KHN: Kaiser Health News

All adults should be screened for obesity, and those found to be obese should be offered at least 12 weeks of intensive counseling about lifestyle changes, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said in a statement published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The recommendation is likely to accelerate insurance companies’ coverage of weight loss programs for obese adults – those with a body mass index  (a ratio of height to weight) of 30 or higher, experts said.

The Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group of experts that evaluates evidence supporting preventive medical services, first endorsed obesity screening in 2003.  What’s new is its finding that weight loss programs are effective if they last at least three months and include multiple strategies such as counseling about behavior change, nutrition and physical activity.

“If anything, the recommendations have been strengthened,” said Dr. David Grossman, a spokesman for the task force and senior investigator for preventive care at Group Health Research Institute.

Previously, the task force didn’t specify characteristics of programs that have a positive impact in controlling obesity.

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A research letter published Monday by Harvard scientists in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that doctors who adopt the use of electronic health records have a lower rate of malpractice claims.

The researchers examined responses from 275 physicians in Massachusetts who responded to surveys in 2005 and 2007, and examined the physicians’ use of electronic health records (EHRs) and the number of suits filed against them.  According to the analysis, malpractice claims for physicians using electronic health records were a sixth of those for doctors not using EHRs.

“This study adds to the literature suggesting that EHRs have the potential to improve patient safety and supports the conclusions of our prior work, which showed a lower risk of paid claims among physicians using EHRs,”  report the researchers. They also note that lower malpractice claims can help to curb health care costs.

The researchers acknowledged the results could relate to unmeasured factors such as doctors who “were early adopters of EHRs may exhibit practice patterns that make them less likely to have malpractice claims.”

The 2009 federal stimulus package provided financial incentives for doctors who start using EHRs before 2015.  Many providers have been struggling to make the change, however, and there have been concerns over privacy.

Even as attention is focused on the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision regarding the health law’s constitutionality, the Obama administration continues to roll out “good news” announcements related to provisions that have already taken effect.

Case in point: The Obama administration Wednesday announced $128.6 million in new grants designed to help community health centers across the country and in some U.S. territories expand their ability to treat patients. These grants follow a similar initiative announced early last month in which HHS parceled out $728 million to 398 other community health centers.

Photo by Jessica Marcy/KHN

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the funds announced Wednesday will go to 219 community health centers spanning 41 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. These funds will help provide “new sites, new services and longer hours,” Sebelius said.

The grants support community health centers’ efforts to provide care to more than 1.25 million new patients, as well as to create approximately 5,640 new jobs for doctors, nurses, dental providers and support staff, according to Sebelius.

In total, $11 billion has been allocated over the next five years to community health centers — with approximately $1.5 billion spent on construction and $2 billion spent on operational support to date.  The remaining $7.5 billion will fund ongoing health center activities, build new sites in medically underserved areas, and expand preventive and primary oral, behavioral, pharmacy and enabling health services at existing sites, said HHS spokesperson Richard Olague.