Authors:Nathan Kleinman, Justin Shaneman, and Ian Beren. Anyone who has selected health insurance in the past decade is probably familiar with the concept of “networks.” Under the rules of an insurance policy, patients will pay a different portion of treatment costs depending on whether specific doctors and hospitals are part of the insurance plan’s approved…
Author Archives: Wendy Lynch, Ph.D.
High-Cost Hospitals: Because Patients are Sicker? Think Again.
Authors: Wendy Lynch, Ian Beren, Justin Shaneman and Nathan Kleinman. It’s not surprising news that inpatient healthcare costs vary from hospital to hospital; large differences in price for the same procedure are common. But the reasons for variation are less clear. Some hospitals have consistently more expensive fees for identical treatments. However, these differences do…
Paying patients to take drugs, or helping them make informed choices?
It’s hard to imagine something scarier than a heart attack: crushing pain, combined with the realization that the organ you rely on to beat every second of every day is in trouble. Suddenly, you are mortal. Many patients who experience a heart attack consider it a wake-up call, and a reason to take better care…
Your Anger is Understandable; Now Do Something With It
While virtually every other sector of the economy stays flat, healthcare costs will climb once again in 2012. The average cost of healthcare coverage for US employees will exceed $10,000 (1). Already squeezed to balance budgets, employers are looking for any cost savings they can find. Given their track record for reducing costs, it is…
Note to consumers: the rules in healthcare are a little different
Let’s say you’ve invented a new product. Before you can sell it, you need to figure out its price such that you maximize revenue without pricing it higher than your customers will pay. If it costs more than similar products, you’ll need to figure out how to convince people to pay more for your product…
The similarity between financial markets and healthcare: uncertainty
A question: Does uncertainty in medicine mean consumers should be more or less involved in choices? As the country watched wild swings in the stock market these past weeks, every investor faced unfortunate hindsight: if only I had cashed out at 12,500! Combined with the pain of continued uncertainty, many investors decided to remove their…
The power of consumer ratings: How Yelp! and Amazon will promote healthcare quality
Online consumer ratings of healthcare services are a reality. On sites like Yelp!, Angie’s List, and RateMDs, a growing number of patients can (and do) rate their physicians and hospitals on a variety of factors related to service and treatment. Other patients place a very high value on individually-reported experiences, so much so that researchers…
In healthcare, why it is best that we choose for ourselves.
Faced with a difficult medical situation, it is not uncommon for patients to ask doctors for advice. But asking, “Doctor, what should I do?” is a very different question than, “Doctor, can you help me understand and weigh my options?” It may sound like semantics, but your involvement and participation in making personal health decisions…
Unless consumers demand innovation, there’s no end to the rising cost of healthcare.
In 1992, I worked for a data analysis firm that had to spend a considerable portion of its revenue to purchase data storage. I recall that a computer storing 10 gigabytes of data cost over $60,000 and measured several feet across. Today, the same capacity (at one hundred times the speed, in the palm of…
Imagine a football team without a front line. That’s medicine when (if) primary care declares independence.
Behind closed doors trouble is brewing, and maybe it’s about time. The situation has all the elements of a daytime drama: an exclusive cartel dictating price; a powerful committee with secret members and closed-door meetings trying to avoid exposure; members threatening mutiny; and media “spin” making it hard for the public to tell good guys…