Discouraging Care
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Clearly, FFS is history–been there; done that! Fixing health care 101
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The Nexus of Quality and Cost
This article is posted in:The quality improvement movement has changed its focus from improving the health of patients to obtaining the greatest return for the investment. Why? Because experience has shown, time and again that the former is beyond our abilities, beyond any 'carrot and stick' approach to patient care, and beyond any contrived incentive realignments. When it comes to lifestyle management, we fail, miserably. For instance, getting people to stop smoking, the only thing that has worked is raising the pric
Pay For Performance (P4P)
This article is posted in:Want to simultaneously improve the quality, cost-benefit and access to care? This can only be accomplished if health care is less fractionated, the incentives are aligned and someone is measuring and managing--in other words, pay for performance (P4P).
Cost Containment's Chilling Effect
This article is posted in:A NY Times essay laments the underpayment of primary care and how that frustrates a medical practices best efforts. To set the stage for this discussion, please see: See "Eyes Bloodshot, Doctors Vent Their Discontent" by S. Jauhar, MD Pub. 6/17/08. I was referencing that in I piece I wrote for HCPLive.com, "The Chilling Effect of Cost Containment." (Published Online: Monday, June 23, 2008.)
The Way To Fix Health Care
This article is posted in:Increasingly, the cost of care is unnecessarily dear, rising exponentially while the return on investment is falling precipitously. What can be done about improving the value of health care? Our health care system is particularly inefficient and, for some it has become unaffordable. As for the quality of care, by any measure it is variable at best. But, why is it so hard to fix our health care system.
The EHR—on the Road Where a Cottage Industry Lived
This article is posted in:Improving doctors' effectiveness and cost-benefit For anyone who has hands on experience managing care in a health care organization of any type, there's an obvious answer that is difficult, but not impossible to implement—make cogent information* available at the point of contact with the patient, regardless of setting and within HIPAA constraints.
Debit Cards and How They Explain the Costs of Care
This article is posted in:If you are in a concierge medical practice or you are a specialist, you can stop reading. But, if you aren't and are concerned about the pressure to reduce the costs of care while not compromising accessibility or the quality of care, then understand the incentives matter critically to you; ignore that and you will pay dearly. Perhaps you feel how the insurers pay you is what it is and you'll deal with it.
Improve Healthcare's Value or It's Not Affordable
This article is posted in:The main tension about healthcare centers around medical need, quality, access and cost-efficiency, i.e., affordability. You can increase value by raising quality, improving accessibility and by lowering the cost of care. The "cost of care," however, is the elephant in the room.
Manager's Choice: LinkedIn's MCO Executives--Healthcare Reform Will Fail if We Do not Reduce Costs!
This article is posted in:The question really is what are you getting for your health care dollar? What's right or not right with the healthcare system, and why? And, what specifically needs to be changed and how will that be accomplished, if at all? The "Bang for the buck" issue, the Medical Loss Ratio, is revisited in "Healthcare Reform Will Fail if We Don’t Reduce Costs!"
The Managed Care-Pharma Interface-Part II: the Tension
This article is posted in:Clearly, the interface between managed care and the Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (PMM) industries, is important for the health of either industry. In common tare he issues of appropriateness, compliance, cost-effectiveness, patient selection and symbiosis among all relevant players on the health care stage (ACCESS). I say, put the practicing clinician on the PMM team and visa versa—How and Why?
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