By Mark Lutes There is now widespread agreement that a small percentage of patients drive a disproportionate amount of potentially avoidable healthcare costs. This is the case in all populations, commercial as well as Medicare and Medicaid, which means self-funded employers have a tremendous amount at stake relative to addressing these chronic cases – lower
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Do hospitals and other healthcare practices have a fiduciary duty to practice population health throughout their entire operations? Many think so. After all, the entire U.S. healthcare system does teach prevention, and we all know that prevention depends on the type of environment you are in and the decisions you choose. Healthcare organizations can actively
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In a previous blog, Custom-Made Healthcare, I discussed a study that says women tend to be more critical of the healthcare system than men, with not enough communication being the No. 1 disappointment. Now there’s a new healthcare gender-related study out there and this one focuses on the men. The BMJ (British Medical Journal) Group
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Kaiser Health News and USA Today recently ran a report on federally-funded community health centers, and apparently the South is having some trouble keeping up. The article states that centers in the South generally lagged behind the Midwest, New England and California in the six quality measures tracked by the federal government, such as controlling
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You know what’s great about blogs? It gives you the space to say what you really wanted to talk about in that tweet. Earlier today, I tweeted about New York Times blog, Are Women Less Satisfied With Care Than Men? The answer, according to a Health Services Research study, is yes. The study says that
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By Frank Darras As an insurance lawyer specializing in long-term care policies, I deal everyday with clients who’ve had serious problems collecting benefits from insurance companies. Premiums for long-term care insurance have risen over 90 percent for some policyholders in recent years. It can be discouraging for those Americans who are getting older and worrying
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By Leroy Jones, Jr. It is truly disheartening that healthcare reform remains stagnant in America. Inefficiencies in programs and processes throughout the healthcare ecosystem plague every citizen in our country, especially people living in rural areas that don’t have access to healthcare or might not be able to afford it. Reform is essential, especially as
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What can be said about the PPACA Supreme Court hearings that hasn’t already been said? Not much. Ever since the Supreme Court announced that it would hear cases brought by several states challenging the law, the coverage revved up day by day until going full-force over three days from March 26 to 28 as the
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The Choosing Wisely campaign, an ABIM Foundation initiative, has brought together nine national physician organizations to create a list of “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question.” The tagline, however, is not referring to that mole your patient has had since birth that has conspicuously grown larger and sprouted hair. It’s actually referring to the
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April is National Minority Health Month. We all know that any cause that is given a month is an issue that requires awareness and – more often than not – action. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has declared that “despite the progress our nation has made over the past 50 years, racial
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