Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Earlier this week the NYTimes’ Robert Pear did a piece that delved into the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare, one of my all-time favorite publications. The Atlas, and the research that spawned it, provides a clear and detailed picture of the … Continue reading The NYTimes on health reform; we expect better
Read More...The release of a long-awaited study by the Congressional Budget Office today “Key Issues in Analyzing Major Health Insurance Proposals” has stirred up a lot of comment and observation, most of it noting that the current proposals aren’t going to … Continue reading The CBO health policy study misses the mark
Read More...Once again the fall is here, which means it is time for the Workers Compensation Research Institute’s annual meeting (today and tomorrow in Boston) and the National Workers Comp and Disability meeting (next week in Las Vegas). Today’s kickoff began … Continue reading WCRI – Practice pattern variations in workers comp
Read More...Free marketeers have been lauding Gov. Sarah Palin’s efforts to eliminate Alaska’s restrictions on new health care technology and facilities, calling it a push for “less regulation of health care providers and more competition”. This blind faith in the marketplace … Continue reading The free market fallacy in health care
Read More...Last Thursday’s post showed that workers comp is a huge money maker for hospitals, generating about 16% of their profits on less than 2% of revenue. The attempts to date to control hospital costs have been to set WC reimbursement … Continue reading DRGs, Medicare, hospitals, and workers comp
Read More...I’m covering the World Health Care Congress in D.C. today, and will be posting from the front row. I’ll start with the intro keynote, and post on each session separately. Here’s the order 1. Global Health Trends 2. Interview w … Continue reading Today’s adventure in blogging
Read More...Why do regulators base WC reimbursement on Medicare? It’s easy, simple, and already familiar to legislators and regulators alike. It is also a big mistake. Medicare is a program for America’s elderly – over-65, mostly sedentary, and mostly not employed. … Continue reading Medicare is to Workers Comp as Yin is to Yang
Read More...It’s 2008. There are thousands of really smart people working to change the delivery of health care, reduce inappropriate use, and improve outcomes. But in one state, things aren’t getting better – they are getting worse. (I’m not picking on … Continue reading What’s going on in Pennsylvania?
Read More...Controversy over treatment types, overly generous payments to physicians to endorse a product, lawsuits alleging faulty research, the FDA under fire for inadequate evaluation, fights over reimbursement for a new procedure, and confusion over the usefulness of a common and … Continue reading my aching back
Read More...“Regular” economic theory doesn’t apply to health care in this country. After much debate, some of it acrimonious, I decided it’s time to lay out my case. Why? Well, over the next couple of years there’s going to be a … Continue reading The supply-side economics of health care
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