By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    learn to recognize and treat yeast infections
    Most Commonly Asked Questions About Yeast Infections
    November 17, 2021
    Advanced lung cancer diagnosis systems used by doctors
    Advanced Lung Cancer Diagnosis Systems Used by Doctors
    March 6, 2022
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    The Top Benefits of a Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor Watch
    June 13, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Would You Trade Places with Your Physician?
    January 28, 2014
    Ebola and the Bigger Patient Safety Issue
    October 13, 2014
    5 Reasons Latinos Could Be The Most Powerful Transformation Of The U.S. Health System
    August 5, 2015
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Health Wonk Review: September
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Health Reform > Health Wonk Review: September
BusinessHealth ReformPolicy & LawPublic Health

Health Wonk Review: September

DavidEWilliams
DavidEWilliams
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE
health wonk review

Nothing to be ashamed of

health wonk review

Nothing to be ashamed of

Welcome to the September 11, 2014 edition of the Health Wonk Review. We’ve got a hearty and healthy set of posts from our wonkish community, including submissions on Obamacare, Medicare, performance measurement and power plants.

Medicare anyone?

In The 125 percent solution, Health Affairs bloggers including Elliot Fisher suggest using Medicare as the benchmark for all payments to providers.

“If every patient and every insurance company always had the option of paying 125 percent of the Medicare price for any service, we would effectively cap the worst of the price spikes. No longer would the tourist checked out at the ER for heat stroke be clobbered with a sky-high bill. Nor would the uninsured single mother be charged 10 times the best price for her child’s asthma care.”

Meanwhile, Healthcare Lighthouse informs us that CMS is slowly integrating principles of bundled payment into the base fee-for service hospital reimbursement system. The Medicare Services per Beneficiary (MSPB) measure essentially creates a virtual bundled payment episode for every hospital admission.

Healthcare policy experts know that the Resource Based Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) is a big reason why US specialist physicians are overpaid and procedures so richly rewarded. Medicare generally accepts the RUC’s recommendations and commercial payers blindly follow. Yet no journalists seem able to stir up sufficient attention to this secretive group, which has only gotten less independent over time. Health Care Renewal shares the lament with us.

Obamacare: Con and Pro

In a three-part video interview, Curbside Consult Host Harold Pollack talks with conservative health policy wonk and former Romney advisor Avik Roy about his “universal exchange” health reform plan, “Transcending Obamacare.”

InsureBlog never met an Obamacare-causes-new-problems story it didn’t like, and this week’s entry is no exception: Tax forms will be more complex thanks to Obamacare subsidy calculations.

Heading back to school so you can get a good job? Not so fast. John R. Graham says the Affordable Care Act is affecting your odds of getting full time employment.

While well-insured armchair Obamacare opponents talk of transcendence and throw a scare into schoolgoers, Healthbeat explains why 10 million more people will gain insurance coverage in 2015 and why those who have had direct experience with Obamacare are more likely to support it than those who have only read about it.

Medical cost inflation continues to decline, reports Managed Care Matters. That’s good news for those paying the bills and not as good for those raking in the cash (and for health reform opponents who have to work harder on their arguments against Obamacare).

Get fatty

Put down that donut! Workers Comp Insider posts about a recent report on the status of obesity in America from the Trust for America’s Health and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. More than a third of adults are obese and more than two-thirds when factoring in “overweight.” Insider also links to various reports on the relationship of obesity to workers comp.

What Would Cigna do?

Wright on Health examines Christian medical cost-sharing plans, which allow people to be exempted from the ACA’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance, but which are themselves not really health insurance—despite looking a lot like it.  How many people enroll in a plan like this without fully understanding what they’re buying, and how little protection they may actually have?

Does spanking work?

Wing of Zock addresses the often unintended consequences of carrot-and-stick performance measures, of which the recent VA scandal is a regrettable example. Performance measurement is especially difficult in pediatrics, but is essential to tracking outcomes. “Problems begin when performance measures cease to become a means to an end, and become an end unto themselves.”

Power to the people

Population Health Blog takes note of the many eerie parallels between the power-utility industry and health care.  Will there be a smokestack casting a shadow on your favorite integrated delivery system? (I’m not holding my breath, but maybe I should)

That’s it for this edition. Thanks for reading!

photo credit: @jbtaylor via photopin cc

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

When Buying an EHR, Don’t Get Sucker-Punched by Delusional Thinking

February 11, 2015
Health care

10 Things You Should Keep In Mind Before Availing Of Health Insurance

March 3, 2020
healthcare tweeting tips
BusinesseHealthSocial Media

Beyond the Buzz: 13 Unwritten Rules of Healthcare Tweeting

August 2, 2014
Medical Professionals exams
Medicare

The Hidden Benefits of Practice Exams for Medical Professionals

September 6, 2023
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?