Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
I’m continuing to follow the fortunes of Revolution Health, the Steve Case venture into health care, consumerism, education, wellness, and peripheral matters. Not much new news since my last query; the website is still under construction, but you can enter as a “test guest” here.
David Williams at Health Business Blog is hosting the latest edition of the Cavalcade of Risk.
Check out the entry on physicians who direct some “risky” patients to the ER, and the reasons they do.
In response to my post on new narcotic Fentora, which was picked up by Kevin, M.D. over at his blog, a physician reads the riot act to a commenter who said that docs should be blamed for any misuse.
Pundits and experts on the right side of the political spectrum are claiming that giving CMS the authority to negotiate drug prices will cost Americans $500 billion in lost productivity due to an annual loss of five million life years.
There are so many flaws in their arguments it’s hard to know where to start, but let’s plunge in.
Workers comp payers will be seeing a new drug on their top 25 lists soon – Fentora. While it may take a couple of years to attain Actiq’s top-five status, it will.
The outcome of the “can we or can’t we negotiate with drug manufacturers?” discussion is becoming clearer, as political realities appear to be saying “we can in some limited circumstances.”
One of the more thoughtful articles I’ve seen on medical tourism is at the Miami Herald.
Roy Poses MD has done just a bang-up job on today’s edition of Health Wonk Review. It’s just stuffed with great material!
Coventry CEO Dale Wolf presented at the JPMorgan Healthcare Investment Conference earlier this week; I was particularly interested in his comments re the business opportunity in Medicare and Medicaid.
Medicare Advantage (MA) programs are likely to suffer a significant cut in funding this year as the Democrats, led by Rep. Pete Stark (D CA) take a chain saw to the subsidies paid to MA plans.
Coventry will be close to a $9 billion business in 2007.
The loss of a good chunk of the subsidy will make the MA business less attractive for many health plans; Wolf believes there is a significant opportunity for Coventry as it has successfully become the low cost producer in their markets, an achievement of which Wolf is quite proud.
Continue reading Medicare as a business – Coventry’s perspective
Health care outsourcing to India was a $300 million business last year. And a just-released Health Affairs article indicates that the total market may be a lot, and I mean a LOT, bigger.
