Looking out at the San Francisco skyline from the top floor of the Westin St. Francis on Day 3 of the 42nd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the iconic Transamerica pyramid is not too far away. But my mind, being...more
Have you been working out recently? We hope so, for today, Day Three of the 40th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, was definitely a day for heavy lifting. Got a challenge that seems overwhelming? A problem that’s big...more
The Big Cost; Cancer is the Answer; and SDOH Evolves -
The Big Cost: You’re okay today, and then tomorrow you’re not. Life has changed and there’s a new reality. Whether it’s an acute event – an accident, a heart attack, a...more
1/16/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Affordable Housing ,
Cancer ,
Genetic Markers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Hospitals ,
Innovation ,
Medicare ,
Outpatient Services ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Physicians ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Professional Conferences ,
Technology ,
Value-Based Care
If I printed a tee shirt for the 2020 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, what would it say? In past years, it would have been “Big Data,” Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, ACA, Risk, Medicare Advantage or Quality. This...more
1/15/2020
/ Data Management ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Hospitals ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Patients ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Physicians ,
Professional Conferences ,
Value-Based Care
Please Don’t Poke the Baby – Sharing a best practice and talking about taking a local hospital learning and turning it into a systemwide approach, Mark Harrison of Intermountain Healthcare shared the fact that taking fewer...more
1/9/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Cancer ,
Drug Pricing ,
Food Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Health Insurance ,
Hospitals ,
Medicaid ,
Partnerships ,
Physicians ,
Public Health ,
Public Safety
The ancient Chinese curse – “May you live in interesting times” – certainly springs to mind these days. What does the election of Donald Trump mean for the healthcare industry, the Affordable Care Act and current healthcare...more
11/10/2016
/ ACOs ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Hospital Mergers ,
Hospitals ,
Industry Consolidation ,
Lobbying ,
Medicaid ,
Medicaid Expansion ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA) ,
Physicians ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Presidential Elections ,
Repeal ,
State Taxes ,
Subsidies ,
Telemedicine ,
Trump Administration
On January 13, 2016, conference sessions surfaced interesting questions and approaches regarding the post-acute sector, bundled payment, emergency medicine and anesthesia.
Post-Acute Focus: With more and more focus on...more
CMS recently released results of Medicare’s value-based payment modifier for 2015. This is the first year in which physicians are subject to adjustments under the payment system and, in this first phase of implementation,...more
The Texas Medical Association (TMA) and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas are launching a new services company, TMA PracticeEdge, to facilitate bringing the benefits of value-based reimbursements to the state’s independent...more
The latest from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is a thematic issue organized around a prominent topic in healthcare: price, cost, and competition. Contributing to the debate is an article titled,...more
The Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a Special Fraud Alert on laboratory payments to referring physicians. Specifically, the alert is concerned with Specimen Processing...more
A review of Medicare Part B claims for evaluation and management (E/M) services conducted by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has found that the program paid $6.7 billion in improper payments in 2010. This figure...more
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new, free, downloadable tool to assist small and medium-size health care provider offices to conduct security risk assessments (SRA)....more