Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

A Better Way (Potentially) to Fund Rural Hospitals

The issues being addressed in the second part of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform or CHQPR ORG, report reviews what is causing small rural hospitals to close. Provided is also glimpse at a solution to fix and maintain small rural hospitals which can not maintain the necessary facility and service to local […]

Primary Care Takeover by Commercial Interests

It appears Primary Care is becoming a hot market practice for nonhealthcare US retail and healthcare corporations to invest in today. Big corporations are chasing the Primary Care market worth about $260 billion in 2022, which is big enough to attract attention. The other factor is a shift from FFS healthcare model to a Fee […]

Small Town and Rural Hospitals Are at Risk of Closing due to Funding

This is an interesting take on small hospitals and also covering smaller hospitals in small towns or rural areas. It is an issue as the larger hospitals buy them up. Rather than invest in them, they close them down. One reveal is those hospitals closings coming as a result of what private insurance pays for […]

The Great Medicaid Disenrollment, An Update

Angry Bear had written about the forthcoming state Medicaid-Purge the later part of May. The reason for the purge of many Medicaid enrollees was the ending of Joe Biden’s pandemic Medicaid enrollment program. It was a much needed program during the pandemic if one could not afford healthcare insurance and did not have Medicaid. Not […]

Value-Based Payment Is the New For-Profit Health Care Industry

Value-Based Payment Is the New For-Profit Health Care Industry first appeared at Angry Bear as written by Kip Sullivan, Kay Tillow, & Ana Malinow. This came after it appeared at Truthout. I reposted this one commentary and an early one by Kip because I am starting to see more activity on Value Based medicine. It is […]

Fee For Service versus Fee For Value Healthcare

The following definitions I found in the article “What Kaiser’s Acquisition of Geisinger Means For Us All,” Forbes, Robert Pearl M.D. May 31, 2023 There are a couple of terms within the article which I would like to point out. Fee For Service and Fee For Value. For clarity, Traditional Medicare uses Fee For Service methodology […]

Value-based payment has produced little value. It needs a time-out

Kip Sullivan sent this article to me a while back and it was posted. I am starting to see more activity on Value-based-care as an alternative to Fee For Service. The question arises as to how does one measure value received from the care under this regime. It is difficult to measure the value and […]

The U.S. Needs to Reimagine Its Pharma Supply Chain

I agree with the author’s reasoning for domestic supply manufacturing. I have battled the issues with pharma, medical supply, and also food manufacturing. Batches are problematic as well as the USDA and FDA labeling requirements. You wait for approvals. As of August 2019, 28 percent of the manufacturing facilities producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs – […]

The Relative Value Scale Update Committee is secretly setting physician prices

I should have plaque on the wall of some hospitals stating I was there and we (the hospital) made out like bandits. Some of the procedures and meds they do and give me are not in your average Tylenol category. Not much I can do about it. Merril at GoozNews posted this exposé on how […]

Most Medicaid enrollees were unaware states can drop People “Now”

Fred Dobbs had a comment “a poll from KFF” on the Open Thread which led to this article. Read it, rewrote much of it, and posted it. More on the economics on healthcare. What is not being said here is what are the costs to the nation of no healthcare. Here we are just reporting […]