This might have a bit to say about the IT departments, or the antiquated equipment in place, but with all the large profits being made by health insurers I would guess the have invested heavily as they have with all their reporting services and claim algorithms for calculating claims and approvals for...
Posted to
The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck
on 11-20-2008
Filed under: Medically Related, Insurance, Other Items of Interest, Computers, health insurance, Health IT, Cigna, Lawsuits, United HealthCare
Specially prepared maggots have been approved by the FDA since 2004 for neuropathic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers,venous stasis ulcers, and traumatic and post-surgical wounds. Insurance companies spend thousands of dollars for an amputation but back off at a $100.00 maggot treatment. The American...
This very extensive article examines various hospitals in Massachusetts and the cost of the same procedures at different hospitals, and then continues further to discuss how this happens; contracts with the insurers and the ability to use “branding” to command a higher rate, all the big centers do it...
Posted to
The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck
on 11-16-2008
Filed under: Medically Related, Insurance, Other Items of Interest, My Commentaries, Physicians, Hospitals, bankruptcy, Balance Billing, Transparancy, Debt consolidation, Vendors, Hosptials
Personalized Medicine will create many answers and solutions in healthcare, but will we have the money to afford it? I post quite a bit about genomics and personalized medicine on the blog here and the one thing it has in common with the rest of healthcare is cost. The success of personalized...
Posted to
The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck
on 11-14-2008
Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Insurance, Other Items of Interest, personalized medicine, healthcare, Medical Records, FDA, integration, CMS, Leavitt
You have probably read about this in the news already, but now it looks like they are going after the companies who enroll consumers with health plans too, sending the same type of letter. For updates from Express Scripts, you can check the main support page for any updates. They have contracted...
Posted to
The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck
on 11-12-2008
Filed under: Medically Related, Technology, Insurance, Other Items of Interest, healthcare, privacy, Prescriptions, Data Breach, Investigation, FBI, Extortion, Express Scripts, Kroll
This is a good post from the Happy Hospitalists and touches on some of the same areas discussed here with reference to never-never events as well as areas of responsibility and the finances. There are some real gray areas with the never-never events and the comments made herein substantiate this...
Posted to
The Medical Quack .... by Barbara Duck
on 11-10-2008
Filed under: Medically Related, Insurance, Other Items of Interest, Hospital, healthcare, medicare, Physicians, Medical Errors, Hospitalists, Never-Never, deperate hospitals
Hospitals only receive partial compensation for illegal immigrants, and it ends when the patient is stabilized. This is an interesting story, not so much from the illegal immigrant side, but the advice of the hospital in Arizona is what is scary, as that could happen to anyone, and perhaps someone...