Health care is buzzing as Atul Gawande has been selected as CEO of the Berkshire-Hathaway/Amazon/JP Morgan strategic venture. I was thrilled they picked a physician, like myself, in the trenches to run their gig. After hearing the news, I remembered Gawande’s TED Talk from 2012 and decided to catch up on it during my flight to the Healthcare […]
By now everyone has heard that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed to dramatically change the way physicians get paid for evaluation and management (E&M) services in the office as part of the proposed 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Rule. In fact, as of the end of July, CMS has received over […]
By now everyone has heard that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed to dramatically change the way physicians get paid for evaluation and management (E&M) services in the office as part of the proposed 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Rule. In fact, as of the end of July, CMS has received over […]
The health care system has never been so complex as it is today. As doctors, we’ve seen the struggles that happen just trying to help patients get the medical care they need. Patients are now ladened with high deductibles and often are the victims of baseless denied coverage for diagnostic tests and medication. Insurance companies […]
As more doctor pay is being tied to patient satisfaction and “outcomes,” a recent Forbes article argues that “It’s only a matter of time before physicians will see the bulk of their compensation tied to quality measures.” To prepare for this pay-for-performance apocalypse, the article cites Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) CEO Haylee Fischer-Wright, MD, […]
In the recent weeks we’ve seen frequent headlines alerting people around the country to dangerous heat waves. Physicians and nurses see these headlines and the human results of the heatwaves in the form of heat illness, people burdened with lung ailments and suffering from deteriorating air quality, and a range of individual harms brought on […]
A guest column by the American College of Emergency Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Emergency medical care in the United States is a unique success story. Born from military tactics, emergency medicine has grown exponentially in size and sophistication from its early days. What was once a patchwork of inspired professionals cobbled together at a moment’s notice […]
If Atul Gawande’s first week as CEO of a health care startup was anything like mine, I hope he is able to get away from it all and enjoy a completely relaxing weekend. He will have earned it. After Gawande was named to head the joint venture between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan, some critics said that choosing a […]
Engaging in an economic conversation about the conventional compensation of a physician leads one to believe that doctors are well-to-do. In the minds of most citizens, school-tuition board members and even local neighbors, if you’re a physician the presumption is that you are economically prosperous, maybe even rich. This sociological assumption probably sounds false to […]
Today’s news is full of commentary about work requirements for Medicaid. Is work a prerequisite for health care or is health a prerequisite for work? Not to complicate things, but can we even agree on what health care is? I don’t think we can, and it largely falls back on what we want to share […]
