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10 Reasons The Deficit Super Committee Should Cut Medicare

More Medicare cuts are coming. Let's focus on the positive. The Super Committee has until November 23 to come up with a way to reduce the budget deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Medicare is...

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The AMA Finally Takes A Stand Against ObamaCare Thinking In Washington

In two years Medicare plans to force all of its providers to move from a billing system that uses 13,000 diagnosis codes (ICD-9) to one that uses 68,000 (ICD-10). Hospitals, doctors and other medical...

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ACO Investing 101: Buy Hospitals, Sell Device Makers, Hold The Rest

As payment for medical services shifts from fee-for-service to more integrated, bundled charges, healthproviders will have to work together to provideservices that not only heal the sick but also keep...

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Donald Berwick's Resignation And The Triumph Of The Bland

Today Donald Berwick informed his bosses that he plans to resign on December 2 as Medicare administrator. He's leaving about a month earlier than expected. Dr. Berwick, a pediatrician by training, was...

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UnitedHealth Makes A Bold Double-Digit Growth Forecast

Big companies grow more slowly than smaller ones. Doubling in size when you have $95,000 in revenue is one thing. Yet today UnitedHealth, which had sales of $95 billion last year, predicted it would...

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To Avoid Collapse The Post Office Should Deliver Health Care And Other Services

  Why Do Mail Carriers Only Carry Mail? After I moved to Iowa in July I noticed that my mail carrier is much friendlier than he was in Philadelphia. When I bump into Bill, who's worked in my...

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With A $3 Egg Timer You Can Change The World

  My new copilot. Right now an old-fashioned kitchen timer is ticking on the desk next to me as I type. The dial is turned to 20 minutes. That's how long I've given myself to write this blog post. If...

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Spending Other People's Money: What Professors And Doctors Have In Common

Consider these two common scenarios: SCENARIO A You go to the doctor's office and get a prescription. Later the pharmacist runs it through her computer andagainst yourinsurance--and hands you the...

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Craigslist's Approach To Health Care Means Baby Formula, Experimental Drugs...

  Does anyone else like to surf Craigslist for fun? I assume I'm not the only one. You can learn a lot about the quirks of our society on Craigslist. The same goes for the quirks of our health care...

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WellPoint Bets (A Bit) On Primary Care

  A news article on the front page of Friday’s Wall Street Journal described how WellPoint, the nation’s second largest insurer, will begin paying extra bonuses to primary care doctors in its network....

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Komen's Hard-Learned Lesson For Nonprofits: Choose Your Partners Carefully

Image via Wikipedia The huge backlash against the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity for cutting ties with Planned Parenthood could have easily been averted. Komen could have simply avoided...

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Health Start-Ups Like ZocDoc Should Dial Back The Hype

I like health Web sites and tech start-ups. I think the democratization of medical information is a beautiful thing. It's a cliche that you can find out more about a hotel than a doctor with a few...

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The 10 Most Expensive Common Medical Conditions

Over the course of a year two out of every 1,000 people will rack up $100,000 or more in medical bills. These are the "high cost patients" who make insurance premiums go up and bedevil policy makers....

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Medicare's Hospital Web Site Reeks Of The DMV

Have you ever tried to use Medicare data to research a hospital? If so, I bet you've been disappointed. Let's say you live in Las Vegas and you have heart problems. There are three hospitals nearby....

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Three Reasons The Supreme Court Should Overturn ObamaCare's Individual Mandate

Today the High Court will hear arguments over Florida vs. Sebelius. We've finally reached the ninth inning of the legal battle between 26 states and the Administration, over the constitutionality of...

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Three Reasons The Supreme Court Should Uphold The Individual Mandate

There are two sides to every debate. I've already started withThree Reasons The Supreme Court Should Overturn ObamaCare's Individual Mandate. Here are three arguments against repeal. ObamaCare Is Not...

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Three Reasons The Supreme Court's Decision Doesn't Matter

After giving youThree Reasons The Supreme Court Should Overturn ObamaCare's Individual Mandate andThree Reasons The Supreme Court Should Uphold The Individual Mandate here is the final installment,...

