Bon Voyage

The Healthcare Economist will be taking a break from blogging.  I’ll be on vacation in Israel (Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv) and Egypt (Cairo) for two weeks.  Blogging will return in the new year. Here is some information on each country: Egypt Hello: as-salam alaykum Language: Arabic Population: 80.5 million GDP: $469 billion GDP per capita: $5,900.…

Home Health Case Mix

In 2006, 2.9 million Medicare beneficiaries received home health services.  The home health benefits provides Medicare enrollees to access to services such as: skilled nursing care;  physical, occupational, and speech therapy;  medical social work, and home health aide services. Medicare pays home health agencies (HHA) based on 60-day episodes of care.  Each HHA receives a flat payment for all…

Tuesday Links

Drunken Ultimatum Game. Massively Collaborative Mathematics. Thirdhand Smoke. Do faculty members accept money to promote drugs? South Texan use of Mexican medical services: 49% bought pharmaceticals, 41% visited a dentist. Who failed the Activia Challenge? Will the Google Price Index replace CPI? Greinke!!!

Kaiser Permanente’s EHR System

As of 2009, only 9 percent of America’s hospitals were using even a basic form of electronic medical records (EHR) and as of 2008 only 13 percent of practicing doctors were doing so.  Yet one private health insurer has integrated EHR for hospitals, physicians, outpatient and other services.  I am of course talking about Kaiser Permanente. Today…

Employer Health Benefits in California

California is in the midst of a fiscal crisis.  The New York Times reports that the state now faces a $28.1 billion shortfall in revenue over the next 18 months.  For California workers, things are also bleak.  Unemployment has reached 12% and the cost of health insurance premiums increased by 8.1%. The California Health Care…

Friday Links

Is Medicare controlling costs too well? More money for docs, less for exchange subsidies. Are illegal drug users more likely to user the ER? The AMA’s powerful Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee. What I like about Scrooge. One-third of the uninsured have family incomes of more than $50,000 per year. Hip implants fail.