Health Care

Albany County Invited Everyone to a Nursing Home Party but No One’s Coming?

August 4, 2012 County

We’ve been waiting for Albany County to reveal what responses they got to their RFP’s regarding sale or management of the Albany County Nursing Home. The Times-Union grew impatient and filed a FOIL request. Here’s the TU’s story on what they learned. There were no bids to buy the facility and only one bid to […]

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We’re Back. But the County Nursing Home Issue Never Left

August 3, 2012 County

Well, I tried to take a vacation … While I was away, a friend tracked me down. He’s analyzing what a specific county (not to be named here) might and should do with their nursing home. A couple of things came up. The first and most interesting was the number of patients who had been […]

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Final Thoughts on the ACA Before the Supreme Court Decision is Announced

June 27, 2012 Democrat

Like most, I’ve done my tea-leaf reading. If we were sitting around over coffee or beer, I’d speculate with you on what the Supreme Court will announce tomorrow as its decision on the Affordable Care Act, health care reform. I won’t here. It’s pointless and there are thousands who’ve already covered that ground. I will […]

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Coverage Matters, Regardless of What the Supreme Court Says

June 25, 2012 Government

When the Supreme Court releases its decision today or later this week on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there will be analyses galore on the law, the politics, and on policy as well. We’ll likely join in. But, in the midst of all that as far as healthcare is concerned , there will be one […]

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Managed Long Term Care and the Implications for Public Nursing Homes

June 12, 2012 County Government

As we discussed earlier, New York (and many other states) is moving its Medicaid policy toward managed long-term care. Here’s an excerpt of what we wrote earlier: First, the State finally decided to bring the rest of the Medicaid population into some form of capitated, case-managed care. When the State originally imposed mandatory managed care […]

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NYC Hospital Merger

June 7, 2012 Health Care

Here’s today’s big New York City hospital/health care story: NYU and Continuum take the first formal step toward merger. Interesting that even the NYT and presumably they still use their old names, Beth Israel and St. Lukes/Roosevelt. And where is that proverb from? “When elephants fight, the grass loses”? Or something like that.

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More on, and a Possible Correction on IGT

June 7, 2012 Budget

Last week, we noted that the Federal government wants some of its IGT money back. I’m not, not, not going to try to explain how this program works or why and how counties put up $.50 on one day and the next day their nursing homes get back $1.00. But during the recession, counties only […]

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The Health Care System in the US is Consuming its Consumers

May 31, 2012 Economics

The Health Care Cost Institute has released a new report, but which is still another reminder of why we cannot afford the US healthcare system. Last week, we pointed to a study that showed increasing dissatisfaction and increasing prices. The 2010 HCCI Health Care Cost and Utilization Report is the first report of its kind […]

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Usually Customer Dissatisfaction Leads to Reduced Prices

May 29, 2012 Economics

Usually customer dissatisfaction leads to reduced prices … but not always in health care. Lousy care, but the price keeps going up. Didn’t we already know that? If this isn’t evidence that there are significant distortions in the healthcare market, I don’t know what might be. And if there are significant distortions in a market, […]

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Depends on What You Mean by “Correctly”

April 9, 2012 Capital

Later in the the day after New York’s Public Health & Health Planning Council deferred Albany County’s certificate of need application for the second time, Shawn Morse, the Chairman of the Albany County Legislature pointed to this news story and posted the following on Twitter: …looks like one county can get it done and done […]

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