Daily Round: Health Law Bets; 'Must-Have' Hospitals; Psych Diagnoses; Longer Commutes Unhealthier

These health law bets aren't a figure of speech (Kaiser Health News/NPR) - "The stakes are high in the Supreme Court’s consideration of the 2010 health law, as countless commentators have observed. In some circles, however, the gambling metaphor has been pushed to its logical conclusion. Bernstein Research stock analyst Ana Gupte laid 50 percent odds recently on chances that the court will strike down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate along with strict coverage requirements. Over at Intrade, a “prediction market” for current events, the betting Tuesday morning gave chances of about 58 percent that the court will disallow the mandate, which requires people to obtain health coverage or pay a  fine."

Study: Bigger hospitals drive cost increases (Politico) - "For everyone out there worried that President Barack Obama’s health reform law will spur monopolies and make it easier for hospitals to raise their prices, a new study says it’s already happening, and it’s not because of the health law. A study in the May edition of Health Affairs finds that hospitals’ power to win steep payment increases — and insurers’ relative inability to resist — varies quite a bit from one market to another and from one kind of hospital or hospital network to another. Reputation, location and the type of medical services provided play a role."

Psychiatry manual drafters back down on diagnoses (The New York Times) - "In a rare step, doctors on a panel revising psychiatry’s influential diagnostic manual have backed away from two controversial proposals that would have expanded the number of people identified as having psychotic or depressive disorders. The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The manual affects treatment, research and insurance. The doctors dropped two diagnoses that they ultimately concluded were not supported by the evidence: “attenuated psychosis syndrome,” proposed to identify people at risk of developing psychosis, and “mixed anxiety depressive disorder,” a hybrid of the two mood problems."

That long commute may be harming your health (Womenshealth.gov/HealthDay) - "Now there's another reason to hate your commute. New research has found that the longer your driving time between home and office, the less likely you are to exercise, the more your waistline widens and the worse your overall heart health becomes."

Why nurses need more authority (The Atlantic) - "Despite an urgent need and clear evidence that APRNs can complement and extend primary care providers' roles — without sacrificing quality of care — nurses are only permitted to practice independently to the full extent of their training and competence in 16 states and the District of Columbia. The remaining states impose regulatory barriers that limit their scope of practice. These barriers should and can be removed. But the turf wars of organized medicine are preventing progress."