Something has been happening with physician medical visits. Maybe I’m just noticing it because my doctor quit and I had to find a new one, which put me on a treadmill of repeat appointments—because, as my new physician told me, she was out of time for our visit. But here’s the rub: Apart from seasonal […]
Physician Comparisons Based on Performance Don’t Tell the Right Story
Medical decision-making requires a comparison. There is, most often, more than a single option for your care. New tests and treatments are constantly being added to the medical portfolio by scientific inquiry. The only way to advance care, in fact, is by comparing options. Comparing incites a difficult task, however: the compared option that is […]
Can Consumers Help Reduce Rising Costs of Medical Technology?
In years to come, the current health care financial scene may seem like the “good old days” of health care for middle class Americans. Despite escalating consumer costs, proposed cuts in coverage, and an ever-rising cost of care, most Americans can still access health care services. They believe health care will be there for them, […]
Can Consumers Get Essential Information to Make Good Health Care Decisions?
In the rancorous public debate about how to provide health care to Americans—and especially to vulnerable people with higher risks, lower income, or both—there is a common explanation for rising costs: it’s the patients’ fault. According to this argument, we need to stop the “overuse” of health care services by consumers that are causing our […]
Health Care Providers Need Performance Data Audits to Market Trust
Health care systems once thought it was crude and undignified to use marketing to attract patients. No more. Now they use qualitative anecdotes to promote status at a time when data is king and consumers view comparative quality data on the Internet. Why not use quantitative evidence? Because their data doesn’t promote their cause—and even […]
Primary Care Physicians’ Ethical Dilemma: Meet Goals for Patients or Practice Owners?
Primary care physicians are on a collision course with health care consumers—their patients. While trying to deliver best clinical care, they must navigate a competitive business environment that encourages higher spending. The business of health care has undergone rapid consolidation in physician practice ownership. Spurred by the need to compete for patients, use EMR technology […]
Can Value-Based Health Care Help Consumers Choose Doctors? 12 Questions to Ask
Do consumers and other health care purchasers have the ability to choose providers based on quality and cost? That’s the assumption beneath attempts by Medicare and health plans to reimburse providers based on their ability to deliver better quality while constraining costs. Value-Based Health Care also includes programs by commercial insurance to offer “narrow” provider […]
Why MACRA MIPS Cost Episodes Make Good Products for Health Care Consumers
Here’s a radical idea: What if providers re-envisioned MIPS as a patient marketing initiative, not a regulatory response? Yes, I’m serious. From the beginning of PQRS and Meaningful Use to MACRA, health systems considered these efforts to be merely “compliance” with regulations and not market initiatives. But this view is shortsighted. As outlined in MACRA […]
Why Bundled Payments Are a Win-Win for Specialists and Health Care Consumers
Bundled payments, a health care payment innovation that has been widely praised for controlling costs, recently got a bad rap. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price has delayed implementation of the final Medicare rule for several bundled payment programs that were set to start this year. He has criticized the bundled payments initiative […]
Health Care Price Transparency for Consumers Starts with Provider Action
“Consumer choice” is at the heart of the national health care debate. This presumes access to accurate information about costs. While consumers woke up to health care costs a few years ago as their share began to rise, they lack the necessary facts to make intelligent decisions about the quantity and quality of what they are […]