Value-Based Reimbursement Shows Signs of Life We debated the significance of two new value-based reimbursement agreements on today’s episode of the 4sight Friday Roundup podcast. Here the week’s biggest news …

Here at 4sight Health, we’re all about the connection between money and results. As we like to say, you’re not going to get the outcomes you want until you change …

What To Do With Rural Healthcare Rural hospitals are on the brink and along with them are patients’ access to care. We talked about how to make rural healthcare sustainable …

I’ll say it again. I’ll probably keep saying it because I think I’m right. One of the silver linings from this whole COVID thing will be the boost that it …

What’s Up With All the Digital Dealmaking? Digital health dealmaking is accelerating. David Johnson and Julie Murchinson talk about the latest moves by Amazon, Doctor on Demand, Grand Rounds, Transcarent, …

Welcome to the second installment of 4sight Health’s new monthly interview series, How Healthcare Revolutionaries Think. The interview series features healthcare instigators who believe that outcomes matter, customers count and …

I admit it. I completely missed the annual report on hospital interoperability from HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology when the ONC released it in January.  …

Roses are red. Violets are blue. Canadians have health insurance. And all Americans should too.  The Biden Administration got our Valentine. Their massive American Rescue Plan funds these initiatives to …

Last Thursday’s Dispatch profiled how medical bill hassles cost workers and their employers an astounding $144 billion each year. This hassle factor adds to the already monumental $266 billion in …

An Interview with Bill Christie, AVP Support Services The pandemic tested the supply chain at Virtua Health like no prior stressor. Communication, creativity and teamwork combined to get the system’s …

The economic term “externalities” sounds remote and antiseptic, but it’s not. Externalities are the economic equivalent of side effects. They affect daily living in ways large and small. Riding a …

In properly functioning markets, competition reduces prices and improves the quality of products and services. The dictum applies to healthcare as much as it does any other industry because healthcare …

A legendary Defense Department “Whiz Kid” taught my Analytic Methods class at Harvard Kennedy School. Professor Bill Hogan’s analytic prowess often left us in the dust. During one class, we …

With valuations soaring, the market for acquisitions and consolidations has become costly and competitive. As a result, some corporate sponsors, service providers and private equity (PE) investors are looking beyond …

I can’t think of another industry that’s more transactional than healthcare. The amount of money spent on revenue cycle management alone here in the U.S. would dwarf the economies of …

California is on my mind this week. Tuesday’s Dispatch highlighted extreme pricing differences for identical procedures at California Pacific Medical Center. Today, I turn my winter gaze to Los Angeles …

Maybe it’s the several feet of snow piling up on our deck that have soured my outlook on hospital pricing behaviors. Winter blizzards are one way nature reminds humans that …

USA Today reports that medical school applications, particularly among Black and Latinx students, are up almost 20% during this pandemic year. This is wonderful news. Many applicants express a desire …

Check out all the 4sight Health songs here. Churn Baby Churn (Revenue Cycle) To the tune of “Disco Inferno” by the Trammps (Churn baby churn) (Churn baby churn) (Churn baby …

I’ve been covering healthcare for nearly 40 years now as a reporter, editor and writer, and there are a handful of story lines that have spanned all four decades. Among …

It’s hard to believe we’re still having this conversation, but here we are. Two new reports give conflicting accounts of how willing healthcare providers are to share patient information with …

When I was working as a reporter full time, I made sure I did the following three things every day (in addition to any assignments that came my way from …

The stress of COVID-19 has exacerbated the paradox of worsening hunger and food insecurity superimposed on a pre-existing overweight and obese population. What is a cure for these intersecting maladies? …

When CMS released its latest national healthcare spending figures last month, they barely caused a ripple in our collective consciousness. The agency’s actuaries said national healthcare expenditures rose 4.6 percent to …

We’re all speculating, predicting and forecasting what the post-pandemic healthcare system in the U.S. will look like in the short term and in the long term. We’re all staring and …

Check out all the 4sight Health songs here.   Imagine (No JP Morgan) To the tune of “Imagine” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono Imagine no JP Morgan It’s easy …

Until I got into content marketing at a previous job, the word “sticky” had a negative connotation. As a child, it meant I got grape jelly on the kitchen table …

2020 has been a year like no other. Investors in U.S. healthcare have navigated remarkable economic and societal disruption by maintaining their focus on long-term value in healthcare businesses and …

Exactly two months before his term expires, President Trump and the Secretary of Health and Human Services Azar announced their long-anticipated drug price reforms. This policy has been four years …

Check out all the 4sight Health songs here. Obamacare Is Here to Stay Sung to the tune of “Rock and Roll is Here to Stay”  by Ray Henderson   Oh……Obamacare …

Drug companies may end up saving us from the pandemic, but that doesn’t mean we can take our eyes of them for a second.  A new research letter in the …

A stalled presidential transition in the midst of an unremitting pandemic sounds like a recipe for long-term damage to health policy and the health system. It probably isn’t. For a …

One of my favorite expressions on social media is “today years old.” Posters use it to tell their followers in a self-effacing way they just learned something most everyone knows …

Years ago, when life was simpler, I did my own taxes. So did a good friend of mine. During tax season, we would compare notes on any changes in the …

Prospects for Post-Election Healthcare Reform We talked about all the possible combinations of election results and each scenario’s impact on healthcare reform in the year ahead. David Burda interviews David …

Which strategies can drive change and lead to the rise of a consumer-centric health system in the U.S.? Vic Gatto, CEO of Jumpstart Health Investors, and David Johnson, CEO of …

In a recent commentary, David Johnson, founder and CEO of 4sight Health, pointed his finger at medical campaigns on the GoFundMe website as a sign of the growing unaffordability of medical …

The 2020 pre-election hysteria regarding the potential demise of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) resembles Chicken Little screaming to the multitudes that the sky is falling. The political theater is …

Every once in a while something comes along that reaffirms your belief that healthcare is an industry like any other industry and that healthcare reacts the same way to economic …

What’s Next for Health Systems? It’s been an interesting year for the executives who run the nation’s health systems. How do they see the rest of this year and 2021 …

Long before Détente, one of the boldest foreign policy moves by any president was the establishment of diplomatic relationships with the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). President Richard Nixon was …

Hospitals, health systems, medical practices and other providers catch a lot of grief—and rightly so—for merger after merger and acquisition after acquisition that have done virtually nothing for patients other …

I spent some time this week scrolling through medical campaigns on the GoFundMe website. These campaigns seek funding to pay medical expenses for those with serious illness and injury. Their …

As I watch COVID-19 cases ebb and flow around the country over the past eight months, I wonder if any place consistently is safer than another. After repeatedly watching this …

Key Takeaways Many high-cost Medicare and Medicaid patients suffer from multiple chronic conditions that have been poorly treated or left untreated, often for many decades. The healthcare system does a …

The only reason I’m writing this blog post is so I can refer to it and link to it a year from now. The lead of next year’s post will …

Read 10/2/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

If you come over, there’s a decent chance that HGTV will be on. The home-improvement channel is our default TV station. It runs in the background like a radio as …

Home Is Where the Hospital Is On today’s episode of the 4sight Friday Roundup Podcast, we talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic is expanding the definition of home care. Listen. …

Of all the sectors of the healthcare industry, the one I know the least about is the pharmaceutical sector. Journalists have made careers out of covering drug companies or even …

On a plane trip to Oberlin College in October 1955, singer Pete Seeger wrote the first three verses of the popular anti-war song Where Have All the Flowers Gone? With …

The Uninsured: Where We Go From Here We talked about the new uninsured and unemployed numbers and what they mean for universal coverage on today’s episode of the 4sight Friday …

Read 09/18/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

Key Takeaways Investors expressed confidence in Oak Street Health’s model for caring for high-cost, low-income patients by sending its shares soaring 90% on the first day of trading after an …

