Healthcare Digest 6/3: Even Healthcare Experts Aren't Experts

It can often be helpful to turn from theoretical conversations about healthcare and actually listen to people who have actually received healthcare. This is especially important on the eve of the total healthcare makeover we’re about to go through in this country.

On the one hand: healthcare reform is sorely needed in this country. On the other, I’m not entirely sure people truly appreciate how, uh, fouled up things are:

[Donna Cryer -- one of the two people mentioned in the MedCityNews post] said that once she was put in a makeshift room with no bathroom. It was divided by a curtain from a resident break room. As she lay in bed, she could hear them talking about patients.

“The patient side of me thought, ‘I’m immuno-suppressed in three ways,’ and the lawyer side of me thought, ‘HIPAA violations,’” she said.

Between this and the VASTLY different price-points for similar treatments (how much you pay for an angiogram is a big Magic 8 Ball mystery) — one can begin to appreciate why understanding healthcare reform is up there with making ropes of sand on the beach: i.e., impossible.

Monday’s Headlines:

That Thing I Said About Angiograms…: “That is fairly typical: in Keene, N.H., Matt Meyer’s colonoscopy was billed at $7,563.56. Maggie Christ of Chappaqua, N.Y., received $9,142.84 in bills for the procedure. In Durham, N.C., the charges for Curtiss Devereux came to $19,438, which included a polyp removal. While their insurers negotiated down the price, the final tab for each test was more than $3,500.” [NY Times]

Perks for Staying Well on the Job: “Starting January 1, 2014, employers will get to increase financial incentives for employees who participate in wellness programs. Specifically, they can offer employees up to a 30 percent premium differential for participating in wellness program activities such as health screenings and weight loss, and up to 50 percent if they don’t smoke or are trying to quit or reduce their smoking.” [GoLocal Worcester]

Healthcare’s Productivity Paradox: “Spending on health care information technology has risen rapidly over the past decade, but there been little corresponding gain in health care productivity. Instead, the industry’s labor force has been on a growth spurt — creating health care’s version of a productivity paradox.” [Washington Post]

Home Healthcare Firms Poised to See a Boom! (Wait, That Doesn’t Sound Right…): “According to one projection, the number of people age 65 and over is expected to increase to 72 million by 2030 when that group will make up about one-fifth of the population, up from about 40 million in 2009.” [Times Leader]

Good News for Entrepreneurs in Obamacare: “Large businesses have been grousing about new rules in the health care law that will raise their costs. But a new study highlights how the Affordable Care Act may actually be a boon to small businesses and entrepreneurs.” [National Journal]

Even More Student Loan Debt for Doctors?: “Doctors used to focus on one thing: practicing medicine. But these days, it pays to know something about business. As health care reform starts upending the economics of medicine, the Kelley School — a top-20 MBA program, based in Indiana – is looking to cash in by launching an online MBA for just doctors.” [Marketplace]