I have previously written about the increased pace of medical provider/hospital mergers since the Affordable Care Act was passed. By consolidating choices and moving more services into hospital settings, where pricing is much higher for the same treatment, facilities are able to negotiate better PPO rates, increase revenue, and improve profitability. This exact same trend
This article discusses a HIPAA violation so obscene it is difficult to believe. A nurse took a picture of a patient’s private area while he was unconscious, and then sent the pictures to her coworkers via text message. Obviously this is a colossal mistake, and a violation of privacy, decency and common sense. These types
I often find myself coming back to this issue because it is so troubling – the third leading cause of death in America is, in fact, our nation’s healthcare. Patients are dying from the medical treatment itself versus the actual health issue they sought care for in the first place. Whether it be inappropriate medications,
This article was quite an eye opener for me because I had always thought authenticity was an important goal for relationships and that always meant just being yourself. This article forced me to rethink my definition of authenticity. The concept is pretty simple; the advice to “just be yourself” isn’t always the most beneficial. Being your true
An article recently came out in Business Insurance detailing a study that revealed 10.4% of people with chronic pain who were prescribed opioids also tested positive for illegal drugs. This sounded like a smoking gun on how opioids can often lead to addiction. When I dug deeper, the data was a little surprising. Of the total
In a recent blog, I wrote about the seven keys to happiness. Now science has some data on the keys to happiness AND success, thanks to a new book by Emma Seppala, Science Director for Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Many of us believe that we must pay a price for
Recently, the CDC published the first national standards for prescribing opioids, new standards specifically dedicated to confronting this crisis. This set of guidelines will provide much greater leverage going forward when interacting with non-compliant providers, much as evidence-based guidelines have afforded crucial controls for assuring patients receive appropriate care. We are also starting to see some
