From the mid- to late-2000s, lots of pundits got into the business of shoving electronic medial records (EMRs)down doctors’ throats. There were a few incentives from the Feds to help with the upfront costs, but it was a pittance of what it really costed hospitals and physician practices. And there was...
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Several commentators have talked about a death spiral for the Obamacare health insurance exchanges. What do they mean? One of the keys for any insurance plan to work is that a lot of healthy people have to sign up to cover the costs of the sick. For car or homeowner’s insurance, losses...
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The new hepatitis C drugs are expensive. Harvoni costs $1000 per pill for a total of $84000 for treatment. It works well, clearing the virus in over 90% of cases, though the evidence-based medicine purists would still argue there’s no evidence that this improves any patient-oriented outcomes such cirrhosis and death....
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I’ve complained about CMS/Medicare many times in previous posts, but this time they deserve praise. HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell floated a proposal to allow Medicare to change how it pays for cancer drugs. According to an aritcle in the New York Times, ALL members of the Senate Finance Committee signed a letter...
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A study in the latest Health Affairs took a snapshot of utilization and costs associated with retail clinics. These are the small clinics located in Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreen’s and the like. They were touted by proponents as low-cost options for primary care. They are usually staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants....
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Two recent reports extoll the virtues of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and direct primary/concierge care. One is the annual report of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. The other is a study of a network called MD-Value in Prevention (MDVIP). Before I continue, let me be clear that there are positives...
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In the most recent Democratic debate, Hilary Clinton said, “Americans haven’t had a raise in 15 years.” I’ll talk more about that in a second. Other candidates of both parties are getting votes and dominating polls by playing on our current national fears. For some, it is security fears; for others it’s...
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A report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that for the first time ever recorded, the mortality rate of middle-age whites in the U.S. has been increasing the last two decades. “After 1998, other rich countries’ mortality rates continued to decline by 2% a year. In contrast, US white...
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I’ve written many times about how the march of healthcare hyperinflation continues apace, meaning that the inflation rate for healthcare and health insurance continues to be greater than the general inflation rate (most recent post on the topic by me). Another report sheds more light on how this is affecting all Americans...
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Let’s start with some supposed good news. The headline recently read Jobless rate is lowest in more than 7 years. It’s officially at 5.1%, compared to 10% in 2009. But dig deeper. If people who can only get part time work and other people on the fringes of the job market are...
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