Matthew ’s health care tidbits: Time to get Cynical
Each time I send out the THCB Reader, our newsletter that summarizes the best of THCB (Sign up here!) I include a brief tidbits section. Then I had the brainwave to add them to the blog. They’re short and usually not too sweet! –Matthew Holt
Plenty of reason to worry about the future of American health care this week. The biggest for-profit hospital chain–HCA–was accused of aggressively pushing patients into hospice care, sometimes in the same room, in order to make their hospitality mortality numbers look better. Most of the leading benefits consulting companies were exposed as taking payments from PB...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 26, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Matthew Holt Babylon Health HCA Medicaid Medicaid Work Requirements PBMs UnitedHealth Group VBC Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 127, Thursday June 22
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday June 22 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are delivery & platform expert Vince Kuraitis (@VinceKuraitis); privacy expert and entrepreneur Deven McGraw (@HealthPrivacy); and back after way too long of an absence, health economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn (@healthythinker).
The video is below. If you’d rather listen to the episode, the audio is preserved from Friday as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 22, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang #THCBGang Deven McGraw Jane Sarasohn-Kahn Matthew Holt Vince Kuraitis Source Type: blogs
The Truth About Medicare Advantage Saving Medicare
BY GEORGE HALVORSON
We know from the current annual report from the Medicare trustees that Medicare Advantage is saving Medicare, and that Medicare will be a much stronger program as Medicare Advantage continues to grow.
When we look at actual numbers from that report, we see that Medicare Advantage cost Medicare $403.3bn last year.
The report shows that Medicare is growing 6.7% each year in total revenue. We see that Medicare Parts A and B have expense growth that slightly exceeds 8%, and that Medicare Advantage is projected to have expense growth of 4.2% for the year.
That means we’re losing money from the ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 21, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy George Halvorson Medicare Medicare Advantage Source Type: blogs
Revisualizing and Recoding Healthcare
BY KIM BELLARD
Two new books have me thinking about healthcare, although neither is about healthcare and, I must admit, neither of which I’ve yet read. But both appear to be full of ideas that strike me as directly relevant to the mess we call our healthcare system.
The books are Atlas of the Senseable City, by Antoine Picon and Carlo Ratti, and Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better, by Jennifer Pahlka.
Dr. Picon is a professor at The Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Professor Ratti is head of MIT’s Senseable Lab. Drawing on the Lab’s work, th...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 20, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Healthcare Kim Bellard Maps Seseable Lab Space Source Type: blogs
As Health Professionals Go, So Goes Our Democracy
By MIKE MAGEE
Last weekend’s New York Times headline, The Moral Crisis of America’s Doctors, spotlights that there is growing concern that the monetarization and corporatization of nursing and medical professions by hospital and insurance power houses, have seriously undermined the mental health and ethical effectiveness of health care professionals. The pandemic has only heightened the crisis.
Since focusing on the social science of Medicine in the 1990’s in Philadelphia, it has been an uphill battle to convince leaders in and out of Medicine that doctors and nurses are critical to individual and societal ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 19, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Mike Magee physician burnout Policy/Politics Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 126, Thursday June 15
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday June 15 were double trouble futurists Jeff Goldsmith and Ian Morrison (@seccurve); patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@mlmillenson); Suntra Modern Recovery CEO JL Neptune (@JeanLucNeptune); and policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1). Lots of discussion about United and their hold on the US health care system, the continued hype around AI, and where the rubber is meeting the road or not on health equity.
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podc...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Ian Morrison Jeff Goldsmith JL Neptune Matthew Holt Michael Millenson rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 126, Thursday June 15
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday June 15 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are double trouble futurists Jeff Goldsmith and Ian Morrison (@seccurve); patient safety expert and all around wit Michael Millenson (@mlmillenson); Suntra Modern Recovery CEO JL Neptune (@JeanLucNeptune); and policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Ian Morrison Jeff Goldsmith JL Neptune Matthew Holt Michael Millenson rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
Air, Air, Everywhere, and Not a Breath Safe to Take
BY KIM BELLARD
If you live, as I do, anywhere in the Eastern half of the country, for the past week you’ve probably been thinking about something you’re not used to: wildfires. Sure, we’ve all been aware of how wildfires routinely plague the West Coast, particularly Oregon and Washington, but it’s novel for the East. So when the smoke from Canadian wildfires deluged cities through the East and Midwest, it came as kind of a shock.