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Three Strategies for the Health Care Industry While Reform's in Limbo

With the Supreme Court hearings this week it was like taking a time machine back to late 2009, early 2010. Had you forgotten when the news was all health reform all the time? Those of us who are in the...

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Losing The War On Meth And Sudafed At The Same Time

If you have the sniffles and you want medicine that contains pseudoephedrine--a chemical that dries up the hardest cases of congestion--you have to submit yourself to a mild privacy violation and a...

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Post-Father's Day Health Advice: Throw Away Those Electronic Greeting Cards...

These little guys can do a large amount of damage. Greeting cards used to be a simple affair. Now you open one and it might sing you a song. Soon they will no doubt have little LCD screens withvideos....

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Supreme Court Upholds ObamaCare: How To Separate the Constitutionality From...

The Justices have spoken and the Affordable Care Act will stand. According to the Associated Press: "The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the individual insurance requirement at the heart of President...

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Unleashing An Epidemic: Florida Gov Rick Scott Shows The Folly Of Cutting...

When Florida voters elected Rick Scott back in 2010 they may have thought they were getting a health care expert. After all, his claim to fame was building the largest for-profit hospital company. Boy...

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What Business Can Learn From Cleveland Clinic: How To Report Quality To The...

This summer I spent some time exploring how big teaching hospitals publicly report clinical outcomes to the public. For a given set of patients, how many live or die? And with what complications?...

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ObamaCare Could Cause Nonprofit Hospitals To Lose Their Tax-Exempt Status:...

Nonprofit Hospitals: Universal Coverage Will Mean Fewer Opportunities To Provide Community Benefits, Possibly Making Them Future For-Profits The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) has been knocked for its...

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Alvin Roth Receives Economics Nobel For Flawed Residency Match System

Alvin Roth, this year's winner and matcher of medical residents (courtesy of Stanford University) There's a larger question here about why the scholarly world allows itself to be judged by secretive...

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Five Lessons in Transparency from Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove

Delos "Toby"Cosgrove: Developed Outcomes Books when he was Chief of Cardiac Surgery. Cleveland Clinic is the health care industry trailblazer when it comes to publishing its clinical outcomes. As...

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A Different Kind of National Signing Day for Academic Over-Achievers

Intel science competition winners: Where will they "sign"? Today is like a holiday for those of us who are nuts about college football. It's National Signing Day. The nation watches as high school...

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Three Questions for Medicare Chief Marilyn Tavenner at her Nomination Hearing

This morning in Washington something novel is underway. A Medicare administrator is having a confirmation hearing for the first time since 2002. Since 2006 the important job has been vacant or filled...

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Oregon Health Experiment Shows That Having Health Insurance Is Different Than...

MIT's Amy Finkelstein leads the Oregon Health Experiment, whose results today reiterate an old truth about health insurance. It's not the same as health. A new study out of Oregon tries to answer an...

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Trader Joe's, Home Depot and the Unresolved Fairness Issue Inside ObamaCare

As the country waits for the ObamaCare exchanges to go live, every few days there is a new headline like this one: "Trader Joe’s Explains Why It’s Cutting Health Benefits For Part Timers."Or this...

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Billionaire Jon Huntsman Sr. Thinks Son Jon Jr. Would Be A "Wonderful President

As the GOP hopefuls begin to line up for next year's election one possible candidate has attracted quite a bit of attention but not yet formally committed himself to running. Jon Huntsman Jr., the...

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Doctors Treat Spines But Do They Have Any Of Their Own?

I am often shocked that doctors put up with the incompetence of the lobbyists and political groups that purport to represent them. The AMA selling out its members to support ObamaCare is Exhibit A. But...

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Could AIDS Disappear If Enough Patients Get Treated?

A landmark HIV trial that was completed early and whose results were released today raises interesting questions about the future of one of the world's most devastating infectious diseases. The study...

