Illustration by Theodor von Holst from the frontispiece of the 1831 edition of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus.
Federal officials have submitted to Congress a progress report on the work of the laboratory created by the Affordable Care Act to help transform how medicine is delivered and financed. There are a few successes but the lab mostly reports that its projects are works in progress.
And “some 2.5 million patients and more than 60,000 hospitals, clinics and doctors will soon be participating in models run by {the lab called} HHS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, the center estimated in its biennial report,” reported Kaiser Health News.
Programs include Accountable Care Organizati0ns, efforts to end preterm births and to lower hospital readmissions for nursing-home patients, and big grants to states to improve care (and better control costs) for all payers and patients, including those with private insurance.