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Of HHS and AHIP
By Darrell K. Pruitt DDS
If HHS and AHIP continue to give doctors the bum’s rush, what languages can we expect migrant providers to speak well?
The Conference
Last week, I came across a video of a health care conference held a month ago at the University of Miami. During a discussion period, a Miami spinal surgeon named Dr. Nordham warned that more Medicare pay cuts will make small, solo practices like his unsustainable.
Karen Speaks
Panelist Karen Ignagni, who is president and the CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), reacted defensively in favor of continued unsustainable discounts – but with a hasty, disingenuous response: “We’re seeing out of network charges of 95 times Medicare fees.” While as if on cue, former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, who is also president of the university, offered her cold interpretation of the small business owner’s legitimate fears: “He’s really complaining that the price is going down [according to law].”
Shalala Speaks
After also ignoring the physician’s plea, “There needs to be more transparency,” Shalala and Ignagni continue an irrelevant, buzzword-filled discussion with each other using flowing hand gestures while shutting out the doctor’s attempts to bring the conversation back on topic. Then abruptly, without giving Dr. Nordham the opportunity to say another word, Shalala slammed the door: “…. I think we’ll take the next question, thank you.” Then she threw him a bone, “It’s a very important question, though.”
###
Assessment
The 4 minutes of unvarnished disrespect of Dr. Nordham is so transparent that one wonders whether Shalala and Ignagni were even aware that their half-baked PR game was being recorded for C-span.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/event/214023 (from 2:09:53 to 2:13:42)
They probably thought nobody stays up that late.
More: Chapter 13: IT, eMRs & GroupWare
Conclusion
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Filed under: Information Technology, Professional Liability, Pruitt's Platform, Videos | Tagged: AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans, Donna Shalala, Dr. Nordham, HHS, Karen Ignagni | Leave a comment »
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