Health Care

Some History: What We Have Learned Regarding Coverage

January 17, 2017 Government

I’ve been working on health coverage issues since the late 70’s. Here are some of the key things that WE have learned during the time since. Prior to Medicare, private insurers did not offer coverage to the elderly. Most elderly simply got dropped when they turned 65. That’s why we have Medicare. Prior to the […]

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Another County Nursing Home in NYS is Being Sold

April 21, 2016 Adult Day Health Care

With a relative minimum of fuss, Genesee County, NY is finalizing the sale of its nursing home. Final State approval of the transfer is on the agenda. The sale includes the 160 bed skilled nursing facility (SNF), 13 slots for adult day health care, and an 80 bed assisted living facility.  Sale price is $15.2 […]

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Ghost of Tom Joad

November 12, 2014 Economics

Somehow the “The Ghost of Tom Joad” feels timely. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello at Madison Square Garden in NYC, October, 2009.

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The (Slowly) Shifting Center of Gravity in Healthcare

October 2, 2014 Health Care

A friend sent me an article from Crain’s on New York’s DSRIP program. (Here’s a related DSRIP article, this one from Modern Healthcare.) I think his query was largely, though not entirely, from a hospital perspective. And in return, I sent him this one from Health Leaders on the expansion of new health care businesses.  And then, […]

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What Would Coase and Williamson Say?

September 17, 2014 Economics

it will be interesting to see if they can pull this off. This from the New York Times: “Hospitals and Insurer Join Forces in California” In a partnership that appears to be the first of its kind, Anthem Blue Cross, a large California health insurance company, is teaming up with seven fiercely competitive hospital groups […]

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New Tool to Aid New York’s Medicaid Managed Long Term Care Plans

April 28, 2014 Dashboard

Faced with the challenge of a very expensive Medicaid program, New York chose to dramatically reform it. A key element of the reform is moving Medicaid long-term care patients, including nursing home patients, into managed care plans, especially managed long-term care plans (MLTC). A key element of the new policy is that MLTCs need not have […]

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Not “Discharges” but “Transitions”

January 14, 2014 Health Care

Detroit Medical Center has made a concerted effort to re-structure their discharge process, even to the point of re-naming it. This is worth a read. “Now the word we use is transition, a much more refined process, to get our patients back into their community,” says Suzanne White, MD, the eight-hospital system’s executive vice president […]

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Nursing Home Problems Visualized Nationally

October 18, 2013 Dashboard

John Kelly of USA Today and Emily Le Coz of the Jackson (Miss) Clarion-Ledger on USA Today have done an exemplary job of using the latest in data visualization technology to display and enable interactive exploration of nursing home problems. Take a look here! Note the interactivity. Be sure to look at each of the […]

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The American Conservative has Been Running Some Not Nuts Essays

August 28, 2012 Conservative

My liberal friends will be appalled. But suffice to say, there are at least some writers who at The American Conservative who offer a different perspective that what we’re getting from political “conservatives,” (most of whom are really radicals) and who at least know when it’s appropriate to gag. I may not be as conservative, […]

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Useful Tool for Finding Nursing Home Performance Information

August 17, 2012 Health Care

Take a look here. ProPublica, a public interest journalism site, has a tool for identifying nursing homes by location and severity of deficiencies. It has free text capability as well. By way of example, the link is set for New York and the nursing homes with the worst deficiencies.

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