Health Beat: Kaiser Poll Shows Favorable View Of ACA For First Time Ever

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POLL SHOWS FAVORABLE VIEW OF ACA FOR FIRST TIME EVER
For the first time ever, the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds public opinion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be more favorable than unfavorable, albeit by just one percent. The April 2015 survey showed 43 percent reporting a favorable view and 42 percent reporting an unfavorable view of the federal health care law.

When asked about health care priorities for the President and Congress, the change that comes out on top for Democrats, Republicans and independents alike is making sure that high-cost drugs for chronic conditions, such as HIV, hepatitis, mental illness and cancer, are affordable to those who need them, with three-quarters of the public (76%) saying this should be a top priority.

Sixty percent say that government action to lower prescription drug prices should be a top priority and majorities say things like provider network protections and increased transparency related to the prices and quality of health care should be top priorities. Other than high-cost prescription drugs, Democrats, Republicans and independents have different ideas of their top priorities in health care.

In terms of the availability of price and quality information, fewer than 1 in 5 say they have seen any information comparing the quality or prices for hospitals, doctors, or health insurers in the past 12 months, and fewer than 1 in 10 report using these types of information.

To see the results of the complete poll, click here.

UAMS, RAZORBACKS TO OFFER STATE’S FIRST SPORTS MEDICINE FELLOWSHIP
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) northwest Arkansas campus will partner with the University of Arkansas Athletics Department and other clinical partners this summer to offer the state’s first sports medicine fellowship for family physicians.

The program, according to UAMS officials, will offer advanced training on diagnosis and treatment of sports-related illness and injury. Sports medicine fellows will gain clinical experience seeing patients at UAMS-affiliated clinics as well as working with University of Arkansas student-athletes while under supervision of UAMS faculty and clinical partners, including Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists, the official sports medicine provider for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“Establishing this fellowship in northwest Arkansas supports the UAMS mission of health improvement for our state by addressing specific health needs of the region with the help of strategic clinical partnerships in a way that translates to better care for patients across the state,” said Robert Gullett, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon who is the assistant vice chancellor and director of the UAMS Northwest regional center and a leader in developing the program.

UAMS received accreditation for the fellowship in October 2014 from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Completing the fellowship will enable a physician to sit for the sports medicine subspecialty board exam conducted by the American Board of Family Medicine.

THE OSCAR FOR HEALTHCARE STARTUP OF THE YEAR GOES TO ‘OSCAR’
According to the New York Times, TechCrunch.com, Forbes, Reuters and dozens of media organizations, startup portals and venture capital news sites, healthcare startup Oscar has raised $145 million from a group led by billionaire Peter Thiel and his Founders Fund venture capital firm. Other investors in the round included the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizon Ventures, the Wellington Management Company and Goldman Sachs.

The investment values Oscar at about $1.5 billion, more than three times its valuation last January.

What is Oscar? Here’s what the New York Times had to say about the startup darling: “Sixteen months after going live, the insurance company Oscar has joined the elite group of start-ups known as unicorns, or those with billion-dollar valuations.”

To learn more about this incredibly hot startup, click here, or go here for a second article on the company.

HEALTH CARE REFORM TASK FORCE BEGINS DISCUSSION
The debate over health care reform in Arkansas is a complex, multi-faceted issue that will take time to debate and unfold, members of a legislative committee looking into the issue said Monday. The Health Care Reform Legislative Task Force met Monday at the state Capitol to begin discussions over how to end the Private Option and begin a more widespread overhaul of health insurance in the state.

Read more here on the start of what is expected to be a months-long debate. You can also read and watch an interview here with Arkansas Surgeon General Dr. Greg Bledsoe from this Sunday’s edition of Talk Business & Politics.