How patient care has changed in the ACA era: Ethical perspectives

More than 16 million people have been covered by insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the most significant health care reform since Medicare and Medicaid. Read about the ethical implications the ACA has on a variety of issues.

The July issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics seeks to help physicians understand what the ACA means for patients, clinical research, physician specialty choice and payment.

The issue features:

• “Learning how health care works.” Physicians enter medicine to become healers, not economists—but knowing how health care works is crucial to delivering high value care. This issue’s editor discusses how medical students, residents and physicians can keep up with the impact of health policy on patient care.
• “Comparative effectiveness research, cost effectiveness and ethical policy-making.” This author believes that using data from comparative effectiveness studies to inform cost effectiveness analyses or other economic evaluations would strengthen ethical policy-making.
• “Incentives for physicians to pursue primary care in the ACA era.” High-functioning primary care services have decreased mortality and improved health outcomes, justifying legislative incentives for pursuit of that sector of medicine. This author discusses how expanding the primary care workforce will promote access to care and better health for Americans.

The journal’s July podcast, featuring Donald M. Berwick, MD, outlines post-ACA steps toward improving patient care. Dr. Berwick is a senior fellow and president emeritus at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

• Referencing AMA Journal of Ethics®
• Affordable Care Act
• Catalog of Topics