Health Beat: Affordable Care Act Poll Shows How Opinions Can Be Swayed

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POLL: OPINIONS ‘MALLEABLE’ ON HEALTH CARE LAW
A poll released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows how “malleable” opinions are on the Affordable Care Act. The survey was conducted in early December and collected opinions from 1,505 adults nationwide. Some key takeaways:

Opinion of the law overall remains stable (from previous polling) with 46% reporting an unfavorable view and 41% reporting a favorable view.

In January, the employer requirement to offer coverage or pay a penalty goes into effect for employers with 100 or more workers. The public generally has a favorable view of the employer requirement with 60% favoring the provision and 38% with an unfavorable view.

But, opinion on the employer mandate is not fixed and there is some room for movement. After providing those in favor of the employer mandate with the statement that “some employers are moving some workers from full time to part time to avoid paying the fine,” the share with an unfavorable opinion rises from 38% to 68%.

This year marks the first year the individual mandate was in effect, requiring nearly all Americans to have health insurance or else pay a fine. The public generally holds an unfavorable view of this provision (64%), but some report a favorable view of it (35%). However, like in the case of the employer mandate, opinion on the individual mandate is somewhat malleable.

Read more here on the survey, including what public opinion thinks should happen next as a new GOP-led Congress takes office.

FRESHMAN REP.-ELECT JULIE MAYBERRY HOPES TO HELP SCHOOL NURSES
Freshman Julie Mayberry, R-Hensley, will be one of 40 new members in the Arkansas House this January for the 90th General Assembly. Mayberry says the large policy issues – including the private option, tax cuts and prison overcrowding – will dominate the 2015 regular session.

However, Mayberry has a more targeted measure on her personal political agenda.

“I have been working truly for about three years on trying to figure out how we solve a problem of getting more school nurses on our campuses. I’m probably going to propose three different bills to look at that,” she said in a recent Talk Business & Politics interview.

Mayberry noted that 123 schools in Arkansas have a nurse working with no running water. Another 53 school nurses do not have a sharps container to throw away a dirty needle. “That number should be zero,” she said.

HUTCHINSON FILLS THREE KEY HEALTH-RELATED POSITIONS
Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson has made several decisions that will impact health-related arenas in state government. One of his earliest hires included retaining current Department of Human Services director John Selig.

In the past week, Hutchinson also said Dr. Nate Smith will remain the Director and State Health Officer at the Arkansas Department of Health. Smith, who Hutchinson said has done “an exceptional job,” has been the Director and State Health Officer at the Arkansas Department of Health since 2013. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director for Public Health Programs at ADH from 2010 to 2013 and the State Epidemiologist at ADH from 2009 to 2012.

Hutchinson will not keep state Surgeon General Dr. Joe Thompson in that slot, but he hasn’t announced a replacement. Thompson will remain on the scene but exclusively in his role as director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI).

Last week, Hutchinson said that State Rep. Allen Kerr, R-Little Rock, will serve as Insurance Commissioner in his administration replacing current commissioner Jay Bradford. Kerr served 6 years in the Arkansas House of Representatives. He has 34 years of insurance experience with a background in financial services, where he holds several professional licenses. Kerr has voted for and against aspects of the private option and other health care reforms as a state legislator.

BAPTIST HEALTH PARTNERS WITH ASHLEY COUNTY ON eICU CARE
Ashley County Medical Center is partnering with Baptist Health eICU care to provide 24/7 critical care coverage.

On Monday, Dec. 15, the Crossett hospital went live with its eICU care, which will have three rooms with eICU care technology and three mobile carts.

Physicians or nurses at Ashley County Medical Center can be quickly connected bedside with Baptist Health’s critical care experts in Little Rock. The eICU care team includes physicians and nurses who are specialized in critical care and trained to execute predefined plans or intervene in emergencies when a patient’s attending physician cannot be immediately present.

Each critical-care room with eICU technology is equipped with a camera, microphone, and speaker that enable staff in the control center to communicate with caregivers and the patient in real time. The two-way video and “cockpit-like sensors” of this advanced telemedicine technology enables the eICU care staff to detect even slight changes in a patient’s condition and communicate more effectively with the bedside team to reduce the time between problem identification and intervention.