Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Self-insured employers are beginning to take the drastic step of sending patients overseas for expensive, complex medical procedures. While there are likely just a few employers doing this now, there are several companies formed expressly to provide these services to … Continue reading Self-insured employers’ drastic measures
Read More...A study released by the Mayo Clinic, reports that there is far too much money spent on end-of-life care. The study is paralleled by a newly released Dartmouth study , reports that indicates Medicare spent about $40 billion more than … Continue reading End of life care costs too much
Read More...US News’ annual rankings of the nation’s “best” hospitals by specialty is out, and hospital execs and PR staff around the country are either studiously ignoring the release or aggressively trumpeting their selection. Expect to see more billboards, especially around … Continue reading Is rating the “best” hospitals “good”?
Read More...To much fanfare, CMS released several data files containing hospital charge and payment data by state, county, (but not by individual facility) for the 30 most common DRGs and elective procedures. National, state and county financial ranges are included, and … Continue reading CMS data release – and their point is…?
Read More...If consumerism is going to help reduce health care cost inflation, we’ll need two things – information and appropriate financial incentives. Actually, we’ll need another ‘thing’ – consumers will need the intelligence and expertise to be able to make the … Continue reading The two reasons consumerism won’t solve the health care cost problem
Read More...This is the premiere edition of Health Wonk Review, a biweekly (or so) compendium of the best of the health policy blogs. We’ve asked over two dozen health policy, infrastructure, insurance, technology and managed care bloggers to send in their … Continue reading UPDATE – Health Wonk Review
Read More...This is getting tiresome. I am being assailed by economists who protest that they can boil health care down to supply and demand, and that demand creates supply. True on its face, but the economic devils are in the details. … Continue reading Economists, priests, and health care policy
Read More...Price-fixing, the bluntest of economic policy instruments, is enjoying a resurgence among health care policymakers at the national and state levels. In California, Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for physicians have been cut 5%, effective the first of this year. The cut … Continue reading Physician reimbursement cuts
Read More...New information is coming out on consumer directed health plans that indicates member satisfaction rates are significantly lower than those of individuals enrolled in “traditional” health plans. These plans are based on the premise that empowering consumers with information and … Continue reading Consumer directed plan members’ satisfaction rates
Read More...I’ve been keeping my eye on Revolution Health since its founding earlier this year, and the item posted last week about Kaiser’s work on electronic health records reminded me to check back on Revolution’s progress. Why the focus on Revolution? … Continue reading Revolution Health and Kaiser Permanente
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