Almost everyone agrees that where one lives has more influence on one’s life experience and expectancy than any other factor. Where one walks, hikes, bikes, or runs determines the safety …

Read 09/11/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

We’re going to turn this week’s blog post over to consumers, who are going to tell you what they think about the healthcare system via two new opinion polls from …

For many segments of the economy the long-term consequences of the pandemic remain unknown. But for healthcare, there are flashing lights that point to severe, if not fatal, damage to …

Read 09/04/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

How You Can Tell For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Hospitals Apart We talked about the differences and similarities between hospitals and systems with different ownership structures on today’s episode of our 4sight …

Read 08/28/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

Reassessing Our Public Health Infrastructure How well do you think the public health system in the U.S. held up during the pandemic? We tell you what we think in today’s …

Developing this self-awareness requires the courage to receive feedback from others. Martina Navratilova is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She won a remarkable 59 Grand Slam …

Fixing healthcare is very easy and extremely difficult at the same time. That dichotomy is what gives the status quo staying power. A few things that came out over the …

Read 08/21/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

PPE and the Healthcare Supply Chain Did we learn our lesson or are we going to make the same mistakes again? Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast to …

Editor’s Note: This is the first of two articles on the Future of Hospitals in Post-COVID America. This article examines how market forces are consolidating, rationalizing and redistributing acute care …

Everyone loves primary care. Everyone hates primary-care physicians. Well, maybe not everyone, but certainly the healthcare market and healthcare consumerism. We’ll talk about the major takeaways from the big primary …

I think we all can agree now that provider integration doesn’t lower healthcare prices. When hospitals buy or merge with other hospitals, when medical practices buy or merge with other …

Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Bronzeville announced on July 29, 2020, it would close in 2021. It didn’t have to be this way. In January 2020, Mercy and three other …

Is Telemedicine Headed Left or Right? Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for what we think this week’s big news means for the future of telemedicine. David Burda …

I know lots of doctors having covered healthcare now for nearly 40 years. One thing’s always puzzled me. Why would a doctor not want to be a doctor anymore and …

Is There a Better Way to Bailout Providers? Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for our thoughts on continuing COVID-19 financial relief for hospitals and health systems. David …

Reopening and Recovering the Right Way Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for our take on how hospitals, health systems and medical practices should be reopening to recover …

I’ve been to Oregon, and it’s beautiful. But I had no idea the state had a real problem with low-value care. I’m glad I didn’t get sick when I visited …

This is why I don’t gamble.  Well, more accurately, this is why I shouldn’t gamble.  In the April 10 edition of our weekly newsletter 4sight Friday, which you could read …

Walgreens, Walmart and Vertical Integration Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for our take on who wins and who loses from the latest round of vertical integration in …

Key Takeaways: Hopes for a V-shaped recovery in healthcare spending are fading fast as COVID-19 caseloads, hospitalizations and ICU bed use surge in half the U.S. Hospital and physician practices …

One of the bellwethers I follow to see what direction healthcare is headed is the annual physician supply and demand reports from the Association of American Medical Colleges. If the …

Read 07/03/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

COVID-19 and the U.S. Economy Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for our thoughts on why the future of the economy depends on our COVID-19 response moving forward. …

I’m not independently wealthy, and as a journalist for nearly 40 years now, there have been times in my adult life when our family has lived check to check. Yet, …

Key Takeaways The U.S. needs a comprehensive tracing program to safely reopen an economy hobbled by COVID-19. State and local governments must hire between 100,000 and 300,000 workers for a …

Read 06/26/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

In our recent article we identified the following five margin pressures that are coalescing to drive more value into the delivery of healthcare services: Their collective impact poses an existential …

The coronavirus pandemic exposed flaws in the U.S. health system that we knew existed but weren’t in a rush to do anything about because everyone (other than patients) was profiting …

