The Health Care Blog

What Experts in Law and Medicine Have to Say About the Cost of Drugs

By ANDY ORAM Pharmaceutical drug costs impinge heavily on consumers’ consciouness, often on a monthly basis, and have become such a stress on the public that they came up repeatedly among both major parties during the U.S. presidential campaign–and...

Published Thu, Feb 02 2017 8:56 AM by THCB

Filed under: Pharma, Uncategorized, Andy Oram, Drug Pricing

Headlines We Won’t See In 2017

By BILL REID Earlier, I offered a sarcastic headline view of the coming year. Yet, underlying these headlines are some more serious issues that we as an industry have to address. They may not happen this year, but we need to continue to make progress...

Published Wed, Feb 01 2017 9:54 PM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Bill Reid, Predictions 2017

Purging Healthcare of Unnatural Acts

BY UWE REINHARDT Everyone knows (or should know) that forcing a commercial health insurer to write for an individual a health insurance policy at a premium that falls short of the insurer’s best ex ante estimate of the cost of health care that individual...

Published Tue, Jan 31 2017 12:41 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized, Uwe Reinhardt

What Is This Strange & Confusing Healthcare Language We Have Invented?

By PAUL KECKLEY Public understanding about how our health system operates is woefully low: surveys show only one in five adults has functional knowledge about how to choose a physician, hospital or insurance plan, or compare treatment options. The lexicon...

Published Mon, Jan 30 2017 4:31 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

WaPo Leaked Tape of GOP Repeal & Replace Talks is Troubling. But Also Reassuring …

By STEVEN FINDLAY “We’re telling those people that we’re not going to pull the rug out from under them, and if we do this too fast, we are in fact going to pull the rug out from under them.” – Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J) “The fact is, we cannot repeal...

Published Mon, Jan 30 2017 8:26 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Data For Improving Healthcare vs Data For Exasperating Healthcare Workers

BY TOM BURTON The phrase “healthcare data” either strikes fear and loathing, or provides understanding and resolve in the minds of administration, clinicians, and nurses everywhere. Which emotion it brings out depends on how the data will be used. Data...

Published Sun, Jan 29 2017 11:53 AM by THCB

Filed under: Data, Uncategorized, HealthCatalyst, Tom Burton

Simulated ACOs vs Real-World ACOs

By KIP SULLIVAN CMS began two Medicare ACO experiments in 2012 – the Pioneer program and the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). Data on these programs available at CMS’s website paints a discouraging picture of the programs’ ability to cut costs...

Published Sat, Jan 28 2017 1:03 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Should Doctors Think?

By HANS DUVEFELT, MD It has been suggested that to improve quality in healthcare we must reduce variability in how diseases are diagnosed and treated. It has been inferred that clinical outcomes would improve exponentially if doctors would only follow...

Published Sat, Jan 28 2017 7:26 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Headlines we expect to see in 2017

By BILL REID Every year, around this time, we are inundated with healthcare industry predictions. Most of these seem to be more retrospective than forward thinking – taking what seem to be fairly obvious trends and simply saying “Finally, this year will...

Published Fri, Jan 27 2017 5:41 AM by THCB

Filed under: THCB, Bill Reid, The Onion. Predictions

Digital Health, Health Reform & the Underserved – Where Will 2017 Lead?

by LYGEIA RICCIARDI In these first days of the Trump Administration, there is a great deal of uncertainty, but it’s clear that healthcare will remain in the spotlight. Repealing and replacing “Obamacare” is still at the top of the Republican party’s—and...

Published Thu, Jan 26 2017 11:26 AM by THCB

Filed under: Tech

And the Democrats Wonder Why They Lost the Election?

By ALLISON BOWLES Now I have insurance. But I can’t use it. What am I supposed to do? I know this one is long but it’s worth a read if you want to understand issues pertinent to the Affordable Care Act. My personal story illustrates many of...

Published Thu, Jan 26 2017 11:04 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

Trump and Vaccines

By COURTNEY GILDENGIL and LAURA FAHERTY On January 10th, then-President-elect Donald Trump met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal skeptic of vaccine safety. Although the details and implications of the session are still unclear, the meeting and several...

Published Wed, Jan 25 2017 10:12 AM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

What 32 Million Tweets Tell Us About Health

By YEUNG, MAY and TRUJILLO How can we gauge whether America is prioritizing health and well-being? Since public attitudes toward health-related topics are widely shared on social media, we gazed into the mirror that is Twitter and tried to answer that...

Published Tue, Jan 24 2017 9:36 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

It’s Up to Clinicians, Not the Government or Payers, to Control Health Care Costs

By ANDY ORAM Behind many of the economic and political tensions of our time lurks the growing burden of health care costs. Does that claim sound inflated? Consider: when the public complains of stagnating wages, we can put our finger on health care costs...

Published Tue, Jan 24 2017 5:22 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

ACA Repeal and the Ethics of Belief

By DAVID INTROCASO An elderly patient presents to a physician with symptoms of pneumonia. The physician ignores accepted medical standards of care and chooses to believe the patient suffers from a cold or flu. The patient dies of pneumonia. What evidence...

Published Mon, Jan 23 2017 1:47 PM by THCB

Filed under: Uncategorized

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What Experts in Law and Medicine Have to Say About the Cost of Drugs

Headlines We Won’t See In 2017

Purging Healthcare of Unnatural Acts

What Is This Strange & Confusing Healthcare Language We Have Invented?

WaPo Leaked Tape of GOP Repeal & Replace Talks is Troubling. But Also Reassuring …

Data For Improving Healthcare vs Data For Exasperating Healthcare Workers

Simulated ACOs vs Real-World ACOs

Should Doctors Think?

Headlines we expect to see in 2017

Digital Health, Health Reform & the Underserved – Where Will 2017 Lead?

And the Democrats Wonder Why They Lost the Election?

Trump and Vaccines

What 32 Million Tweets Tell Us About Health

It’s Up to Clinicians, Not the Government or Payers, to Control Health Care Costs

ACA Repeal and the Ethics of Belief