Showcasing the intense interest of medical professionals in the progress of health care reform, an estimated 1,000 physicians and physicians-in-training from across the country participated in the first-ever National “Grand Rounds” on Health Care Reform, a panel discussion and live webcast featuring senior health policy advisors from the Obama Administration, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House discussing the state of health care reform and responding to questions.

The event, hosted by the National Physicians Alliance Foundation and the American Medical Student Association, allowed those on the front lines of health care to hear from the policy advisors currently involved in health legislation at the national level. Panelists for the event included:

Dr. Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD, Director of Policy Analysis in the Office of Health Reform, Department of Health and Human Services;

John McDonough, DrPH, MPA, Senior Advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; and,

Stephen Cha, MD, MHS, Policy Aide to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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Who says there aren’t opportunities out there?

The California Public Interest Research Group reports its healthcare providers are spending $9 billing annually on billing and insurance processing. The report says doctors spend 45 minutes on paperwork for each hour of care.

The California Wellness Foundation, which funded the report, promotes a streamlined health care billing system used by other states to cut costs.

Read the report

Remember when President Obama campaigned on health care reform? The recession crushed that ambition for the first six months of his presidency, but it seems Obama is finally moving towards dealing with it.

Here’s a link to the transcript of a July 1 speech by the President. It’s long, and there’s a lot of rhetoric. But, there’s also some good questions by the public midway through so skip to them.

Obama transcript

Insurance company say they’ll hold back costs. So do doctors and drug companies. Everybody is going to reduce health care costs.

They swear.

And next, we’ll turn water into wine.

The New York Times offers a good summary of President Obama and major health care players saying they’re going to save $2 trillion in costs over the next decade. The only problem is there’s no enforcement to what they’re saying.

But, everyone is saying the right things to keep the National Health Board or Congress from passing laws forcing them to lower costs.

The Advanced Medical Technology Association, a lobby for medical device manufacturers; the American Hospital Association; the American Medical Association; America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; and the Service Employees International Union signed off on the new deal. We’ll see who sticks to it.

New York Times