Word: meaning
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Teasing the meaning out of such changes is what Fed watchers do - they're sort of like Kremlinologists before the fall of the Soviet Union. UniCredit economist Harm Bandholz interpreted the new wording to mean that the FOMC had decided that "the deflation threat is gone...
...course, this research is just the first step of many - including analyses of adult patients and larger study groups - but if these promising results can be replicated, it could mean a dramatic improvement in patient care and a reduction in medical costs. To hasten the process, Kentsis and his colleagues are already planning further studies within the next year...
...Still, those savings could mean the difference between national solvency and fiscal catastrophe, so Obama is targeting two major barriers to data-driven medicine. The first is the perverse "fee-for-service" incentives that now plague our health-care system: hospitals get paid more if you stay longer and come back often; doctors get paid more if they do more tests and procedures - and you come back often. More services, more fees. "You've got to follow the money," says former Senator Tom Daschle, Obama's initial choice for health czar. "We reward volume, so that's what...
...quality incentives are fairly straightforward, like extra dollars for primary care, prevention and computerization; to discourage wasteful defensive medicine, he seems willing to limit malpractice lawsuits when doctors stick to best practices. But ultimately, rewarding quality rather than quantity will require daunting changes in Medicare reimbursement policies. That could mean lower patient costs and higher provider revenues for proven treatments, but when patients want more expensive options unsupported by data, they may have to pay the difference themselves...
...Even more problematic are the regime's overriding security preoccupations. Key power and telecom transmissions are buried underground, which complicates much needed maintenance and upgrades. More communications also means eroded state control, which is a vital regime concern. There are currently only a little more than 1 million domestic phone lines - about 5 per 100 inhabitants - although just 10% belong to individuals or households. Unauthorized international calls abroad can lead to fines and arrest and in one case reportedly led to the public execution of a plant manager in October 2007, according to Good Friends, a Seoul-based aid organization...