February 2nd, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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The organizations that rate hospitals and doctors have proliferated as the internet has become mainstream over the past 5 years. I’m sure you have seen some of these: U.S. World & News Reports, Consumer Reports Health, Health Grades, Leapfrog, Hospital Compare, Americas Best Doctors and 100 Best Hospitals. My local magazine lists the “top doctors” along with full page paid ads and promos that are very compelling. The questions is, do consumers care? Are these rating agencies really steering people toward top quality in health care?
Each of these agencies and organizations that “rate” have different measurements and criteria for their choices. The top rankings do not necessarily relate to quality outcomes. The Medicare data are two years old. Different treatments and conditions are judged, so a “top” hospital in one area may be a loser in another. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
January 26th, 2010 by Stanley Feld, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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President Obama’s Healthcare Reform Bill will not work. It is based on decreases in physician reimbursement while forcing physicians to increase overhead with unaffordable electronic medical records. More and more physician groups and practices are starting to realize that they cannot make a living from the reimbursement from Medicare. They are quitting taking new Medicare patients and trying to get rid of the old ones by not taking assignment.
President Obama’s idea is to force physicians to be more efficient producers. It is very difficult to force anyone to do anything they cannot afford. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*
October 12th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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From “War on Specialists” in the Wall Street Journal:
Take a provision in the Baucus bill that would punish any physician whose “resource use” is considered too high. Beginning in 2015, Medicare would rank doctors against their peers based on how much they cost the program—and then automatically cut all payments by 5% to anyone who falls into the 90th percentile or above. In practice, this rule will only apply to specialists. , Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
The organizations that rate hospitals and doctors have proliferated as the internet has become mainstream over the past 5 years. I’m sure you have seen some of these: U.S. World & News Reports, Consumer Reports Health, Health Grades, Leapfrog, Hospital Compare, Americas Best Doctors and 100 Best Hospitals. My local magazine lists the “top doctors” along with full page paid ads and promos that are very compelling. The questions is, do consumers care? Are these rating agencies really steering people toward top quality in health care?
