Viewpoints: Cantaloupes and food safety; Diversity in health incentives

A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.

USA Today: Editorial: Will Your Dinner Make You Sick?
People don't ordinarily think of cantaloupes as killers, but over the last two summers 32 Americans have died after eating contaminated pieces of the popular fruit. ... Government is hyper-vigilant about terror attacks and problem airliners, which is good, but not so much about food -; at least if you judge by the time it's taking the Obama administration to release new rules intended to prevent exactly the sort of food-borne outbreaks cantaloupes have caused (8/22).

USA Today: Opposing View: FDA Rules Won't Do Much Good
Food-borne illnesses kill as many as 3,000 Americans each year, but consumers should not expect new Food and Drug Administration regulations to help (Gregory Conko and Ryan Young, 8/22).

Modern Healthcare: If You've Seen One ACO Incentive Program…
Diversity is a big issue in healthcare and not just with patients, caregivers and executives. It turns out there's diversity in financial incentives that are part of the accountable care organization phenomenon. In Maryland, doctors will be paid bonuses later this year tied to quality reporting under a new shared-savings payment model. ... In Minnesota, early results of bundled payments for heart attacks did not yield savings, but similar payments for diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease and hip and knee replacements appear on track to share savings with providers in Illinois and Pennsylvania who have had success reducing potentially avoidable complications (Melanie Evans, 8/22).

Journal of the American Medical Association: Controlling Health Care Costs in Massachusetts With a Global Spending Target
It is uncertain if Massachusetts' approach to controlling health care costs could become a model for the rest of the country. The commonwealth's high costs and concentration of physicians and academic medical centers create an environment that differs from that in most other states. Nonetheless, Massachusetts has opened a discussion about global costs and will test an approach that other states could follow, even if they were to adopt plans with different details or set other spending targets (Dr. Robert Steinbrook, 8/22).