Is the Public’s Appetite for Medicare Reform Bigger Than Thought?
Here’s a good brief summary of conflicting poll results as the first Medicaid cuts come on the table. Bottom line: Nobody knows what the public thinks. The polling is merely a tool to drive whatever narrative is being pushed. Anyone who quotes them is in the advocacy business. The real bottom line is that […]
AI and VBC
This is an experiment where patient actors spoke either with a doctor or an AI chatbot (made by Google Research) by typing back and forth – they didn’t know which they were speaking to. AI won for diagnostic accuracy, empathy, and patient confidence. Imagine an AI chatbot at the front door of emergency departments – […]
“Similar Other”: A Key Persuasion Tactic Just Got Harder…And More Effective
“Similar Other” We are more effectively influenced by those who we see as “just like us.” Appearance. Life Experience. Speech. Now add politics to the list…powerfully. VBC is all about change. You get a fixed amount of revenue to cover the care costs of a given patient in a given state of health and habits. […]
VBC: You’re Going to be Financially Responsible for the Cost of Your Errors
NHS survey N>10,000 Broad definition of “harm.” 6.2% reported “harm” through treatment. Another 3.5% from lack of access. Under VBC the primary threat from errors is no longer litigation, it’s operational. Because you’re going to be financially responsible for the cost of your errors, every mistake is going to hit your bottom line. Oh, you […]
Big Changes at HHS
RFK just announced the first set of changes at HHS. Most were at CDC, FDA, and NIH, which speaks well of my peeps at CMS. Enforcement aside, they’ve always run a pretty lean ship with operations farmed out to their regional contractors. For your purposes, with analysis (informed by my friends at CMS itself): CMS […]
VBC, the Worried Well, and their Impact on Your Success
“Don’t just do something, stand there.” The single most valuable lesson I ever learned. An excellent exploration here. A must read for anyone who wants to succeed in VBC. In medicine, the temptation to “do something” is overwhelming. And the “worried well” are you biggest risks. They want you to “do something” the most. But […]
In VBC, Persuasion and Influence = Success…
…you better understand how to do it right.
Hugely Important Change for Coding Compliance
This is a big deal These same DAs have long been resistant to joining the qui tam actions whistleblowers have been bringing for coding fraud. I know, because I’ve worked with these attorneys and they’ve told me just that. They told me it was because the cases were too complex, but I suspect most wrong-doers were […]
The First Advice to Medicare Advantage Primes
When I’m retained to help a PCP improve their Medicare Advantage performance under a shared-risk contract, what’s my first piece of advice? Relax. If they’re working under a shared-risk contract, Medicare Advantage will reward them for doing what they do best—taking great care of their patients. Sure, they’ll be bombarded with metrics they have to […]
A Telemedicine Story: Samantha
Samantha was freaking out. Not only was she wearing a scratchy paper hospital gown, but she was anxiously awaiting the results of her mammogram, done earlier in the week. A double whammy. Her heart beat faster. She was sweating despite the flimsy hospital covering. Her mother had breast cancer, so she had a good chance […]