All Entries Tagged With: "healthcare"
Many physicians in favor of public option
I just read about a recent study conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to gauge physician’s reactions to healthcare reform. According to the study, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, 63% of physicians support some type of government-backed healthcare reform. Check out this article from United Press International.
I’d love to hear what physicians out there think–and why!
Reader responses: How dire is our healthcare crisis?
In a recent issue of the Credentialing Resource Center Connection email newsletter we asked MSPs to share with us their thoughts about our nation’s so-called broken healthcare system.
Here are a few of the anonymous responses from in-the-trenches MSPs. Feel free to leave your own opinion in the comment box at the end of the post.
“If all I did in my position at the hospital were my duties as Medical Staff Coordinator, I would probably wonder what kind of “crisis” is being discussed.
However, I also work in risk management and am the first person contacted by patients with concerns and complaints. I find from my many conversations with patients, that many have really poor and confusing insurance coverage, that many are putting off vital healthcare due to the expense, and that our ED is becoming a substitute for the PCP’s office. I speak daily with tearful and frightened individuals who feel they have nowhere to turn, and who are fearful of ever-mounting personal medical debt.
Our hospital is located in a rural environment. We have many Medicare patients, and a good percentage of the younger ones are uninsured or under-insured, as we do not have many large employers in our community that provide employee health insurance coverage. If we are at all typical, we do indeed have a “crisis”.”
Just for fun: Doctors’ Diaries documentary explores the people beyond credentials files
You know the doctors in your organization by their credentials files – where they went to school, how long their residencies lasted, and what professional certifications they hold. But have you ever wondered what their lives are really like beyond those statistics?
Twenty-one years ago, a group of seven Harvard Medical School students where profiled by filmmakers who have been following their lives ever since. It’s not ER or Gray’s Anatomy, but their stories are just as dramatic.
For more information about the show, check out: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/
Healthcare reform suggestions for real change
The American Medical Group Association in Alexandria, Virginia has 340 member groups representing approximately 93,000 physicians. The organization works to improve health care for patients by supporting multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems of care. It recently announced its report called “Healthcare Reform Principles” which it hopes will dramatically change the delivery of healthcare and reimbursement methodology. The number one priority of AMGA’s plan is to ensure access to care and reduce the number of Americans without healthcare insurance (currently reported to be 45.7 million). To read a press release about the report, click here.
Several of AMGA’s suggestions have been discussed and debated for years, including the problems of caring for the uninsured. However, there are some new ideas that should be considered and discussed by both MSPs and healthcare practitioners.
Is the healthcare industry recession-resistant?
It is no secret that the declining U.S. economy is going to have a significant impact on a number of industries (automotive, airlines, shipping and delivery to mention a few). For some reason I was confident that recession would not directly impact the delivery of healthcare services in this country. Allow me to publicly admit, I was wrong.
How many hospitals will be forced to cut staff? How many are re-evaluating which services to deliver and which should be closed. How many are actively searching for ways to cut costs? Google “hospital cost cutting” and you will get 650,000 hits reporting on the economic downturn leading to lay-offs, pay cuts, hiring freezes, reduction in travel and capital spending. Budget cuts are everywhere and will continue!
For MSPs cutting costs for credentialing/privileging is not easy. We still have the mandates of accreditation agencies, conditions of participation and state legislation that must be considered. What if in the perfect world there actually was a way to cut costs? Would any one listen? Here are my top favorites:
Background checks would only be conducted for initial applications when certain triggers are met and would NOT be conducted again at reappointment.
All practitioners would be enrolled in the Proactive Disclosure Service of the National Practitioner Data Bank.
ONE, universal application form would be accepted by ALL health plans and health care facilities!
Please don’t wake me. I’m really enjoying this DREAM!
Carole La Pine, MSA, CPMSM, CPCS