Tag: Medicaid

25Jul, 2017

Silicon Valley and Healthcare (Part 1)

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Baby boomers, Gen X, healthcare, healthcare technology, managed care., Medicaid, Medicare, Millennials, Silicon Valley, Uber

The inspiration for this series of blogs was a recent report on CNBC that Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook had worn a device that tracked his blood sugar, hinting at Apple’s interest in the space. Over the last 12 months we have had many conversations, that effectively started with a question: why is Silicon Valley not having an impact on healthcare? The answers I have given, both in our home state of Florida, and in a recent visit to Silicon Valley were the same. First, healthcare is not only “complicated” […]
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10Jul, 2017

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The GOP Healthcare Bill – The U.S. Senate Version (Part 3)

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACO, healthcare, healthcare administration, MACRA, Medicaid, ObamaCare, transparency

“Healthcare can be fixed without higher costs by putting patient care first, taking advantage of the technology that is available to coordinate better care, improving patient control and access to their medical and financial information, and finally a relentless drive for a fully transparent healthcare pricing model. This is the only solution – not thinking we can fix healthcare by controlling healthcare insurance markets. Trying to fix healthcare by addressing insurance markets alone simply masks the real problems. We can either mask the problem or treat the disease.” As we […]
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7Jul, 2017

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The GOP Healthcare Bill – The U.S. Senate Version (Part 2)

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACA, Accountable Care Organizations, ACOs, Affordable Care Act, healthcare, healthcare bill, hospitals, insurance, insurance coverage, Medicaid, Medicare, ObamaCare

Why can’t we fix U.S. Healthcare? The biggest problem with the healthcare bill submitted by the Republicans in the U.S. Senate is that they have not tried to fix the same problems the Democrats were unable to fix in Obamacare. They have all focused-on insurance – not cost, quality of care and/or price transparency. We in the U.S have only begun to scratch the surface on the use of technology. Plus, there is no patient or consumer influence in the healthcare marketplace – NONE! Sky-high prices are what makes dealing […]
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4Jul, 2017

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The GOP Healthcare Bill – The U.S. Senate Version (Part 1)

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACA, Affordable Care Act, grants, healthcare, healthcare reform, insurance, insurance bill, Medicaid, ObamaCare, TrumpCare

It is nearly impossible to turn on the television, read any website, or listen to talk radio in America and not be overwhelmed by the discussion on the Republican Senate Healthcare Bill. This debate has been the latest process of President Trump’s “repeal and replace ObamaCare” campaign promise. This week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their estimates on the U.S. Senate Healthcare Bill. First, let’s be real, not now nor has there ever been a healthcare bill. It is a medical insurance bill. Nothing in this bill, nor in […]
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4Feb, 2016

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Healthcare and Economics; Pt. 1

By: Charity Darby | Tags: demographics, economics, healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, technology

Today we are going to recognize something that has been apparent to anyone who reads this modest blog. In the last 3 blogs I admitted that my favorite subjects are healthcare, technology and demographics, with a not so small dose of economics. To me, they are hugely influential, and in my world, they are interconnected. An industry that is as large as healthcare has its own economic dynamics, and like a Red Giant star, it seemingly affects everything around it. Previously mentioned, I once read that in the mid-2000s General […]
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9Dec, 2015

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U.S. Spending on RX 2014

By: Charity Darby | Tags: : FDA, Average Wholesale Price, Big Pharma, Congress, cost, insurance companies, Medicaid, Medicare, PMPM, prescription drugs, price

The United States Spends $297 Billion (USD) on Prescription Drugs, is that fair? As the headline read, in 2014 the United States spent $297,700,000,000 on prescription drugs. This is not only a staggering amount, but what is even more disturbing is we in the U.S. pay the greatest for the most advance drugs in the world. I come to this subject from many angles. One angle is my decade’s long use of prescriptions for chronic problems, the consumer whose life has been saved by those same innovative and revolutionary drugs. […]
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2Dec, 2015

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Who Pays For Healthcare?

By: Charity Darby | Tags: California Healthcare Foundation, CMS, GDP, Government, health spending, hospital care, investment, Medicaid, Medicare, pharamceuticals, public health activity, spending trends

As I reach another personal birthday, I look back at over half a century of personal experiences. Not so out of reach is my passion for healthcare, and that is prompting this discussion of what has happened to healthcare in the U.S. over that period. Recently the California Healthcare Foundation (www.chcf.org) published an incredibly interesting dynamic and informative report on healthcare cost, and the changes in cost and payments from 1960 to 2013 with some projections in to our current year. Wow! I urge anyone interested this industry to check […]
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23Nov, 2015

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Free Trade in Healthcare?

By: Charity Darby | Tags: Certificate of Need, competition, Diagnostic Related Group, facilities, Florida, Florida legislature, Medicaid, Medicare, pharmaceutical provision, U.S. Anti-Trust policies

For the last few months, we in the US, have been witnessing the discussion on the national stage of The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) . The TTP is a 12 nation agreement lead by the US Government, and potentially a landmark deal for President Obama and his administration. This agreement, subject to Congressional approval, was negotiated between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim nations – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan – and have been negotiating the TTP Free Trade Agreement since […]
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26Oct, 2015

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Consumerism in Healthcare 2016 and Beyond

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACA, consumers, HHS, Medicaid, technology

Part 1 There are many trends emerging today in healthcare that seem to be gathering momentum. Some may credit changes to the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), some may credit changes in demographics, some the advancement in technology, while others the success of increasing consumer engagement. Regarding changes due to the ACA; yes, the ACA has disrupted some elements in healthcare, but in the totality of its context, the ACA seems to have brought about more challenges than solutions. It is self-evident that a lot of work remains and […]
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10Sep, 2015

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CMS Rereleases Data on ACO…

By: Charity Darby | Tags: ACOs, CMS, Financials, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Shared Savings Program Performance, Performance, Pioneer ACO Model, Quality Meausures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the 2014 quality and financial performance results last week showing that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) continue to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while generating financial savings. As the number of Medicare beneficiaries served by ACOs continues to grow, these results suggest that ACOs are delivering higher quality care to more and more Medicare beneficiaries each year. According to the results, the 20 ACOs in the Pioneer ACO Model, and 333 Medicare Shared Savings Program, ACOs generated more than […]
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