Future of Healthcare

Former CMS Administrator Thomas Scully Says Physicians Groups Well-Positioned to Take Advantage of Changes in Healthcare

October 2nd, 2015
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Former CMS Administrator Thomas Scully speaking at Observation Care ’15. The future of healthcare is for physicians, not hospitals. That’s the message former Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Thomas Scully emphasized at the Observation Care ’15 symposium. Scully, who was one of the principal architects of Medicare Part D, said […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, The Shift

Code Black and the Changing Culture of Emergency Medicine

September 24th, 2015
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“The romance isn’t gone. But it’s definitely going.” That was the verdict from Dr. Patsy McNeil, MEP Health’s Director of Patient Satisfaction, as we discussed the documentary film Code Black at a recent Leadership Academy meeting. The film chronicles a handful of emergency medicine residents training at one of the busiest emergency departments in the […]

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Posted in For Residents, Future of Healthcare, Life in the ER

What Does Patient Choice Have to Do With Integrated Care?

February 18th, 2015
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Recently I was taking care of a gentleman in one of our Emergency Departments named Paul. Paul is 55 with a history of alcohol abuse. He also had some psychiatric problems, and was diagnosed with rectal cancer approximately one year ago. He was placed in one of our psychiatric rooms as he was visibly intoxicated and […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, Life in the ER, Quality Efficiency Utilization

What to Consider When A Huge Publicly Traded Company Buys Your Emergency Group

February 5th, 2015
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Successful hospital leaders are masters at managing change. But there’s a difference between change you can foresee (bundled payments, EHR implementations, declining reimbursements, CINs) and change that’s unexpected. As the healthcare industry gravitates toward consolidation, large publicly owned companies are acquiring smaller physician groups at a rapid pace. If your emergency group experiences a merger, […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, Hospital Partnership

Why Big Data in Healthcare is Failing, and What Can Be Done About It

August 19th, 2014
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A few days ago a colleague of mine was inching south through the mother of all traffic jams: 60 straight miles of construction work on I-95 just south Washington DC. The three-lane highway was jammed. Route 1, which runs parallel to I-95 was also jammed. Cars were stalled in the middle of the highway having […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, Life in the ER

The Death of the Independent Physician Practice, or the Birth of the Interdependent Physician Practice?

August 1st, 2014
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We hear a lot about the death of the independent physician practice. But perhaps the more important discussion is about the death of practicing medicine independently. That is, the days when individual physician groups could operate their businesses and treat patients independently and without regard to the surrounding network of other physicians, nursing facilities, health […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, Hospital Partnership

Should Doctors Work for Hospitals? Tough Question.

June 2nd, 2014
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A physician I have known for many years recently told me about his decision to enter the world of concierge medicine. His reasoning was telling, saying that it came down to a very simple decision on staying independent or becoming a hospital employee. He liked being an independent solo practitioner, and that was his primary […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare, Hospital Partnership

Emergency Room Visits Fall Sharply In DC, Maryland

March 4th, 2014
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According to recent data on 22 hospitals in Maryland, visits to the emergency room saw a year over year decline of 10.72 percent last December, reflecting a downward trend doctors say is continuing into 2014. The data indicates that Maryland is reversing years of increases in emergency room use and challenges the conclusions of the […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare

Why the Oregon Medicaid Study Doesn’t Matter As Much As You Think

January 7th, 2014
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2014 has dawned, and with it more than 2.1 million people have new health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. This, as they say, is where the rubber meets the road. But a new study out of Oregon is challenging a key argument for extending health insurance to millions: that doing so will reduce costly […]

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Posted in Future of Healthcare

How Drones Can Play a Role in Improving Healthcare

December 13th, 2013
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Drone use for commercial purposes has gotten much press of late due to Amazon announcing it intends to use drones to deliver packages to customers. This is a very intriguing and transformational idea with many intended and unintended consequences.

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Posted in Future of Healthcare