CMS recently announced it would begin next January to pay physicians for care coordination activities. It’s about time. As physicians have been saying for some time, any payment system that hopes to encourage value (better patient outcomes) has to start…
CMS recently announced it would begin next January to pay physicians for care coordination activities. It’s about time. As physicians have been saying for some time, any payment system that hopes to encourage value (better patient outcomes) has to start by paying physicians to coordinate the care of their patients. When physicians follow up on referrals or communicate with patients outside of the office, healthoutcomes improve, costs shrink and the patient …
- Patch Adams Health care reform sounds like a great idea, in theory. Get more people the access they need. Improve the quality of health care provided. Get doctors on electronic health records so they can more easily coordinate care…
You treat a disease: you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win – no matter the outcome.
– Patch Adams
Health care reform sounds like a great idea, in theory. Get more people the access they need. Improve the quality of health care provided. Get doctors on electronic health records so they can more easily coordinate care between specialists. …
It is well known that Medicare expenditures threaten the financial solvency of the U.S. government. And it is pretty well agreed upon that some of our Medicare spending goes towards wasteful medical care. But which medical care is wasteful and…
It is well known that Medicare expenditures threaten the financial solvency of the U.S. government. And it is pretty well agreed upon that some of our Medicare spending goes towards wasteful medical care.
But which medical care is wasteful and how much is such care costing us? A study in JAMA Internal Medicine provides a sneak peek at answers to these important questions. The research, led by Aaron Schwartz, a graduate student …
We have heard ad nauseum that the data collection mandated by Medicare and Medicaid is to improve quality of care. Significant taxpayer dollars have been expended as bonuses in the name of PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System). With all this…
We have heard ad nauseum that the data collection mandated by Medicare and Medicaid is to improve quality of care. Significant taxpayer dollars have been expended as bonuses in the name of PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System). With all this investment and mandating, one would assume that the PQRS must be highly indicative of better quality of patient care, right? Not so fast.
Two recent reports demonstrate how ineffective this program is and how much physicians hate …
Training doctors is no easy task. After medical school, newly minted doctors enroll in residency programs at various hospitals throughout the country for a length of 3 to 8 years, depending on their specialty. Some specialties, like family medicine, are…
Training doctors is no easy task. After medical school, newly minted doctors enroll in residency programs at various hospitals throughout the country for a length of 3 to 8 years, depending on their specialty. Some specialties, like family medicine, are even considering adding another year to the process. Resident physicians spend this time working long, arduous hours under their attending physicians, learning the clinical intricacies of their specialties that could not …
Such a no-brainer: If patients who receive care at hospital A are more likely to get readmitted to the hospital 10, 20 or 30 days after discharge than patients in hospital B, then hospital A must be doing something wrong.…
Such a no-brainer: If patients who receive care at hospital A are more likely to get readmitted to the hospital 10, 20 or 30 days after discharge than patients in hospital B, then hospital A must be doing something wrong. Perhaps clinicians at that hospital are less adept at diagnosing and managing patients’ problems. Perhaps the follow-up care at hospital A …
It used to be that the greatest cost at a doctor’s visit was paying for the visit itself. Nowadays, the office visit is just a drop in the bucket compared to what medications cost. Medication costs were already starting to…
It used to be that the greatest cost at a doctor’s visit was paying for the visit itself. Nowadays, the office visit is just a drop in the bucket compared to what medications cost. Medication costs were already starting to rise, but have risen to unprecedented levels since Medicare Part D became law about a decade ago and with the latest government attempt to help with the un-Affordable Care Act. In the last few …
I have written a couple of pieces documenting the high percentage of physicians who refuse to take Medicaid patients, and some of the reasons for their refusal. One of my pieces prompted a physician to email me with his take…
I have written a couple of pieces documenting the high percentage of physicians who refuse to take Medicaid patients, and some of the reasons for their refusal. One of my pieces prompted a physician to email me with his take on this matter. I am going to quote from that email, but take out identifying information to protect his anonymity.
American health care has become a gigantic game board with players of all sorts strategizing to win. Winning, of course, means getting more money from payers: government or private. It turns out this medical marketplace game is not all that…
American health care has become a gigantic game board with players of all sorts strategizing to win. Winning, of course, means getting more money from payers: government or private. It turns out this medical marketplace game is not all that new. It’s just become wilier, as I have shared in a couple of posts over the summer.
