Health Care

New Health Plan Deliberately Excludes High Cost Hospitals & Other Providers

March 21, 2012 Economics

By Robert Weisman from the Boston Globe: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is teaming up with more than 50 hospitals and 16,500 doctors across the state to offer Massachusetts employers and their workers a 10 percent savings on health insurance by forming what they call a “focused network’’ of medical care groups that excludes Partners HealthCare […]

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Feckless Chapter 2: Albany County Legislature is Clumsy or Slick?

March 20, 2012 County Government

You have got to be kidding me! Well, you could be kidding me or you could be kidding me. Or us. The leadership of the Albany County Legislature has rushed past feckless to either a clumsy attempt at deception or a really slick effort at self-defeat. Or perhaps they really can’t see past the next […]

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Interest Costs. Just a Reminder

March 20, 2012 Capital

If you have ever had a mortgage to pay, you know painfully well how much you pay in interest costs over the life of the mortgage. With interest, total acquisition costs often come close to doubling the purchase price. A new Albany County Nursing Home project (by their own numbers) will require borrowing $70.842 million. […]

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Bits & Pieces

March 16, 2012 Economics

Today’s Grab Bag More “Winner Take All” Economics Sports star economics comes to the law profession. Dewey & LeBoeuf, the result of a 2007 merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Star economics was the subject of Robert Frank’s 1995 book, the Winner Take All Society. Frank’s argument was that partly because […]

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In My Next Life I Want to be a Cartoonist!

March 14, 2012 County Government

John De Rosier just said in one picture what I and many others have spent thousands of words on. Here’s betting that this picture represents a turning point. Go look now!!! Still laughing.

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And Another County Heard From

March 13, 2012 County Government

Saratoga County, NY operates a 277 bed nursing home. Like other county nursing homes, it too loses money. Last night (while Albany was charging ahead on losing more money on a smaller facility), Saratoga County’s leadership headed in a different direction. From the Saratogian: Saratoga County Public Health Committee members voted unanimously Monday to hire […]

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Here We Go Again on Albany County Nursing Home. Let’s Get Up to Date

March 13, 2012 County Government

Where, oh where to start on the latest round regarding a new Albany County Nursing Home? There are so many possibilities. Before getting into the very latest, let’s start by bringing those just joining us up to date. For the new folks, here’s the story so far. Albany County submitted a certificate of need application […]

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Franklin County Really Wants Out the Nursing Home Business

March 7, 2012 Budget

Franklin County is moving ahead with turning its Nursing Home over to a local hospital. From the Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Alice Hyde’s nursing home now has 75 beds and the county nursing home has 80. The new facility would have 135 regular beds plus space for 30 assisted-living residents, who don’t need as much care […]

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So What’s a New County Executive to Do?

February 26, 2012 Budget

Dan McCoy, Albany’s new County Executive will present his first State-of-the-County address this evening, March 5, 2012. What’s he going to say? Here’s my first prediction. Dan McCoy is going to call for selling the Albany County Nursing Home. Why, after building his political coalition among legislators and others, who overwhelmingly wanted to stay in […]

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Back by Popular Request – The Geography of Medicaid Spending

February 23, 2012 Geography

From a while back, but evidently still reality: From one county to another, from one community to the next, there are substantial variations in per capita spending on Medicaid patients. This geographic variation in Medicaid spending offers us a substantial opportunity to identify opportunities to control spending while doing minimal harm or even by improving […]

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