance coverage. This policy brief focuses on midsize and large employers, to help illuminate provisions in the ACA most likely to affect them and suggest issues or questions for consideration as ACA implementation progresses.
June 20, 2011
Cover Michigan Survey 2011
In 2009, the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT) commissioned the first Cover Michigan Survey, to gain insight into the issue of health care access in Michigan. The report was released in March 2010. One of the most important conclusions of the Cover Michigan Survey was this: having health coverage is not synonymous with having access to health care. Many respondents—even those with health coverage—reported significant barriers to obtaining affordable care. This report presents the findings of the Cover Michigan Survey conducted in 2010, which was designed to delve deeper into key questions raised by the previous report.
April 28, 2011
Guide to State Requirements and Policy Choices in the Affordable Care Act
CHRT Policy Brief April 2011
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) requires the establishment of significant new state-level structures by the year 2014. This policy brief summarizes major requirements and policy choices for states between now and 2014, and describes other components of the ACA that do not involve state implementation but have state budgetary impacts.
February 28, 2011
Antibiotic Prescribing and Use
In The Media
Detroit Free Press 03/01/2011
Associated Press 03/01/2011
Crain's Detroit Business 03/01/2011
WWJ-AM 02/28/2011
CHRT Issue Brief February 2011
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 use of antibiotics. Of particular concern is the prescribing of antibiotics for infections that are usually viral in nature—colds, sore throats, and most upper respiratory infections. These illnesses do not respond to antibiotics and nearly always get better on their own. Since 1995 the CDC has run an outreach campaign to encourage appropriate use of antibiotics, and the overall rate of antibiotic prescribing decreased 23 percent from 1992 to 2000. Nevertheless, a high rate of inappropriate antibiotic use—a rate that continues to put population health at risk—persists. This issue brief examines antibiotic prescribing trends in Michigan in recent years.
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