Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Disasters are good for the economy – sort of. They are also very likely to be really bad for people. Combined, Harvey and Irma will cost about $200 billion – or 1.5% of US GDP. That’s a huge infusion of … Continue reading Costs and benefits of disasters
Read More...In the fourteen years I’ve been surveying work comp payers on their views on pharmacy, I’ve never seen so little consensus among respondents on emerging issues. In past years compounds, physician dispensing, opioids, price inflation, and new drug introductions have … Continue reading There’s no BIG problem in work comp pharmacy – and that’s scary.
Read More...What’s missing from the debate about AHCA and ACA is any discussion about what’s making premiums so damn expensive. We are arguing over what we pay, not what we’re paying for. That makes zero sense. AHCA makes older folks pay … Continue reading It’s about healthcare costs, NOT insurance premiums
Read More...Hospitals are losing work comp share. You would think that’s good news as non-hospital care is much cheaper. But that may well be wrong. The hospital info was the headline from Carol Telles’ kickoff presentation Friday morning at WCRI’s Annual Conference. Workers’ … Continue reading WCRI – What’s happening with medical?
Read More...WCRI’s report on variations in hospital outpatient costs is yet more evidence of the wide and seemingly nonsensical variations in work comp regulations, fees, payments, and practices among and between states. Among the findings: an eight-fold variation in costs from the … Continue reading Workers’ comp hospital costs – implications for payers
Read More...Two recent articles in Health Affairs highlight a growing issue for employers and taxpayers; some hospitals are increasingly looking to work comp as a profit maker. Depending on the state, facility costs can account for anywhere from around 32 – … Continue reading Workers’ comp – for hospitals, it’s where the money is
Read More...Well, that didn’t take very long… Hard as it is to believe, Health Wonk Review has been around for a decade. Yup, since way back in the DSL days, before the birth of the iPhone, before the Great Recession, before health … Continue reading Health Wonk Review – The Tenth Anniversary Edition!
Read More...Maryland has long been a leader in intelligent approaches to managing the cost of health care. The state has had one of the few effective Certificate of Need programs limiting the medical arms race and employs an all-payer fee schedule for facility … Continue reading Maryland’s innovative approach to hospital care – and implications for work comp
Read More...There’s been a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the work comp arena, and certainly more to come. But the activity in our little corner is minor indeed compared to what’s happening in the “real world” – group health, Medicaid, and … Continue reading Consolidation in the real world – implications for workers’ comp
Read More...And this means higher costs for those getting treatment outside of their core networks, and especially for work comp payers. While Medicare reimbursement has remained pretty level, hospitals have been busy raising their list prices by more than 10 percent … Continue reading Hospital prices are up. Way up.
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