COVID-19 and Healthcare Affordability Listen to this week’s 4sight Friday Roundup podcast for our predictions on how the outbreak will affect the affordability of medical care now and in the …

The COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. is leaving a lot of financially struggling hospitals and medical practices in its wake. Experts predict that to recover—or perhaps as an opportunity to …

Consumers want the private sector, not the federal government, to lead them out of this mess we call the U.S. healthcare system, which got a lot messier because of the …

Wealth and income inequality have been defining issues in the United States. The added stress of Covid-19 has highlighted and exacerbated these imbalances not only regarding the economy and personal …

For an old healthcare legal reporter, writing about antitrust and community benefits in the same blog post is about as good as it gets. The only thing missing is a …

Restaurants across the country laid off workers, limited menus and closed because COVID-19 took away their customers. Hospitals and medical practices across the country furloughed workers, limited services and closed …

If you think starting a workplace wellness program would be a good way to help your company recover from the COVID-19 outbreak, I’ve got a coronavirus vaccine I’d like to …

In their recent book “Deaths of Despair,” Anne Case and Angus Deaton chronicle the rise of drug overdose, suicide and death by alcohol in the United States. Through their vivid …

Are you worried about the financial pressures inflicted on health systems due to COVID-19? Watch the replay of 4sight Health’s free webinar above. Here’s what we covered in the Before …

As a skeptical journalist and amateur psychologist, I don’t believe much in coincidences. Things happen for a reason. Two new and separate studies of accountable care organizations illustrate the point. …

Join us a for a live, free webinar to discuss margin pressure before, during and after COVID-19. Thursday, May 21, 2020 11AM – 11:30 AM CST We will spend 20 …

Key Takeaways: Strategic partnerships, reconfiguring routine care, increasing productivity and effective revenue management are value-based strategies that help enhance competitiveness and ensure long-term market relevance. Combined with increased costs for …

If you suffer from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, better known as COPD, why would you not take your medication as prescribed? You take it, you can breathe, you …

Read 05/01/2020 Edition here. Curated by David Burda, 4sight Health’s news editor and columnist. Columns here. Find 4sight Health and industry opinions and news on market-based change, all with the 4sight …

The COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. has turned everyone’s world upside down. In healthcare, no one has had their world turned upside down more than doctors and their medical practices. …

David Burda interviews David Johnson and Gary Bisbee about the week’s biggest news around market-based change. David Johnson is CEO of 4sight Health. Gary Bisbee is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman …

COVID-19 strikes with alarming inconsistency. Most recover quickly while others die. The disease devastates some communities and spares others. Understanding why and how COVID-19 preys on some and not others …

Sometimes, it’s better just not to say anything.   If you know anything about the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., you know that the healthcare supply chain here has been a …

In 2014, Israel opened a parking garage that can be turned transformer-like into a 2,000-bed hospital. The architects hired by the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa designed the walls of …

Chief financial officers around the world are scrambling to figure out how to manage the short-term economic impact and the long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on their companies …

Almost every hospital or health system that I’ve covered over the past 37 years as a healthcare business reporter claims to be failing financially or on the brink of financial …

Likely overshadowed by anticipation of HHS’ final information-blocking rules, which came out earlier this week, HHS’ latest annual report on hospital interoperability didn’t get much attention. But, if you read the …

In our January 9th, 2020, Market Corner Commentary we identified the following five forces that are coalescing to drive more value into the delivery of healthcare services: More disciplined purchasing …

It’s not complicated. If you want doctors to stop performing or ordering low-value procedures and tests, stop paying for them.  The reminder that providers respond to financial incentives as much …

As the presidential elections approach this year, each candidate is still struggling to convince the American people that her or his healthcare agenda will meet consumer needs. America spends more …

There are record amounts of investment into healthcare and provider-based services – but to get your slice of the market, you’ve got to be better, faster, and smarter than the …

Before your physician asks you at your next office visit what brought you in today, you may want to ask them who owns their practice. Their answer may at least …

