mommyjenlin

Fee-for-service payments vs. care value payments. On one side you are rewarded for the production of care by filing beds. On the other side you're paid for providing the right care, at the right time, in the right location that in reality, keeps the patient out of a hospital or hospital-based service. Healthcare marketers are caught in the middle of this brave new world trying to drive demand to put "heads in the beds" to generate revenue though the production of care, while trying to manage demand in new payment models that push patients to more appropriate care which may not be the hospital. Somewhere, a group of entrepreneurs is looking at the process of care and have come to the conclusion that a hospital admission is a defect in the quality of care. Are you just trying to survive? An attitude, much often too common in hospital executive leadership that we are just trying to survive. This is sad really, when innovation, growth opportunities and new business developmen...

The debate heats up.......Again...... Much is beginning to be written about healthcare as it continues to consume an ever increasing portion of the GNP; as the medical care component of the CPI continues its rise outpacing the general CPI; as employers find operational costs increasing due to health insurance expenditures; the 2008 campaign...... Well, you get the picture. Intense focus will be coming over the next year as the presidential campaign for 2008 heats up, with the Democrats and Republicans putting forth their proposals on fixing healthcare. State initiatives will also force the issue, cobbling together a patchwork quilt of suggestions, programs and hidden taxes to pay for the "universal" coverage. There will be some new proposals, but I for one expect much of the same. Looking at past history, nothing will really be solved until both parities engage in a discussion of two very basic questions: Is healthcare a right or a benefit and how/who pays? These are the two ...