July 2009 - Posts

• Explaining Runaway Healthcare Costs: On Lunch Clubs and Lap Choleys

  Have you found yourself ‘splaining to friends and family why the healthcare system is so damn expensive? I’ve been teaching health policy for a couple of decades, and I’m surprised that my two favorite stories haven’t yet surfaced in all the discourse. Read More... Posted Mon, Jul 27 2009 6:17 AM by Bob Wachter | 13 Comments Filed under: Efficiency, Health Policy

• McAllen, Texas: The Inside Story

  Many of you already read "The Health Care Blog" (which sometimes carries my posts). In case you don't, please check out today's wonderful father-son interview, which puts a human face on the transformation of McAllen, Texas from sleepy border town into Read More... Posted Wed, Jul 22 2009 7:05 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Efficiency, Health Policy

• Healthcare Rationing: Why Stalin Had it Right

  Princeton ethicist Peter Singer’s article in this week’s NY Times Sunday Magazine is creating lots of buzz. It is a classic utilitarian description of the case for rationing – QALYs and all – and a plea for a mature national dialogue about the dreaded Read More... Posted Sat, Jul 18 2009 11:26 PM by Bob Wachter | 13 Comments Filed under: Transparency and Reporting, Efficiency, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage

• Strapping Grandma to the Bed: The Unintended Consequences of “No Pay for Errors”

  Medicare’s policy to withhold payment for “never events” – the first effort to use the payment system to promote patient safety – remains intriguing and controversial. To date, most of the discussion has focused on the policy itself at a macro level (including Read More... Posted Tue, Jul 07 2009 8:57 AM by Bob Wachter | 12 Comments Filed under: Hospital Care, Pay-for-performance, Transparency and Reporting, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy