Author archive
By MICHAEL L. MILLENSON The recent news that thousands of seniors with cancer are being denied treatment with expensive chemotherapy drugs as a result of sequestration-mandated budget cuts raises the question of whether other patients are being equally harmed, but less visibly. A careful study of the impact of past federal budget cutting suggests a troubling […]
By MICHAEL L. MILLENSON The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute has just appointed four new advisory panels that will help guide hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants. Unfortunately, while PCORI released the new advisers’ names, it neglected to tell the public who the advisory panel members really are. Let me explain. PCORI says its […]
By Michael L. Millenson In case you missed it, the shocking news was that health IT companies that stood to profit from billions of dollars in federal subsidies to potential customers poured in – well, actually, poured in not that much money at all when you think about it – lobbying for passage of the […]
By Michael L. Millenson It is as natural for doctors, hospitals, health plans and others to aggressively affirm their “patient-centeredness” as it is for politicians to loudly proclaim their fealty to the hard-working American middle class. Like the politicians, the health care professionals no doubt believe every word they say. The most accurate measure of […]
Money and power are embracing the patient engagement movement because of the bottom-line connection to better outcomes in chronic disease and higher payments to providers meeting new government benchmarks.
Money and power are embracing the patient engagement movement because of the bottom-line connection to better outcomes in chronic disease and higher payments to providers meeting new government benchmarks.
By Kent Bottles, MD Recent articles highlight challenges with holding providers accountable for the care they deliver. One of the major thrusts of efforts to transform the American healthcare delivery system has been to become more patient-centered and to allow patients to provide feedback that matters. Emblematic of this is the emphasis on patient involvement […]
In modern terms, Downton Abbey seems to offer long-time employees comprehensive and generous health and disability coverage. But how does it compare to Obamacare?
When Homer Warner first started using computers in a hospital, the computers were analog and the house call was state-of-the-art. Warner, who died recently at age 90, did more than anyone else to translate research into innovations that continue to hav…
Forget finances and the fiscal cliff: raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 is likely to kill some of those left behind – even if they already have private insurance. And cutting provider reimbursement too deeply? Ditto. Most of the criticism of a proposed two-year age hike has focused […]