An obituary last week for Dr. Rashi Fein, an influential economist with a …
Value-based health care is antithetic to patient-centered care. Value-based health care is also diametrically opposed to excellence, transparency and competitive markets. And value-based health care is a shrewdly selected and disingenuously applied misnomer. Value-based pricing is not a health-care innovation.…
Value-based health care is antithetic to patient-centered care. Value-based health care is also diametrically opposed to excellence, transparency and competitive markets. And value-based health care is a shrewdly selected and disingenuously applied misnomer. Value-based pricing is not a health-care innovation. Value-based pricing is why a plastic cup filled with tepid beer costs $8 at the ballpark, why a pack of gum …
That the government overpays sellers of Medicare Advantage plans is well known in Beltway circles even if much of the public remains unaware. Recently, two Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) researchers posted new findings on the Medicare and…
That the government overpays sellers of Medicare Advantage plans is well known in Beltway circles even if much of the public remains unaware. Recently, two Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) researchers posted new findings on the Medicare and Medicaid Research Review, a peer-reviewed online journal supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), documenting how some insurance companies are overbilling the government and have been …
The Medicare trust fund has been extended to 2030, 4 years longer than projections made just one year ago. This sounds like wonderful news until you take a closer look. The fine print reveals that this is little more than…
The Medicare trust fund has been extended to 2030, 4 years longer than projections made just one year ago. This sounds like wonderful news until you take a closer look. The fine print reveals that this is little more than campaign rhetoric. Four years in the grand scheme means little when you look at the real numbers.
More baby boomers approach eligibility age every day. In 2012, there were 50.8 million …
I get it. It is a little strange. In fact, some people even think I’m crazy. Why? I’m a physician, but in my free time, I love helping my colleagues improve their patient satisfaction. Lately, I’ve spent a lot of…
I get it. It is a little strange. In fact, some people even think I’m crazy. Why? I’m a physician, but in my free time, I love helping my colleagues improve their patient satisfaction. Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time discussing a patient satisfaction survey known as CG-CAHPS (Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you to learn that CG-CAHPS is …
At a crowded townhall meeting in 1959, an elderly woman stepped up to the microphone and spoke to a panel of senators. "I am not worried for my son's time," she began. "He is 35, and I am sure he…
At a crowded townhall meeting in 1959, an elderly woman stepped up to the microphone and spoke to a panel of senators. “I am not worried for my son’s time,” she began. “He is 35, and I am sure he will face a better future when his time comes to retire. But what is to be done for those of us who need help right now?”
The old adage “time is money” holds true, especially in health care. Apparently the medicine time crunch spans two midnights. In October 2013, Medicare enacted a provision that changed coverage for hospitalized patients. The “two-midnight rule” states that a patient…
The old adage “time is money” holds true, especially in health care. Apparently the medicine time crunch spans two midnights.
In October 2013, Medicare enacted a provision that changed coverage for hospitalized patients. The “two-midnight rule” states that a patient will not be covered as an inpatient unless their hospital stay is expected to cross two midnights. The end result is that many seniors are placed under observation, even if they stay …
Having just retired on July 1st, my medical group's commercial health insurance policy is no longer available to me. However, being past 65, I started a year ago applying for Medicare benefits. Despite my knowledge in this field, I had…
Having just retired on July 1st, my medical group’s commercial health insurance policy is no longer available to me. However, being past 65, I started a year ago applying for Medicare benefits. Despite my knowledge in this field, I had assumed this would be a snap.
I also had assumed that my Medicare patients who enrolled in a Medicare HMO (Medicare Advantage) did so for purely economic reasons. My experience has …
There are over 16,000,000 American children (21.8%) who live in official poverty and double that number who are just poor. This is not happening in an obscure country, in a continent far away. It is happening right here, across the…
There are over 16,000,000 American children (21.8%) who live in official poverty and double that number who are just poor. This is not happening in an obscure country, in a continent far away. It is happening right here, across the street from you. For those enjoying a good episode of Duck Dynasty, these are not children of illegal immigrants, and the vast majority is white kids.
I get paid by Medicaid to see patients. How much? Exactly $52.28 if it is an easy patient issue, like a cold, and $78.54 for a harder one, like a kidney stone. Who decides when the issue is easy and…
I get paid by Medicaid to see patients. How much?
Exactly $52.28 if it is an easy patient issue, like a cold, and $78.54 for a harder one, like a kidney stone. Who decides when the issue is easy and when it is hard? I do. But I have to follow some complex rules when deciding whether to bill a 99213 …
We all want the advantage. We put our kids in special preschools so they have the advantage. We work 100 hours a week so our kids can do 8 activities and get the advantage. Tall people have an advantage, we’re…
We all want the advantage. We put our kids in special preschools so they have the advantage. We work 100 hours a week so our kids can do 8 activities and get the advantage. Tall people have an advantage, we’re told. Poor people are “disadvantaged.” Well folks, there are a whole bunch of senior citizens in Massachusetts who are about to get disadvantaged starting September 1.
A Veterans Affairs hospital in Fort Collins Colorado, it was recently revealed, falsified its wait times for outpatient clinic appointments. In order to appear to meet the goal of clinic appointments within 14 days, the hospital taught its clerks how…
A Veterans Affairs hospital in Fort Collins Colorado, it was recently revealed, falsified its wait times for outpatient clinic appointments. In order to appear to meet the goal of clinic appointments within 14 days, the hospital taught its clerks how to falsify the appointment records to create the illusion that the appointment goals were being met. Many of the 6,300 veterans treated at this clinic actually …