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Medicare's New Plan To Punish Hospitals For Treating Expensive Patients Will...

One problem with central planning is that crystal balls don't always work. We're seeing that now as ObamaCare becomes the law of the land. Instead of the butterfly effect call it the band-aid effect....

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Pediatricians And Family Docs Threaten To Sue If Rick Scott Signs Gun-Gag Bill

I wrote earlier about the bill passed in Florida that bans doctors from asking patients whether they own guns. The Florida Medical Association, which purports to represent doctors, refused to stick up...

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David Whelan's New Career And Location

Your favorite blog, Health Dollars, has been a quiet place to visit this summer. There is an explanation. After seven great years as a staff writer at Forbes, in July I left my job. My family moved...

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Appeals Court: ObamaCare Is Unconstitutional

Today the 11th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals upheld the ruling (PDF) by Judge Roger Vinson that a key part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, is unconstitutional. The ruling...

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Unmask The Real Price Of Pills With Leslie's List

You hand over the prescription to the pharmacist after waiting in line at the drop-off window. It'll be ready in twenty minutes, he says. So you go and read a magazine, do a couple laps around the...

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Repeal And Replace ObamaCare, But With What? Consider Singapore

Yesterday the Texas Tribune and Kaiser Health News jointly published a great piece asking what a Rick Perry victory would mean for health reform. Obviously he is in favor, like most Republicans, of...

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Illinois Forces Hospitals To Pay Property Tax--Is For-Profit Conversion Next?

The state of Illinois, deep in the hole financially, is targeting nonprofit hospitals to help balance its budget. This month the state's revenue department identified three hospitals that it says must...

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Want To Save Health Dollars? Consider Self-Care

I'm a wannabe runner. I love the idea of it, the calories burned per hour, the ability to get lost in a podcast, get some sun, or explore a new neighborhood on my feet. The problem is I keep getting...

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Is The Joint Commission List Of Top Hospitals Worth Heeding?

Often the biggest decision you make about your health is which hospital to go to for care. Last week the Joint Commission (TJC), an independent group that accredits hospitals on behalf of Medicare,...

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Fact-Checking Herman Cain, Who Says He Would Be Dead Under ObamaCare

I'm watching tonight's Republican debate on Fox, live from Orlando. Herman Cain was just asked about his claim that he would not have survived his battle with cancer under ObamaCare. Cain's answer...

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Johns Hopkins And Adventist Health Invest In Solutions Site MX.com

Johns Hopkins and the Adventist Health System in Florida are among the investors that have chipped in $7.5 million to back MX.com, a new Web site where hospitals can sell their intellectual property....

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Is White House's Cockiness About Defending The ObamaCare Lawsuit Warranted?

ObamaCare is heading to the Big Chamber. The White House decided this week not to delay the Supreme Court from deciding whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. It could have asked the 11th...

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ObamaCare Budgeting Could Turn The U.S. Into Greece

Heard of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program, or CLASS for short? It is a new government program that offers long-term care insurance. It was buried in the Affordable Care...

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How To Get An $80,000 Job In Health Care Without A College Degree

New workers trying to enter the job market are finding barbed wire everywhere. Or at least, almost everywhere. One industry, health care, continued to add jobs even during the 2008-2009 downturn and...

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Patient Tip: Dress Up For Your Doctors Appointment To Get Better Care

I had this conversation with a surgeon who recently started practicing in a rural area. A lot of her patients were driving long distances for their appointments, which made her feel guilty when she had...

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Where Will Steve Jobs' Money Go? Medical Philanthropy Has Different Flavors

Will Jobs' Posthumous Philanthropy Fall Into A Typical Category? Or Did He 'Think Different'? Will Steve Jobs' fortune go to support cancer research? His plans for philanthropy have remained a mystery...

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Do IBM Watson Health's Leadership Change And Layoffs Mean A.I. Is Bad Medicine?

IBM has had to shake up its Watson Health division after failing to sell its Oncology product to many hospitals. How is this instructive about the use of AI in Medicine?

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