Tag Archives: Healthcare

There are dangers involved in the manufacture of some medical supplies. Most companies will take adequate protection of the process to manufacture. At times the safety measures do become outdated as the manufacturing process changes due to new product. Then it becomes a matter of cost to improve safety measures. The article states ethylene oxide usage was in 2003. I believe I can vouch for its usage back to the mid-seventies. As the story...

Medicare Advantage Plans are funded by Traditional Medicare which is slowly being depleted. Much of what MA does which proves to be so costly is due to MA up coding of its patients. It is estimated this will cost an ~$88 billion in 2024. This is up from $80 billion in 2023. Studies have found evidence of upcoding and favorable selection of patients are driving significant overpayments to MA plans. MedPAC also said the program’s quality bonus...

What is the issue(s) here is larger hospitals such as “Bon Secours (48 hospitals) has been slashing services” at its facility in a poorer, predominantly Black part of Richmond. At the same time, it is ‘investing in the city’s wealthier, white neighborhoods.’” By maintaining the Richmond hospital, it keeps access to the 340B program, provides drugs to the hospital in the wealthy section, and goes around the 340B rules. 340B hospitals are also...

The Arizona secretary of state’s office recently certified 577,971 signatures which is far above the number required to put the question of Abortion before voters. PHOENIX (AP) — Voters in Arizona will be able to decide in November whether they want to protect the right to an abortion in their state constitution. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that abortion advocates used to collect signatures for a ballot...

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on the US economy that was mitigated by the rapid development and deployment of COVID vaccines. I was a subject in the Moderna Phase III clinical trial of their RNA vaccine, and eventually have had six injections.The well-established benefit of COVID vaccination is that it will keep you out of the ED and the morgue. But what about “long COVID,” the post-acute sequelae of COVID infection that can last for...

Increasing profits far above actual costs. Think Medicare Advantage as compared to Medicare. Over the past 20 years, the prices of hospital services have grown faster than any other sector of the US economy. Unfortunately, the federal government recently issued a regulation intending to address underpayment of hospitals by Medicaid. However, the new rule could push hospital prices higher for 66 percent of the US population who have commercial...

I have posted about rural hospitals here, here, and here. Resources found at various hospitals can be defined by location. Rural hospitals may have less resource and capability than urban hospitals plus greater costs. Resources may be less due to cost which does not change but has a larger impact on a rural hospital due to patient usage. The cost is not spread across greater usage. Usage has to cover costs or the smaller hospital is in danger of...

A problem is reining in the rogue ACA Agents without slowing enrollment as also reported by KFF. Regulators are contending with a problem affecting people’s coverage. Some brokers are signing people up for Affordable Care Act plans and are switching them into new ones without their permission. The problem is how to thwart the bad actors without affecting ACA sign-ups. Two private bad actor enrollment sites have been blocked from the ACA market...

CMS finally clamping down on agents plan switching, assigning existing enrollees to themselves. CMS requires agents seeking to act on an existing account with a different Agent of Record or with no AOR to: – either conduct a three-way call with the client and the marketplace center. The client authorizes the new agent to act on their behalf, or – have the client click the final button after an agent makes changes to the account using a...

Forecast of commercial healthcare costs to come in 2025 (MedCity report), what has occurred in the past, and what is expected beyond 2025. Meanwhile Congress is twiddling their thumbs arguing amongst themselves over what is more important to their existence . . . constituents or big business. Interesting too, how the Sadlers are getting themselves off the hook for the Opioid epidemic. They didn’t know? New Survey, employers’ project trending...