Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Pediatric Consumerism

August 10, 2009 – 8:50 am by ScottSchoenvogel

I had first hand experience this weekend using a significant amount of healthcare service for the lowest cost possible. Here is the short story: my two year old daughter had a fever and started coughing in her sleep Friday night. We use a pediatrician that is open on Saturday so we walk in for a simple pediatrician visit at 9 am on Saturday morning. The diagnosis is ear infection. We are prescribed some generic antibiotics and get a free sample of cough medication. After feeling great all day on Saturday, my daughter is then up all night coughing, weezing, writhing, and crying hoarsely. Turns out that she really has the croup (basically, a dangerous form of laryngitis for kids). We are able to call the pediatrician's nurse hotline on Sunday morning and figure out that steroids are recommended for cases where wheezing and throat inflammation continue (swollen throats in children can ...

Posted in Costs of Care | No Comments »

The Co-Op Model

August 6, 2009 – 8:43 am by ScottSchoenvogel

One of the solutions being battered about in the news regarding the various health reform proposals is the use of an insurance co-op model vs. a public option insurance plan. A co-op is just a legal structure for a bunch of individuals and families to buy insurance as if they were an employer. At one point, Compass thought this would be a great structure to combine with our consumer support tools and knowledge regarding cost effective plan designs. When we did more research on the model, we found that existing co-ops often struggled because many people joined the group who could not get insurance otherwise. When the claims of those high healthcare users began to impact renewal rates, premiums for the overall group began to go up forcing out members who could get low cost individually rated private insurance. This left the co-op in a downward spiral of costs which is ...

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Surgical Physician Assistants

August 5, 2009 – 7:34 am by ScottSchoenvogel

We are seeing an increasing amount of billing abuse from surgical physician assistants who are balance billing patients the same gross charge as the physician - a cost usually between $5,000 and $10,000. The reality is that most insurance companies only allow these physician assistant to bill a quarter of the physician fee - often 5% or less of the total charge. Consumers should be on the alert for this type of bad billing practice.

Posted in Costs of Care | No Comments »

Surgical Volume Anecdotes – Behavior is Changing

August 5, 2009 – 7:31 am by ScottSchoenvogel

Eric told me last night that the surgical volume in many of the surrounding hospitals seem to be down substantially. When talking to GI docs about their endoscopies, Eric noted that they were complaining that volumes for diagnostic endoscopies had dropped from 10 a week to 2 per doctor. When the doctor described what was happening, many patients were simply saying "Doc, can I just try the medicine first" and the doc has to say "sure". The point is that high deductible health plans and the economy are pushing people away from expensive procedures because those hit procedures are starting to hit patient pocket books in a way that matters. This trend just emphasizes the point that the path to behavior change is through the pocketbook and the responsible way to manage that change is by teaching people to become good healthcare consumers.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Great WSJ Opinion Article on Health Reform

August 5, 2009 – 7:26 am by ScottSchoenvogel

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574324361508092006.html Mr. Laffer simply points out that any plan that does tie patients to their healthcare costs will ultimately create unfettered demand and promote runaway costs. Nothing in the healthcare reform lexicon today seems to focus on this fact and thus reform discussions as they exist will only further the existing cost problem.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Patient Decision Making

August 4, 2009 – 7:38 am by ScottSchoenvogel

Here is a good article from the WSJ on the power of patient decision making and illustrates the fact that there is no one right answer when it comes to health - each patient / consumer is unique http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203674704574328570637446770.html Compass can help patients understand their options and can point them in directions where they can get more information so they can be both an informed patient and consumer.

Posted in Behavior Change | No Comments »

Oz of Prevention = Pound of Cure?…Maybe Not When It Comes to Cost

August 4, 2009 – 7:19 am by ScottSchoenvogel

Take a look at this article from MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32275652/ns/health-health_care/ In this article, the National Institute of Health recognizes that certain activities such as preventive testing do not necessarily save money. The takeaway for the consumer has to be that preventive testing is not necessarily the answer for health care cost containment. That being said, the article participants still find preventive tests extremely valuable in terms of their ability to save lives.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Physician & Hospital Accountability

August 1, 2009 – 4:04 pm by ScottSchoenvogel

There is a reason why healthcare consumerism has the potential to be such a powerful force for change: an empowered patient is the only person to whom a physician or hospital executive feels any accountability. The primary purpose of both physicians and hospitals is to serve and heal patients, often in a time of individual pain or crisis. The patient, usually at their weakest point, has to place an extraordinary level of trust in their care provider to treat them both fairly, kindly and efficiently according to his or her individual value system. While there are many forces pushing healthcare providers, violation of a patient's trust shakes them to the very core. It is easy for a healthcare provider to turn the other way when patients are not educated consumers. Unfortunately, many providers use this lack of understanding or transparency to take advantage of the inefficiency inherent in the healthcare system today. By educating yourself and communicating your personal quality ...

Posted in Behavior Change | No Comments »

Accessing $4 Prescriptions

August 1, 2009 – 3:39 pm by ScottSchoenvogel

$4 prescriptions exist for more and more medications. The problem is that most participating pharmacies choose to only offer $4 prescriptions in specific amounts and dosages. That means that you may not get the $4 price if your doctor prescribes you a dosage or an amount that does not meet the pharmacy specifications. There are two ways to address this situation: 1. Take the $4 list from your pharmacy to your physician and ask if you can address your prescription needs with the specific prescriptions on the list 2. Use Compass to coordinate that conversation with your doctor on your behalf Either way, be a savvy consumer and don't let a few pharmacy tricks keep you from paying the true cost of care.

Posted in Costs of Care | No Comments »

Healthcare Reform & Consumerism

August 1, 2009 – 3:19 pm by ScottSchoenvogel

I continue to read countless articles about the various healthcare reform bills that really do not have much to say other than everyone disagrees on how to move forward and whatever happens should cost more than financial bailout. Well, I guess there are tidbits about a public insurance option, increased taxes for the wealthy, and some protection for those with pre-existing conditions. Does all of this healthcare reform talk have any implications for consumers? The answer is not yet but it might over the long run. For the interim, I suspect it will be business as usual because of the huge financial forces keeping the current system in place - the great "hidden" private insurance tax subsidizing the true cost of government programs. Medicare and Medicaid pay 25% less than the cost of care and private insurance pays 27% more than the cost of care. The net 2% is profit for large healthcare system providers which ...

Posted in Costs of Care, Health Insurance Premiums, Universal Healthcare | No Comments »

Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Pediatric Consumerism

The Co-Op Model

Surgical Physician Assistants

Surgical Volume Anecdotes – Behavior is Changing

Great WSJ Opinion Article on Health Reform

Patient Decision Making

Oz of Prevention = Pound of Cure?…Maybe Not When It Comes to Cost

Physician & Hospital Accountability

Accessing $4 Prescriptions

Healthcare Reform & Consumerism

Recent Comments

Recent Post

Pages

Archives

Categories

Eric's Blogroll

Scott's Blogroll

Users