Quality And Ethics In Health Care

Insurance marketplace one step closer

State lawmakers are expected to pass legislation to create a health insurance exchange that would help address the needs of 2.7 million uninsured New Yorkers.

The bill (S.5849/A.8514) would create the New York Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase and sale of health insurance plans in the individual market and incorporate a small business health options program to help small businesses enroll their employees in qualified health plans offered in the group market.

The bill was sponsored in the Assembly by Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, and in the Senate by James Seward, R-Milford, who both chair their respective house's insurance committee. If the bill is signed by the governor, it would create an easy system for consumers to research and purchase government-supported health plans online. It would also make the state eligible for additional federal funding under the Affordable Care Act, which requires state health exchanges be established by January 2014.

"This new and unique approach to health insurance will offer consumers choices and flexibility," said Morelle. "[It] utilizes competitive market forces to maintain health care quality while keeping costs affordable."

Specifically, the bill would: create a public benefit corporation with a board of directors who are experts in health care; create ethics standards for businesses and professional activities of those directors; create regional advisory committees to represent the interests of consumers, small businesses, health care providers, unions and insurance companies; require the exchange to provide oversight to the health plans offered and disclose all fees and payments for the consumer.

The bill would also create a hotline for consumers and small business owners who are purchasing the insurance plans and a calculator so consumers can determine the actual cost of the health insurance they are buying.

"The exchange will revolutionize the way people enroll in public health plans like Medicaid, Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus," said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, the Assembly Health Committee chair. "Instead of time-wasting trips to the 'welfare office,' there will be a statewide, online, streamlined system for enrolling and renewing enrollment, to make it much easier and more efficient for New Yorkers to get the health coverage to which they are entitled.

Asking the hard questions about safety and quality indicators ...

“That “sunshine is the best disinfectant” is attributed to the distinguished American jurist Louis Brandeis, who spent much of his career supporting individual rights in the context of corporate and monopoly power.1 State and federal governments, in conjunction with bodies such as the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, are developing indicators for the safety and quality of Australian hospital care, presumably with the intention of using them to illuminate some of the inner workings of our hospital system for the benefit of both health care providers and the community at large. The challenges posed by such a program are illustrated in this issue of the Journal by Scott and colleagues2 and Gallagher and Krumholz.

Ethics in Health Administration, A Practical Approach for Decision Makers

The answer is that they are attempts to assess the quality of services provided by healthcare facilities. Many of them were developed by nonhealthcare ...

Ethics of health care, papers of the Conference on Health Care and Changing Values, November 27-29, 1973

followed, play two related roles: (1) They ensure a minimum quality level for care on the part of the physician; (2) they inform the consumer that a minimum ...

Health care ethics, critical issues for the 21st century

In the realm of healthcare management, providing cues to quality to assure ... 37-43, and MC Brannigan and JA Boss, Healthcare Ethics in a Diverse Society ...

Business ethics in healthcare, beyond compliance

The author offers perspectives that can assist healthcare managers in achieving the highest ethical standards as they face their roles as healthcare providers, ...

Organization ethics in health care

Moving from theory to practical application, this book will serve as an excellent student text, a professional guide, and a reference work.