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Healthcare Mergers are not lean but are in a race to the bottom
I’ve been following the Lean Marketing column from Kevin Meyer’s “Superfactory” site for a decade or so. Medicine and Healthcare in General has a lot to learn from other industries. A recent posting by his associate, Bill Waddell, was very instructive. Mr Waddell states that he is “glad to have grown up in America before […]
A Challenge
This year we were obligated to take on 250 ObamaCare patients. These were patients without insurance, on welfare, on Medicaid who were given HMO insurance. This was a more massive change in our practice than I could have anticipated in my wildest imagination. I had to promise my front office this was an obligation to […]
Solo or small groups have the leanest healthcare
Abstract Nearly two-thirds of US office-based physicians work in practices of fewer than seven physicians. It is often assumed that larger practices provide better care, although there is little evidence for or against this assumption. What is the relationship between practice size – and other practice characteristics, such as ownership or use of medical home […]
Medicare’s Benefits exceed Contributions by 300 Percent
Obama’s ‘Conversation’ on Entitlements By HOLMAN W. JENKINS, JR, WSJ A couple retiring last year paid $109,000 into Medicare but can expect $343,000 back from the system. Nobody should be surprised that public-sector workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere are fighting to preserve every penny of their promised benefits. Nobody should be surprised that state governors—and […]
While the US Gov’t is insolvent, the states aren’t far behind
The Hidden State Financial Crisis My latest research into opaque state financial statements suggests taxpayers will be surprised by how much pensions are underfunded. By MEREDITH WHITNEY, WSJ Next month will be pivotal for most states, as it marks the fiscal year end and is when balanced budgets are due. The states have racked up […]
Greek Jobless Lose Health Benefits
Amid Cutbacks, Greek Doctors Offer Message to Poor: You Are Not Alone By LIZ ALDERMAN, NYT NYT: ATHENS — As the head of Greece’s largest oncology department, Dr. Kostas Syrigos thought he had seen everything. But nothing prepared him for Elena, an unemployed woman whose breast cancer had been diagnosed a year before she came […]
Obamacare: What We Know Now
By Michael D. Tanner The CATO Institute January 27, 2014 For all intents and purposes, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has been fully implemented. And while much of the media coverage has been dominated by the technical failures of the program’s initial rollout, we are also learning much […]
The Shifting Landscape of HealthCare Economics Part I
The rise of “managed care”, embodied most notably by the Health Maintenance Organization (“HMO”), has transformed doctor-patient relationships from the days when a doctor would come with their little bag to your home, to one of high costs and long waits. The battles over Healthcare Reform have only served to further confuse the dilemma we […]
Never Too Much of a Bad Thing
As costs have grown more and more over time, the legislative answer from both Republicans and Democrats has typically been to attempt ‘reform’ to these programs and insurance offerings. Each decade has seen attempts at reform which have generally added to the programs’ complexities and become fodder for lobbying. Certain treatments became mandated as part […]
The Shifting Landscape of Health Care Economics Part III
Lessons from The Clinton Era Jeff Selberg The U.S. health care landscape is changing in a way that’s reminiscent of shifts that occurred during the Clinton Administration. As a former hospital CEO who experienced first-hand that earlier land rush, I’m struck by the similar dynamics that are at work again in health care. To be […]