UO E-clips, Dec. 30

Health plan restraints might keep patients from choosing quality care (EmaxHealth.com): Public reports on the quality of care delivered by health plans might motivate patients to choose better providers -- if they are not constrained by issues of cost and accessibility to doctors, according to a review of recent studies. … Judith Hibbard, Dr.P.H., an expert in public reporting of health data at the University of Oregon, said that many patients have a difficult time wading through the unfamiliar numbers and less user-friendly formats of some quality reports. “Until we make these compelling to consumers, we’re not going to have the improvements in quality,” she said.

Oregon's Rogue River basin to face climate-change hurdles (Environmental Protection Online): Three major global climate-change projections scaled down to Oregon's Rogue River Basin point to hotter, drier summers with increasing wildfire risk, reduced snowpack, and rainier, stormy winters, according to a report coordinated by the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative and the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy.

How about bailing out the Earth? (Register-Guard guest viewpoint by Bob Doppelt, head of UO's Climate Leadership Initiative): Dear President Bush, President-elect Obama and members of Congress, You recently committed more than $8 trillion in federal bailouts, equity buys into banks and investment houses, loan guarantees and other actions to save the economy. I’m a major player in the economy and I too urgently need your help. I employ more than 3 billion people. My total economic activity in 2007 was $64 trillion. My size alone should rank me as your top priority for a bailout.