Health junction

OK, I was going to write about the new social caste-system determining how you pay for your health care, but the New York Times article about the errant Dr. Ghandi from Indiana (I kid you not) and his over zealous love of invasive cardiac treatments is too good to pass up. First of all, the full color photo in the New York Times of this woman's scarred chest is a shock. The sleeveless pink floral top (not enough of it to merit calling it a blouse) is the standard rag you find so many many American woman wearing to places they should not. I mean really, this is what you wore for an interview with the New York Times? One could make a case that the cardiac chest-crack surgical scar is more aesthetic than that mom tattoo. I thought you were supposed to put your kids names on your body, not the word mom, isn't that reserved for sailors? Read on to find out how this all went wrong in the midwest.  Malpractice and Medicare Rip-offs The woman in the New York Times photo had been treate...

The Affordable Care Act funded the Shared Savings Program which financially rewards health care organizations for reaching targets for patient care, such as reductions in hospital re-admissions, and thereby reduces plan costs. One of the most compelling projects from this pay-for-performance program has been a resurgence in house calls by doctors to vulnerable Medicare patients. The Wall Street Journal recently featured an article on this phenomena and found the "Independence at Home" Medicare demonstration project has shown a 25 million dollar savings for Medicare in the first year of the program. (1) This article reveals more about how this program works, who participates, and what it might mean for health care plans. Here are the creative health care organizations which elected to participate in this three year initiative (sans the LLC, Inc, or other corporate modifiers): Boston Medical Center, Christiana Health Care Services, Cleveland Clinic Home Care Services, Comprehen...