Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
The ongoing rollout of the Affordable Care Act is the primary subject of this edition of Health Wonk Review – but there’s much more from the best of the health policy blogosphere – all summarized here for your reading pleasure! … Continue reading The Everything-PPACA edition of Health Wonk Review
Read More...Lots of big info out this week, and a few tidbits about pending deals in the workers’ comp services space too. Here are the highlights…(for the latest on deals in the work comp space, scroll down) There’s a lot of … Continue reading Friday catch up and idle speculation
Read More...Uncertainty. That’s the best way to describe health insurance execs’ views on their business these days. The massively-screwed-up-but-steadily-improving rollout of the federal exchange is the biggest reason for that uncertainty, but there’d be huge uncertainty even if things had gone … Continue reading The health insurance world in 2014 – lots of uncertainty but no death spiral
Read More...We can all agree on something – No one – and I mean NO ONE – thinks PPACA aka Obamacare is the perfect solution to the health care insurance, cost, and quality mess. Liberals decry it for the failure to … Continue reading Ideological blinders, work comp, and Obamacare – part 9 of 9
Read More...After a brief diversion yesterday to focus on breaking news and research, it’s back to the impact of health reform on comp, with today’s post delving in to cost-shifting. Cost-shifting is a general term for provider behavior involving seeking more … Continue reading Obamacare and workers’ comp – part 4 of 9; cost shifting
Read More...For most, the federal budget sequestration (that’s the event, sequester is the verb, as in “to sequester, thanks Gary) has yet to make itself felt. For some, it’s all too real; one person’s waste is another person’s livelihood. Here’s a … Continue reading Sequestration’s impact on health care
Read More...Here’s what I see happening in the world of workers’ comp and WC services in 2013… three today, three tomorrow and the last four Wednesday – unless other news intrudes. 1. Vendor consolidation There are two main drivers – the … Continue reading Predictions for the workers comp world in 2013
Read More...First up, another round of applause for the good folks at the Accident Fund – their use of predictive analytics combined with medical management expertise to identify and intervene in workers comp claims with potentially inappropriate opioid usage was one … Continue reading Quick News Briefs for work comp folks
Read More...A post last week addressed the influence of medical coding changes on billing practices and costs – net was providers are being paid more due to more sophisticated coding. The care isn’t different, the patients aren’t sicker, it’s just the … Continue reading Medical coding driving costs up
Read More...The one-month Medicare physician payment fix passed the House yesterday and will be signed by President Obama. As Congress is operating under ‘Pay as You Go’ rules, the additional cost of the increased 2.2% for physicians had to be offset … Continue reading A few more dollars for docs, a lot fewer dollars for PT
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