Betsy McCaughey's Healthcare Policy and Hospital Infection Topics:
Dr. McCaughey lectures on National Healthcare Legislation, aging, the scientific secrets to staying young, Medicare’s finances, the importance of pharmaceutical innovation and the need for medical malpractice reform.
Betsy McCaughey is a patient advocate, passionate about healthcare. In 1993 she read the 1,362 page Clinton health bill, warned the nation what it said, and made history.
In 2009 medical excellence and freedom came under assault again, and McCaughey put her skills to work. She was the first to uncover the health provisions slipped into the February, 2009 stimulus bill. Members of Congress were stunned to learn the stimulus bill could limit care for seniors and dictate your doctor's decisions.
Since then McCaughey has dissected each major health bill and reported the contents to the nation, dispelling false claims such as "you can keep your health plan if you like it," or "there will be no cuts to hurt seniors." She backs up her findings with page references to the bills, her critics respond only with generalities
She connects to other vital international health issues such as Avian flu and smallpox. As hospitals expand their expenditures in infection control, she has become a sought after resource. Dr. McCaughey is currently writing a book on healthcare safety, accelerating the adoption of new medical breakthroughs, fostering medical innovation as the key strategy to cope with an aging population, and reducing the cost imposed by product liability and medical malpractice litigation.
Did you know?
- Infections contracted in hospitals are the fourth largest killer in the United States, causing as many deaths as AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined. One out of every twenty hospital patients gets an infection. That's two million Americans a year, and an estimated 103,000 of them die.
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Hospital infections add $28 billion to $30 billion to the nation's health costs each year. For example, a serious bloodstream infection increases a hospital stay by eleven extra days and adds, on average, $57,000 to a patient's hospital bill. Conversely, effective prevention can make hospitals more profitable.
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Many hospital infections are preventable. Experience proves it. Improvements in intravenous catheter use, compliance with pre-surgical best practices, and better hygiene procedures-what most people assume hospitals require all the time-protect patients from infection.
Video: Betsy Opposes Obamacare at VFW
Video: Betsy Interviewed on TV on Obamacare
About Dr. McCaughey:
Dr. McCaughey is a health policy expert and former Lt. Governor of New York State. She has just released a new book, Defend Your Healthcare. In 2004, she founded the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, a nationwide educational campaign to stop hospital-acquired infections. She serves as the Chairman of the organization. In five years, RID has made hospital infections a major public issue, provided compelling evidence that preventing infection improves hospital profitability as well as saving lives, and won legislation in over 25 states for public reporting of infection rates. RID has become synonymous with patient safety and clean hospital care.
Dr. McCaughey has just been recognized as one of America’s 100 most influential healthcare experts by Modern Healthcare Magazine. She has recently been at the forefront of the debate on upcoming national healthcare reform legislation.
Dr. McCaughey’s research on how to prevent infection deaths has been featured on Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, ABC’s 20/20, and many other national programs. She has appeared on Fox News Network’s Hannity & Colmes, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN’s Talk Back Live, and numerous radio programs.
Dr. McCaughey is the author of over one hundred scholarly and popular articles on health policy, infection, medical innovation, the economics of aging, and Medicare. Her writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Policy Review, Forbes Magazine, New York Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, and many other national publications. Her 1994 analysis of the dangers of the Clinton health plan in the New Republic won a National Magazine Award for the best article in the nation on public policy. Her article on the dangers of “Dumbing Down Medical Care” won the National Media Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. She has been profiled in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications.
GovernmentCare's Assault on Seniors by Dr. Betsy McCaughey (Article)
From 1994 to 1998, she served as Lt. Governor of New York State. She focused on health issues, and her bills became models for legislation in many states and in Congress.
She has taught at Vassar College and Columbia University, and produced prize-winning studies while at two think tanks, the Manhattan Institute and later the Hudson Institute.
Prior to entering the health policy field, Dr. McCaughey earned a Ph.D. in constitutional history. She is the author of two books on that subject, From Loyalist to Founding Father (Columbia University Press), winner of the Bancroft Dissertation Award, and Government by Choice (Basic Books). She also chaired a national commission on reforming the Electoral College in 1992, wrote its report, Electing the President, and testified before Congress on the subject. In 1989, she served as Guest Curator for the Bicentennial Exhibit and related events at the New York Historical Society.
Recent Healthcare Speeches:
· Keynote Speaker, Long Island Jewish Medical Center Staff Society Annual Meeting, Manhasset, NY, May 7, 2009
· Keynote Speaker, International Association of Healthcare Central Service Material Management (IAHCSMM), Orlando, FL, May 4, 2009
· (SHEA) Society of Healthcare Epidemiology Association of America’s 19th Annual Scientific Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 20, 2009
· Empire State Chief Nursing Officers Council Meeting, Syracuse, NY, March 6, 2009
· Featured Speaker, Federation of American Hospitals Annual Conference, Washington, DC, March 3, 2009
· WMHT “Health Link” Panel on Hospital Risks, Albany, NY, February 17, 2009
· Keynote Speaker, Park View Hospital Systems Annual Infectious Disease Conference, Fort Wayne IN, January 21, 2009
· Featured Speaker, APIC Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, June 17, 2008.
· Keynote Speaker, New Research and Compelling Economic Data in Support of Infection Prevention,” Stanford Group Health Conference, NY, NY, June 16th, 2008