Posted by: AtlasMD

November 26, 2013

Medicare Penalizes Nearly 1,500 Hospitals For Poor Quality Scores

As you know, the health law’s insurance markets are struggling. Oh well, that hasn’t stopped the Obama administration from moving ahead with its second year of “meting out bonuses and penalties to hospitals based on the quality of their care,” says NPR.

And this year, it looks like more hospitals lost than won.

So how does this bureaucratic mousetrap work? The government determines if hospitals get more or less Medicare dollars for the work they complete based on patients’ surveys. And what were this year’s results? According to NPR, “Medicare has raised payment rates to 1,231 hospitals based on two-dozen quality measurements, including surveys of patient satisfaction and — for the first time — death rates. Another 1,451 hospitals are being paid less for each Medicare patient they treat for the year that began Oct. 1.”

NPR says half the hospitals will see negligible changes while others are going to see a noticeable difference.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

November 23, 2013

More Dutch Inspiration – Needless ER Visits Waste Money

You know our style. We’re opinionated folks here. We speak liberally about the red tape that bloats healthcare costs—absurd ER charges for one. You’ve heard our spiel: We insist that affordable primary care like what we offer at Atlas MD can keep people out of the ER, and save everyone (patients’ wallets, insurance companies’ payouts, frazzled doctors’ sanity, even our nation’s budget) considerably.

Speaking of costly ER charges, NPR just wrote another piece about the topic. It’s also Dutch-related, and definitely worth checking out.

NPR writes, “In the United States, the growing number of uninsured Americans means more people do not have a family doctor or primary care provider. When they suffer a worrisome accident or problem, they may end up in the nearest hospital emergency room.”

And this is where we as a nation are just pouring money down the drain.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

November 22, 2013

Food For Thought – Dutch Healthcare

It feels like the sky is perpetually falling on the American healthcare system. And yes, the first part of solving a problem is admitting you have one. But, we came across an NPR article discussing some things the Dutch do differently than we do. Really, it isn’t a question of whether one of us is doing it better than the other. Instead it’s that these differences could suggest our different value systems.

Take this quote, for example: “The Dutch like their health care system and feel comfortable with it, polls show, even when things don’t go exactly as they want.” This aligns with the Dutch’s values of pragmatism and stoicism.

In the Netherlands, many women try to have their babies at home. NPR claims that is because “[Dutch women] view giving birth as something that should be natural, not medical.” And services across the country align with this idea. In Amsterdam there’s a center for pregnant women that combines a spa, shopping center and school — not something we’ve heard of here in the States.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

September 17, 2013

Who’d Have Thought Colonoscopies Could Explain it All

We’re glad that John Green directed us to this New York Times article from June. A story of Deirdre Yapalater’s colonoscopy illustrates many of the market failures driving up healthcare costs in America. The publication was kind enough to create an interactive map that lets you compare the average cost of a colonoscopy across the country, too. Very cool.

“… Ms. Yapalater recalled, she did not ask her doctors about the cost of her colonoscopy because it was covered by insurance and because ‘if a doctor says you need it, you don’t ask.’ In many other countries, price lists of common procedures are publicly available in every clinic and office. Here, it can be nearly impossible to find out.”

Yet again, we see the rebellious nature of our direct care model. Given, we aren’t performing colonoscopies here at Atlas MD, we ARE ADVOCATES FOR OUR PATIENTS, and will get in the trenches and negotiate fair prices. It’s in patients’ interest, and our interest, part of the beauty of the free market. But there’s more the article considers…

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Posted by: AtlasMD

September 17, 2013

John Green Breaks Down The Inefficiency Of American Healthcare Spending

UPWORTHY linked us to a fantastic video from John Green, astronomically prolific writer and thinker, who explains why healthcare is SO EXPENSIVE IN AMERICA. It’s seven-minutes long but he covers EVERYTHING. Did he mention the red tape? Of course he did. And he also mentioned a fundamental reason for Americans overpaying for EVERYTHING healthcare-related. It’s rooted our inability to negotiate the prices we pay. One thing he didn’t mention? Direct care. And to his point, we are a David up against a Goliath system. But before we turn to the government to negotiate for us, let’s consider the alternatives, doctors like us who can use our power to help patients get the care they need at a price they can afford.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Who is Hank? Hank is John’s brother. They have amassed over 300 million views on their vlog brothers YouTube channel where they take turns explaining things to each other.

Click through for some helpful links John Green provided along with the original video… Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 16, 2013

Quality Trumps Quantity in Healthcare

tobyWe came across an article on LinkedIn discussing a new breakthrough. It’s not “scientifically” proven, more of a hypothesis really. Toby Cosgrove, CEO and President at Cleveland Clinic, says, “It’s the dawning realization that healthcare is not about how many patients you can see, how many tests and procedures you can order, or how much you can charge for these things.” Sounds like Atlas MD.

READ HIS BLOG POST ON LINKEDIN

SIDE NOTE: He ends with a strange promotion of Obamacare, which we do have our own questions about. And we’re equally surprised he didn’t mention direct care in his post. We’re earning profits offering unlimited doctors appointments and free telemedicine of sorts (Tweeting personal advice, making simple diagnoses via texting, Skyping with patients, etc.), and we’re doing it at prices far lower than insurance-based services. Couple that with our work to negotiate prescriptions for pennies on the dollar and steep discounts on MRIs and other procedures and it’s clear we are a quality-focused operation.

Photo of Toby Cosgrove courtesy of my.clevelandclinic.org

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 9, 2013

National Commission on Physician Payment Reform Recommends Fee-for-Service Payment be Phased Out in Five Years

Here’s a huge announcement from the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform. They recently issued a report outlining 12 sweeping recommendations designed to rein in rampant health spending and improve our nation’s quality of care.

How will they accomplish this? By fundamentally restructuring the way doctors are paid.

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Posted by: AtlasMD

September 3, 2013

How a Cabal Keeps Generics Scarce

How a Cabal Keeps Generics Scarce

So around a year ago, President Obama signed a law meant to end chronic shortages of lifesaving drugs. However, a critical lack of generic drugs continues. This is being called a “preventable crisis” and it’s harming patients, even leading to death in the case of botched anesthesias. The New York Times does not believe the law will be effective, in part because it addresses the symptoms but not at all the disease.

Posted by: AtlasMD

September 3, 2013

You CAN Charge $546 for Six Liters of Saltwater in America

You CAN Charge $546 for Six Liters of Saltwater in America

When we first read this headline, we thought it was a loose allegory, something akin to selling ice to an eskimo. But no, this headline is to be taken literally. The New York Times ran this article following up on absurd charges billed to a group of tourists who came down with severe food poisoning. According to the Times, “Some of the patients’ bills would later include markups of 100 to 200 times the manufacturer’s price, not counting separate charges for ‘IV administration.’ And on other bills, a bundled charge for ‘IV therapy’ was almost 1,000 times the official cost of the solution.”

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Posted by: AtlasMD

August 27, 2013

Shopping For HealthCare Services Not Easy Due To Lack Of Publicly Available Information On Quality And Value

Shopping For HealthCare Services Not Easy Due To Lack Of Publicly Available Information On Quality And Value

After reviewing the findings from a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dark Daily reports that “most state websites aimed at transparency in healthcare pricing [are] inaccurate and basically useless in helping consumers shop for services.” This coming from a respectable publication, we’re left to assume the data was abysmal.

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