Is consolidation in healthcare the work of modern-day robber barons — or the result of overdue reengineering?
he most successful industrialists of America’s Gilded Age were often skewered by contemporary critics as being robber barons. A new generation of naysayers wants to recycle the old rhetoric, this time targeting organizations focused on healthcare: The critics’ clear message: Big money is helping healthcare get bigger, and it’s a bad deal all around. Many…
David Johnson: The perils and possibilities of healthcare apps
In March of 2022, I coauthored a commentary titled “Healthcare’s final frontier: Engaging customers.” It contained this tongue-in-cheek Star Trek reference: “[H]ealthcare is now boldly going where most industries have gone before — into full-fledged consumer engagement.” Wanting full-fledged consumer engagement and making it happen are not synonymous. In the best of healthcare times, providers…
Can MRF data be used for comparative benchmarking?
The impetus for the MRF requirement — as outlined by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) in its 2019 hospital price transparency final rule — was to enable informed decision-making about healthcare services based on their pricing, thereby helping to drive down the cost of healthcare. Yet significant obstacles continue to block…