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About Costs of Care.Org

10 Responses

1. Clare, on September 16, 2011 at 3:59 PM said:

   Negotiating with your Physician

   A video on tips for haggling with doctors:
   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44466215#44466215?from=en-us_msnhp&gt1=43001

   Clare

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2. Hope R. Hetico RN MHA, on September 20, 2011 at 4:19 PM said:

   Controlling Costs Must Become Part of Resident Training

   There are six things that young doctors need to learn during their training period as interns and residents, starting with basics like acquiring “medical knowledge” and honing their “patient care” skills.

   The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Medical Specialties make sure that doctors-in-training master these general competencies before they complete their residency training.

   http://www.massmed.org/Content/NavigationMenu2/ContinuingEducationEvents/CMEResources/ACGMECompetencies/ACGME_Competencies.htm

   One more item should be added to this list, according to Dr. Steven E. Weinberger, chief executive of the American College of Physicians: how to provide high-quality medical care without breaking the bank.

   • http://www.annals.org/content/155/6/386.abstract

   • http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-health-care-costs-residents-20110919,0,5453286.story

   Hope R. Hetico RN MHA
   [Managing Editor]

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3. Maxwell, on October 5, 2011 at 10:51 AM said:

   The Health Care Cost Institute [HCCI]

   The HCCI was established to analyze health insurance claims data with the goal of finding new ways to cut costs.

   http://healthcostinstitute.org

   As health insurance companies seek to adopt measures that will reduce costs, the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) has been established to analyze data from more than 5 billion medical claim records representing more than $1 trillion of healthcare activity from calendar year 2000 to the present.

   Maxwell

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4. Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA CMP™, on October 5, 2011 at 12:56 PM said:

   The Top Five [Top] 5 Unnecessary Healthcare Costs

   Doctors’ prescribing a brand-name statin, without first checking to see if a lower-priced generic drug would cut a patient’s cholesterol sufficiently, results in $5.8 billion in excess health-care spending, according to a research letter published October 1st, 2011 by the Archives of Internal Medicine.

   Other expensive practices deemed inappropriate by the authors: bone density scans for women ages 40 to 64 years, costing $527.4 million; ordering CT Scans or MRI’s for lower back pain, amounting to $175.4 million; and prescribing antibiotics to children with sore throats caused by a virus, worth $116.3 million.

   http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archinternmed.2011.501

   Plus One [+1] More from Me

   And, to this list I would add the [over] treatment of plantar fasciitis and heel spur syndrome in runners, obese patients, and most others. Moreover, there is at least one medical blogger that agrees with me on this issue, as well.

   Activity-Based-Medical-Cost Accounting and Management

   Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA CMP™
   http://www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com

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5. Franz, on January 3, 2012 at 7:23 PM said:

   Teaching Residents about Costs: The Price is Right

   It all started while out to dinner with a couple of my fellow Brigham/Massachusetts General Hospital OB/Gyn residents. We were discussing our favorite old TV shows and one fellow resident’s love of The Price Is Right with Bob Barker.

   After talking about the game show, a light bulb went off in my head and I thought, “Why can’t we play The Price is Right with hospital charges to our patients?”

   A nice touchy-feely essay; but not an original thought by any means!

   http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/01/03/teaching-residents-about-costs-the-price-is-right/

   Doc to Patient: Dammit, I’m an MD; not a CPA
   Patient to Doc: OK, then I’ll see the CPA / MD

   Franz

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6. Bentley, on January 4, 2012 at 11:44 PM said:

   Cost-Effectiveness and Medical Care

   Franz – NPR reports a major medical group just issued ethical guidelines that take the provocative position of urging doctors to consider cost-effectiveness when deciding how to treat their patients.

   The American College of Physicians, the second-largest U.S. doctors’ group after the American Medical Association, included the recommendation in the latest version of its ethics manual, which provides guidance for some 132,000 internists nationwide.

   http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/30/144485098/should-doctors-be-parsimonious-about-health-care

   Bentley

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7. Dr. Carter, on January 5, 2012 at 5:13 PM said:

   More on the American College of Physicians and Costs

   Bentley – While some experts estimate that excessive testing accounts for as much as 10 percent of the nation’s spiraling healthcare costs, the ACP’s most recent ethics manual recommends that physicians take a more “parsimonious” approach to deciding how to treat their patients in general.

   http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthcare/studies/story/2011-12-30/Overuse-of-diagnostic-exams-can-harm-patient-health/52284494/1

   And, excessive diagnostic tests may be harmful.

   Dr. Carter

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8. William Rusteberg, on November 7, 2014 at 1:46 PM said:

   Providers Devise New Fees To Levy Against Patients

   Challenged by insurers ratcheting down their payments, hospitals and medical groups are creating more fees and charges for patients to pay as part of the care they receive, The New York Times reported.

   William Rusteberg

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9. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on November 7, 2014 at 4:39 PM said:

   Discounters

   Discount dentistry brokers like Delta Dental (which erroneously calls itself a “dental insurance company”), used to encourage dentists to sign up by encouraging them to charge Delta clients their usual fees for procedures not covered by the plan.

   However, in the last few years, Delta took that profit source away from its preferred providers as well. Even though Delta does not cover cosmetic dentistry, the broker discounts the amount their contracted dentists can charge naive Delta clients for not-covered procedures by about 30%. Happy, but clueless Delta clients aren’t told that 30% is almost all the profit in most dental practices (unless their Delta dentist quietly cuts corners in care).

   Rushed dentistry is no bargain.

   D. Kellus Pruitt DDS

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10. Candi, on January 29, 2020 at 1:30 AM said:

    Medical Bankruptcy?

    https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/10/medical-bankruptcies-happen-less-frequently-than-you-think.html

    Candi

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