For a day last week, New York City supposedly had the worst air quality in the world. The next day Philadelphia had that dubious distinction. The air quality index ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 14, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Non-Health Climate Change East Coast Kim Bellard West Coast Wildfires Source Type: blogs
Trump Earns a Failing Grade in Civics (K-12) in North Carolina.
BY Mike Magee MD
Events over the past year clearly have confirmed that we are a “work in progress” even as we stubbornly affirm our good intentions to create a society committed to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
With the Dobbs’ decision, our Supreme Court has unleashed long-abandoned regressive state laws designed to reinforce selective patriarchy and undermine the stability and confidence of America’s women and families. As a result, our nation’s health professionals, and the patients they care for, potentially find themselves “on the wrong side of the law.”
It calls to mind ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 13, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Non-Health Donald Trump Mike Magee North Carolina Republican Supreme Court Source Type: blogs
MA for Tomorrow: Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Advance Concrete Policy Changes for the Future of Medicare Advantage
BY CECI CONNOLLY AND MICHAEL BAGEL
Medicare Advantage (MA) has passed the tipping point, delivering coverage and care to more than half of the senior population in the US. The Congressional Budget Office projects more than 60 percent of people 65 years and older will be in the program by 2030. As enrollment soars and interest in value-based health care grows, it is imperative policymakers modernize the program that is expected to cost $7.5 trillion over the next decade.
Rather than taking the standard Washington posture of declaring victory or defending the status quo, our provider-aligned, nonprofit member pla...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 12, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Ceci Connolly MA for Tomorrow Medicare Advantage Michael Bagel Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 125, Thursday June 8
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday June 8 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are privacy expert Deven McGraw (@healthprivacy); Queen of employer benefits Jennifer Benz (@Jenbenz); THCB regular writer and ponder of odd juxtapositions Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); and policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 8, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Deven McGraw jennifer benz Kim Bellard Matthew Holt rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
Interview with Dr Pamela Tenaerts, Medable
Pam Tenaerts is the Chief Scientific Officer of Medable, which went from being a small company creating software helping clinical researchers to design their own experiments to being the big dog in remote clinical trials during the pandemic. Medable has raised over $500m in the past 3 years. Pam has a stellar research background and this interview covers the gamut about how clinical trials work, which companies are involved, how remote (or hybrid) trials actually work, and what the likely outcome for clinical research will be. If you have any interest in understanding the state of play in pharma R&D, this is compulsory...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 8, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Tech THCB Spotlights Clinical Trials CRO Dr Pamela Tenaerts Medable Remote Clinical Trials Source Type: blogs
THCB Gang Episode 125, Thursday June 8
Joining Matthew Holt (@boltyboy) on #THCBGang on Thursday June 8 at 1PM PT 4PM ET are privacy expert Deven McGraw (@healthprivacy); Queen of employer benefits Jennifer Benz (@Jenbenz); THCB regular writer and ponder of odd juxtapositions Kim Bellard (@kimbbellard); and policy expert consultant/author Rosemarie Day (@Rosemarie_Day1);
You can see the video below & if you’d rather listen than watch, the audio is preserved as a weekly podcast available on our iTunes & Spotify channels. (Source: The Health Care Blog)
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Abdul Ghafar Tags: THCB Gang Deven McGraw jennifer benz Kim Bellard Matthew Holt rosemarie day Source Type: blogs
Landed Gentry and Health
BY MIKE MAGEE
“The title of our lands is free, clear, and absolute, and every proprietor of the land is a princess his own domains, and lord paramount of the fee.”
Jesse Root, 1798, Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court
When it came to social hierarchy and family position, land was the ultimate measure of success and influence in Great Britain. But by the time of the American Revolution, our Founders were already fast at work dismantling Primogeniture (“the right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which the whole real estate of an intestate passed to...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Landed Gentry Mike Magee Source Type: blogs
A Hand Up, Not a Hand-Out
BY KIM BELLARD
As many of you did, I followed the recent debt ceiling saga closely, and am relieved that we now have a compromise, of sorts. The House Republicans demanded a lot of things, most of which they did not get, but one area where they did prevail was in toughening work requirements for food (SNAP) and income (TANF). They somehow believe that there are uncounted numbers of “able-bodied” people sitting around on their couches collecting government benefits, a myth that goes back to Ronald Reagan’s welfare queen stereotype, and have long advocated work requirements as the remedy.
Ironic...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 6, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Guaranteed Income Programs Kim Bellard SNAP Source Type: blogs
