Archive for the 'Wonkonian Rationing' Category

How to Invest in the New Medicare Audits

Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

Several bloggers (including DB and Catron) have commented on the recent unleashing of Medicare’s “Recovery Audit Contractors.”
The RACs are a fun tidbit brought to us by the Medicare Prescription Drug Act of 2003. Under the RAC initiative, private contractors will soon be dispatched across the land to perform audits of billing already done by insurers, […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing, General Rationing Issues | 1 Comment »

Wonkonians Should Read Their Own Work Product

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

According to Fortune Magazine senior editor Geoff Colvin, if you ask Alan Greenspan what the biggest threat is to the U.S. economy, he answers with one word: Medicare.
Greenspan is relatively sanguine about the sub-prime troubles, the housing crash, the falling dollar, and the trade deficit, all of which are relatively routine economic challenges which will […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing, Healthcare economics | 1 Comment »

Why the Colette Mills Dilemma Won’t Happen Here

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

The January 27 issue of the Sunday Times of London tells the tragic story of Colette Mills, a 58 year-old British woman who lost her battle with the National Health Service (NHS), and as a consequence appears doomed to lose her battle with breast cancer.
After her initial treatment for breast cancer, Ms. Mills was […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | No Comments »

Why Canadians and Other More Advanced Civilizations Should Root Against U.S. Healthcare Reform

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

Michael Moore, Hillary Clinton, and other Wonkonians find it relatively easy to find both Canadian officials and regular Canadian folks (invariably healthy-looking ones, likely innocent of ever having needed serious medical care) who are willing to publicly extol to us Americans the innate superiority of their government-controlled, universal healthcare system, and to urge us to […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | 2 Comments »

Covert Rationing Even Wrecks Socialism

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

Last week, John Goodman wrote a provocative piece about what he’s termed the “nonprice rationing” of healthcare. By nonprice (or nonmarket) rationing, Goodman means the kind of rationing you get when the government, rather than market forces, control the healthcare system - specifically, he’s addressing a system of socialism. He offers five principles […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | 8 Comments »

Another Way to Run Afoul of E&M Coding

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Last week, DrRich ranted on the E&M coding guidelines, and attempted to demonstrate how this oppressive and uninterpretable set of rules has harmed patient care, and has exposed many if not most doctors to the constant threat of an unpleasant visit from the Office of the Inspector General.
DB took up the call here, and the […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing, Primary Care in America | 3 Comments »

E&M Guidelines and Patient Care

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

The Happy Hospitalist has posted on the mysteries of documenting for Medicare that one deserves reimbursement for delivering medical care to a patient. HH’s description of the documentation hoops through which physicians now must jump is detailed enough that it’s actually difficult to read. Which is the point.
The E&M (”evaluation and management”) guidelines, introduced […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing, Primary Care in America | 3 Comments »

Let’s You Sue Medicare

Monday, November 26th, 2007

A post on this site last week provoked an enlightening discussion, which DrRich will now summarize for you, following which he will solicit a volunteer for a noble but dangerous mission.
The issue at hand is the contracts that insurance companies and Medicare present to doctors, which, while their terms are remarkably unfavorable, doctors sign with […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | 5 Comments »

Wonkonians Send Gekkonians a Message

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Joseph Paduda of Managed Care Matters comments (here) on the recent New York Times report (here) that private health insurers are, to be technical, screwing thousands of Medicare patients. According to federal auditors, the insurers accomplish this crime by employing devious sales tactics, misrepresenting their products, improperly terminating coverage for people with expensive diseases, […]

Posted in Gekkonian Rationing, Wonkonian Rationing | No Comments »

Banning MRI

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Kevin, MD has a post suggesting that MRI scans may be banned across the European Union as early as next year. DrRich followed the link provided therein, thinking he would be deposited at the Onion. To his mild surprise, however, he was taken instead to News-Medical.Net - where a seemingly legitimate article confirmed […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | No Comments »

« Older Entries