mommyjenlin

$150 billion dollars for healthcare in the stimulus bill, $19 billion of which is for IT. Think everyone is trying to figure out how they get theirs? And I don't mean the hospitals and IDNs . I figure McKesson and Cerner are well on their way, including a host of other niche players (small and large) healthcare IT providers trying to figure out (as if they haven't already) what's in it for them. With all the different systems and no common standards will this turn into a really more expensive version of the Betamax vs VHS video tape format wars from the mid 1980s with that ancient technology of VCR? Now the budget contains another $600 billion plus for healthcare reform. All told, this totals in excess of $700 billion. Just the first down payment for fixing the system folks. I bet the AHA and AMA are busy figuring out how much they can get without having to change anything. Like I said in previous blogs, its all about politics. Obama being a veteran of Chicago politic...

$1.5 Trillion and Counting A couple of weeks ago, Health Affairs reported that healthcare spending increased by $750 billion to $1.5 trillion. It was also predicted that by 2017 healthcare spending would increase to $4 trillion. Okay, can anybody without giggling too hard really admit that they can comprehend and understand exactly what $4 trillion means? Monopoly money... it has no meaning except for those that can figure out how to be part of that spending. Hospitals, health systems, medical device manufacturers, pharma, physicians, associations etc., all looking at what piece of the pie is theirs. The economist's know what that means. So what else are we to spend our money on? Well, that kind of spending is unsustainable and will force concrete action to fix a broken healthcare system. Just what that will look like is any ones guess at this time. Don't fix it and we will have rationing, long waits and a national healthcare system where no one is cared for. And a dollar th...