Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
A short but busy week; here’s a few “highlights” Jobs! Big jump in hiring – 287,000 new jobs last month. Even better, the jobless rate has stayed below 5 percent for the last nine months, AND hourly wages increased albeit by a … Continue reading Friday catch-up
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...Rather than inundate your in-box with multiple posts last week, I decided to delay posting on some of the research for a few days. Today, WCRI’s analysis of work comp reform’s impact. I had to listen very quickly and type … Continue reading More from WCRI – What happened after “reform” to states’ work comp systems?
Read More...In response to my post on payers shifting medical management strategy decision-making from experts to non-experts, a long-time friend and colleague provided his perspective. With forty years in roles ranging from regulator to compliance consultant to operations exec for payers, states, … Continue reading What’s happened to work comp regulation?
Read More...So, medicine is a science right? If it is, then the delivery of care should be consistent across the country for patients with identical conditions, right. Absolutely not. That’s the quick takeaway from a terrific panel this morning at WCRI; … Continue reading Health care delivery varies a LOT – and there’s your opportunity
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...Some blame “Obamacare” for pretty much everything; high insurance costs, increasing deductibles, access issues (real and imagined), narrow networks with fewer physicians, hospital closures, global warming (oh, wait, no such thing). And worst of all, this is all due to the … Continue reading There’s no such thing as an “Obamacare” health plan
Read More...An enterprising journalist located the 4 individuals so harmed by PPACA that the Competitive Enterprise Institute is taking their case, now known as King v Burwell, to the Supreme Court. Two of the four qualify for hardship exemptions – that … Continue reading The individuals suing to overturn Obamacare
Read More...I’ve decided to split my predictions into work comp stuff (where I do most of my work) and health care stuff not directly related to work comp. Here’s my health care predictions… 1. Health care cost inflation will remain low. After … Continue reading 2015 health care predictions
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