Business

Primary-care physicians / shutterstock

As health systems maneuver to dominate regional markets, physician employment has become their principal lever. Primary care physicians (PCPs) are now precious commodities that can manage populations and steer patients into the system’s services.[read more]

Brianna Garrison, oncology social worker

Do you have resources to deal with cancer that go beyond understanding treatment? Patients like me certainly spend a lot of time talking about treatments, and research into better treatments, which makes a lot of sense. But that’s just part of the cancer journey.[read more]

Emergency department / Lisa Jarvis, Wiki Commons

Insightful new healthcare research from the RAND Corp, commissioned by the Emergency Medicine Action Fund, proposes that the 4 percent of U.S. physicians who work in emergency rooms serve as the major decisionmakers for nearly half of all hospital admissions in the U.S.[read more]

healthcare costs

Under today’s reimbursement system, better care doesn’t always yield better business results. That’s because healthcare organizations aren’t incentivized to eliminate profitable procedures that may not benefit patients. The way most hospitals and clinicians are paid today, why would we expect otherwise?[read more]

It’s been just over one year since the JOBS Act was passed, which makes equity- and debt-based crowdfunding legal for accredited and nonaccredited investors. Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to finalize and implement specific rules around those provisions, several online platforms have plowed ahead and created private portals for accredited investors and startups to find each other in the meantime.[read more]

patient engagement / shutterstock

This is the transcript of my recent interview with Harvard Pilgrim’s CEO Eric Schultz. We talk about what consumer engagement is, how it is finally starting to get real traction, and what Harvard Pilgrim is doing in that area.[read more]

Andy Rooney, lovable curmudgeon

I am getting close to the age where I should be a bit confused, but my younger colleagues also seem confused about the Affordable Care Act. From what I read the Affordable Care Act is not affordable, nor is it patient oriented. Patients really had little to do with its formation.[read more]

primary care / shutterstock

A report from one of the largest physician recruiting firms in the country could give some heft to the specialty of primary care (whose disciplines include general internal medicine, family medicine, general pediatrics, and primary OB/GYN). Americans are spending more money on primary care physicians than on specialist care.[read more]

Hospitals & digital marketing

Hospital executives say they are increasing their digital marketing budgets to reach and influence doctors. Close to 30 percent (on average, about $13,000) is aimed at physicians, and the balance targets consumers for the typical small hospital budget.[read more]

Phil Stafford / Shutterstock.com

Angelina’s decision to have a double mastectomy shows healthcare marketing’s inner potential. By pairing the sexy science of genomic medicine with the breathtaking boldness of patient empowerment, Angelina has given us a glimpse of its beautiful potential.[read more]

health news

One of the main tenets of the ACA is the assimilation by Medicaid of the eligible uninsured. In order to attract more physicians who will accept Medicaid CMS, the states have promised to increase reimbursements for physicians who accept Medicaid. But physicians are balking.[read more]

health care delivery / shutterstock

We have a real paradox in American healthcare. On the one hand we have exceptionally well educated and well trained providers who are committed to our care; we can be pleased at what is available when needed for our care. On the other hand, we have a dysfunctional health care delivery system.[read more]