OVERNIGHT HEALTH: Romney makes it official

Some good news for Romney: Boston’s NPR station highlights some of the positives from the Massachusetts healthcare reform.

Patient safety initiative unveiled: The Obama administration is expected to unveil a National Patient Safety Initiative on Tuesday that aims to reduce hospital-acquired conditions and preventable readmissions by changing the way Medicare pays for care. Such readmissions are estimated to cost the healthcare system $50 billion a year.

According to a draft version of the initiative that leaked in January, the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation created by the healthcare reform law will work in collaboration with hospitals to share lessons learned and tie up to 9 percent of Medicare payments to quality reporting and performance by 2015.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will make the announcement at the National Press Club at 10 a.m. along with Medicare administrator Don Berwick.

Dem AG argues against individual mandate: Missouri’s
Democratic attorney general, under pressure from state Republicans, on
Monday argued that the individual mandate is unconstitutional in a
“friend of the court” brief. However, Attorney General Chris Koster
argued the rest of the law should stand. Check out the
Healthwatch post. 

Give IPAB a chance: Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) told the American Hospital Association’s annual meeting he has concerns about the independent Medicare advisory board created by healthcare reform, but he said implementation should go forward. “We have it in law, so now let’s make it work,” Becerra said about the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Hospitals, which are exempted from IPAB until 2020, want it repealed entirely. IPAB was cited as one of healthcare reform’s major cost-saving measures, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently said it won’t provide any savings over 10 years.

Questioning CLASS: A bipartisan group of House members are circulating a “dear colleague” letter questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s authority to tweak a long-term care insurance plan included in the Democrats’ healthcare law. The letter – circulated by Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) – cite a recent Congressional Research Service report that says changes to the program’s earnings requirements may expose HHS to lawsuits. While the president’s fiscal commission in December has called for repealing or reforming the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act, Sebelius said HHS is taking up the latter recommendation.

Don’t blame us: The AHA put out a TrendWatch report Monday morning that cites greater demand and advances in medicine as the major cost drivers in healthcare. The report adds: “At the same time, the costs to provide that care are increasing: new devices and drugs are adding to hospital expenses for each service; workforce shortages are driving up wage rates; and hospitals are making significant investments in clinical information technology, quality measurement, care coordination and compliance with increasing regulatory and payer requirements.”

Heart to heart: More than 300 medical professionals, patients and caregivers will be on Capitol Hill Tuesday urging lawmakers to fight to prevent heart disease and stroke. The American Heart Association’s “You’re the Cure on the Hill” lobby day aims to build support for research funding at the National Institutes of Health and for two legislative priorities.

The advocates are pressing for the NIH to get $35 billion in the 2012 budget, up $4 billion from 2010. On the legislative front, they also want Congress to pass the FIT Kids Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), encouraging schools and parents to increase children’s physical education. And they’re fighting for Congress to retain funding for safe sidewalks and bike lanes to schools as lawmakers debate a multi-year transportation bill.

On Tuesday, they’ll be meeting with bipartisan members of Congress, including Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) will be singled out for special recognition as recipients of the association’s Congressional Public Service Award for their role in helping to reauthorize the child nutrition act last year and, in Miller’s case, in helping pass healthcare reform.

Mental health overhaul: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) is proposing streamlining its block grant programs so they’ll better mesh with healthcare reform and other recent changes to the nation’s healthcare system.

According to a proposal posted Monday in the Federal Register, the new draft guidelines: 

• Take a broader approach in reaching beyond the populations historically served through block grants; 

• Conduct a needs assessment and develop a plan that will identify and analyze the strengths, needs and priorities of states’ behavioral health systems;

• Design and develop collaborative plans for health information systems — grants and other funding;

• Form strategic partnerships to provide individuals better access to good and modern health services;

• Focus more on services in support of recovery from mental health and substance abuse problems; and

• Focus block programs on improving accountability for quality and performance of services they provide.

Economists blast Medicare/Medicaid overhauls: The Center for American Progress sent out two letters from more than 200 economists and experts deriding the House GOP’s proposals to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid. Check out the Medicare letter; the Medicaid letter.

Tuesday’s agenda:

Barbour talks healthcare: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour will talk healthcare with the GOP Congressional Health Care Caucus at noon. Barbour will be the second likely Republican presidential candidate to address the group in as many weeks; Newt Gingrich was the other.

Repeal efforts ramp up: The Rules Committee meets Tuesday at 5 p.m. to set the debate terms for repealing the reform law’s $17 billion prevention and public health fund.

AHA, Day 2: The second day of the AHA meeting features morning appearances from Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), and Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who had canceled her Monday appearance, will speak Tuesday at 2:45 p.m.

Reading List:

President Obama won’t unveil detailed entitlement reforms in his Wednesday speech on deficit reduction, the Associated Press reports.

Obama last year called Ryan’s premium support Medicare proposal “legitimate,” but said it had major problems, Talking Points Memo recalls. 

Former Aetna CEO Ron Williams made $72 million in 2010, his last year on the job, the Hartford Courant reports.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad’s (R) plan to reform his state’s mental health system will take years, the Des Moines Register reports. 

What you might have missed on Healthwatch:

The nation’s top Medicare official rebuked the House GOP’s plan to radically overhaul the healthcare program for seniors.

A deal on funding the government through the end of the fiscal year would roll back two centrist provisions that made it into the healthcare reform law.

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Julian Pecquet: jpecquet@digital-stage.thehill.com / 202-628-8527

Jason Millman: jmillman@digital-stage.thehill.com / 202-628-8351