We Have Met the Enemy: We’re All Responsible for Our Healthcare Crisis

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As I’ve blogged before, sound bites are the reason the average American knows so little about the issues surrounding healthcare; we’re bombarded with bits of information dished out by biased pundits. Steven Brill’s captivating “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” (TIME magazine, 2/20/2013) once again simply steers readers in the wrong direction. According to the article, hospital executives and medical providers, who charge too much, are the enemy. Wrong again—mostly. I teach healthcare [...] Read more »

The Blog Before Christmas

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‘Twas the week before Christmas, in all cyberspace Not a creature was blogging, except to retrace. The SBCs were queued on the printer with care In hopes that HHS would soon make things clear. The pundits were nestled all snug in their beds While visions of ACOs danced in their heads. As election results became final it seems A flurry of regs appeared on the scene: Essential benefits, a minimum call And actuarial values, calculate [...] Read more »

Healthcare Reform Has An Indisputable Positive: Patient Centered Medical Home

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While the PPACA debate rages, the industry-wide effort to contain healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes moves on because there is clear recognition that rising costs are the central issue. There are active and innovative reform experiments taking place in many areas. An especially interesting and encouraging strategy is the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model. Early results from efforts by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey PCMH program are showing this approach to [...] Read more »

Will ACOs Change the Game?

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A provision in the Affordable Care Act offers financial incentives to those groups that meet quality standards and health outcomes. Under the Act, these groups are called Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, and they encourage doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to come together to provide care for patients, and they are paid in accordance with the patients’ outcomes; the better the care, the more the reward. ACOs were originally conceived to be championed by healthcare [...] Read more »