Non-elderly and uninsured adults have less access to health care than they did ten years ago, according to a new study released by the Urban Institute.
The study, “Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade,” also concluded that this deterioration of access can be found in almost every state, is even worse for the uninsured, and is especially great in states with the highest uninsured rates.
Learn more about this erosion of the health care safety net and download the entire report here, on the Urban Institute’s web site.

Hospitals are not meeting the “meaningful use” criteria for use of information technology that will enable them to secure federal funds set aside for them to invest in such resources.
Last week, members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) expressed concern about this, noting that providers in general are not attesting to achieving a level of meaningful use of health care IT at the rate the federal government had projected.
Read more about meaningful use and MedPAC’s concern about it in this iHealthBeat report.

“Medical homes” are receiving a lot of attention these days.
But what is a medical home?  What does it mean and how does it work?  Is it different from the “gatekeepers” that HMOs used to employ?
The Harrisburg Patriot-News explores the concept of the medical home and how some people think it will improve care, keep people healthier, and save money.  Read the article here.

Read NAUH’s redesigned newsletter, NAUH Update, including features on hospital uncompensated care, the Medicare area wage index system, the impact of the Medicare doc fix on urban hospitals, and the latest activities of NAUH’s internal technical advisory committee, a group that consists of representatives of all NAUH members and that advises NAUH on the technical aspects of current health policy issues.  Download the newsletter here.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are expected to become more prevalent as implementation of the Affordable Care Act continues.
The underlying premise of ACOs is that better integrated care will be better and more economical care for patients while reducing costs for the health care system as a whole.
The New York Times takes a look at how one ACO works and the potential clinical and financial benefits it seeks to produce in this article.