Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Healthcare is changing really quickly and quite dramatically. Stuff we never would have thought of is happening every day. A huge PBM is buying one of the largest health insurers in the world. Provider consolidation is rapidly accelerating. Many insurers are … Continue reading We haven’t seen anything yet.
Read More...Every year I dance the danger line, coming up with predictions for the upcoming year. And every year I hold myself accountable, reporting to you, loyal reader, exactly how those predictions worked out. Clearly not a self-portrait; I could never … Continue reading How’d I do on my 2017 workers’ comp predictions?
Read More...Yesterday’s announcement that Concentra owner Select Medical is purchasing US Healthworks sent waves through the workers’ compensation world. The “new” Concentra will: have 565 occ health clinics and on-site centers in about 40 states, handle around one out of every … Continue reading Concentra – USHealthworks – implications for workers’ comp
Read More...In any very mature industry – and workers’ comp is certainly that, certain truths are immutable. Scale, margin compression, consolidation are all inevitable – or at least two out of three are. Innovation – mostly “small i” innovation – can … Continue reading Watch out for “innovation”
Read More...In the fourteen years I’ve been surveying work comp payers on their views on pharmacy, I’ve never seen so little consensus among respondents on emerging issues. In past years compounds, physician dispensing, opioids, price inflation, and new drug introductions have … Continue reading There’s no BIG problem in work comp pharmacy – and that’s scary.
Read More...This isn’t surprising; workers’ comp is a very mature industry which demands consolidation. As the market shrinks, winners will be those with size, scale, and buying power. myMatrixx has a very strong brand, excellent customer implementation and service, strong clinical … Continue reading Express Scripts buys myMatrixx – a smart move for both
Read More...The work comp meme is our industry is always 20 years behind the rest of the world. Of late, that’s been overly optimistic, as insurers actually turn the clock back even further as they adopt tried-and-failed methods of buying medical … Continue reading Some work comp payers are committing suicide
Read More...Yesterday’s post prognosticated about macro-drivers of workers comp; employment, investment returns, medical costs. Today’s focus is on what those macro-drivers mean for discrete parts of the work comp world – so here are the next five predictions. 6. Winners will … Continue reading Whither work comp in 2017 – Part Two
Read More...Way back in February I finally got around to making my annual “here’s how I make a fool of myself publicly predicting what I think will happen this year” post. It’s that time of year – when I have to … Continue reading 2016 predictions – how’d I do?
Read More...Good morning all. Out in SoCal for the CompLaude event; looking forward to two days of great discussion about the good things in workers’ comp. More evidence that WC medical trend is flattening WCRI released it’s Indiana CompScope report earlier … Continue reading Friday catch-up; CorVel, deals, & drugs
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