A few months ago I was introduced to a gentleman who had been a corporate VP for employee benefits at a Fortune 100 company for many years. I was impressed with his knowledge of health care. He shared some of his experiences with company employees, who lived all over the country.The company had a policy that when employees were informed they had a very serious medical condition, the company paid ...
Rosemary Gibson
Stop paying for tests that don’t improve health
The October 19 Health Affairs briefing entitled “Saving Medicare Dollars and Improving Care,” sponsored by the ABIM Foundation and other funders, was a watershed moment in which ideas that would require less spending on health care that would actually improve care for patients were discussed on K Street. This is a great message for patients and, it so happens, for the super committee deliberations a few miles away.Dr. Nancy Morioka-Douglas, Clinical Professor of Medicine/Family and Community Medicine ...
What medical professionalism has to do with the federal debt
In recent weeks, headline news has been reporting on the battle to curb the federal debt. What does this have to do with medical professionalism?The federal government must borrow forty cents of every dollar it spends. In health care, it needs to borrow from China and other lenders to reimburse doctors, hospitals and other providers who bill federal programs.The government’s debt totals $14.3 trillion. It is ...
