By David Burda – AHRQ’s snapshot of the U.S. healthcare system taken through the lens of 233 performance measures in three domains and six subareas under the quality-of-care domain. The 2021 report is a picture of the healthcare system as it was in 2019, a year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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By David Burda – In this life, as a healthcare journalist, I’m usually writing about what providers and payers are doing or not doing to make the healthcare system work better for consumers. In my other life, as a healthcare ghostwriter, I’m often writing about products and services that their vendors claim will make it easier for providers and payers to serve their customers.
By David Burda – In Bargain, Pete Townshend of The Who sings, “One and one don’t make two. One and one make one.” It’s the romantic notion that when two people who are right for each other get together they essentially become one person. A new being. They are better together than they are apart.
By David Burda – One of my favorite scenes in The Princess Bride is when Miracle Max tells Inigo and Fezzik that Westley is “mostly dead,” which means he’s “slightly alive.” There’s hope for a full recovery. We can say the same thing about value-based reimbursement, if we have as much faith in a few recent VBR status reports as Inigo and Fezzik have in Miracle Max.
By David Burda – As I’ve said before, healthcare providers know how to make patient care as safe as possible. They just lack the total commitment and the right financial incentives to do so. With that bias in mind, another report destined for an email or file folder is out on how to make care safer.
By David Burda – Welcome to the latest installment of 4sight Health’s monthly series, How Healthcare Revolutionaries Think, with Glen Tullman. Our interview series profiles healthcare instigators who believe that outcomes matter, customers count and value rules.
The thought leaders in our community are good about sharing their thoughts on the issues of today. Here are the top read and shared guest posts of October that we think deserve sharing again.
By David Burda – A caveat before you keep reading. As a journalist, I see things as half empty. I leave the half full to the marketing, communications and public relations people. With that bias out in the open, it turns out that not every hospital or health system loves their group purchasing organization.