(from Taking Healthcare’s Pulse: 4sight Health’s 2020 J.P. Morgan Conference Report) Chadwick Annual Synthesis: A Look Inside J.P. Morgan 2020 By Edward Chadwick, Founder of Integrated Healthcare Financial Strategies LLC …

Cain Brothers’ Managing Director, Carsten Beith; Warburg Pincus Managing Director, TJ Carella; and Summit Medical Group CEO, Dr. Jeffrey Le Benger joined Dave Johnson at Cain Brothers’ Annual Healthcare Conference …

Private equity-funded delivery models are emerging to create more integrated care models that position well for value-based contracting. These new asset-light and consumer-oriented business models are changing healthcare’s competitive dynamics …

An interview with OhioHealth’s Nikki Ross, System Director of Sterile Processing, on ways service rationalization works in today’s modern health system. When you pick up your dry cleaning and fill …

Each year on the second Sunday in January, the healthcare world descends on San Francisco for the J.P. Morgan conference and the circus that surrounds it. For the next week, …

(from Taking Healthcare’s Pulse: 4sight Health’s 2020 J.P. Morgan Conference Report) Each year on the second Sunday in January, the healthcare world descends on San Francisco for the J.P. Morgan …

(from Taking Healthcare’s Pulse: 4sight Health’s 2020 J.P. Morgan Conference Report) Each year on the second Sunday in January, the healthcare world descends on San Francisco for the J.P. Morgan …

I’ve watched enough crime movies and TV shows to know that the law enforcement character who talks tough usually isn’t and, more often than not, is in on the crime, …

The gloves are off and the big guns are out. Epic Systems Corporation, the nation’s largest EHR vendor, is applying every fiber of its corporate being to dilute the government’s …

When the Centene Corp. completed its $17.3 billion acquisition of WellCare Health Plans late last week, it created a health insurer that now operates in all 50 states with a total …

Maybe it’s because it’s a new decade. Maybe it’s because the year 2020 makes for easy vision analogies. Maybe it’s because CMS projects national health expenditures to break the $4 …

America is a rich country. We spend 18% of our economy on healthcare, yet our country is plagued with poor outcomes. Everyone agrees that Americans deserve the right to quality …

Competition, regulation or both? Those are the choices facing states that want to make healthcare more affordable for their residents after years of unbridled prices hikes from providers and premium …

The Medicare Advantage program turned 21 this month. Like all 21-year-olds with new-found freedoms and responsibilities, whether it makes 31 in the same shape will depend on how well it …

Key Takeaways: Despite favorable rating agency outlooks, the 2020s promise to be healthcare’s most turbulent decade since the 1990s. It’s been a great 20-year run for the healthcare industry, but …

As a business journalist, I hang out at the corner of “follow the money” and “actions speak louder than words.” It’s the same place I go when I want to …

Here at 4sight Health, we like to call it like it is. We see and throw a flag on the things that prevent the healthcare system in the U.S. from …

Key Takeaways: Providers and payers fight the implementation of transparent prices with all their considerable resources and influence. Monopolies and monopsonies resist transparent pricing for their services because it threatens …

What does it take to bring a breakthrough drug to a value-based market? John Kerins, Director at Cain Brothers, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., and David Johnson discuss …

As 2019 draws to a close, the evidence continues to mount that healthcare affordability again will be the No. 1 challenge facing patients in 2020. What incumbent industry stakeholders, lawmakers, …

Key Takeaways: Society demands both innovation and fair pricing from drug companies that develop treatments for all diseases. Proving meaningful efficacy and value is essential for successful drug commercialization. The …

HFMA’s President and CEO Joe Fifer interviews healthcare industry experts about healthcare finance on his podcast, HFMA Cup of Joe. Listen to his interview with Dave Johnson, CEO of 4sight Health. …

Pictures don’t lie. Neither do numbers. And these numbers paint of picture of U.S. hospitals and health systems remaking themselves in response to new economic forces challenging their long-term viability. …

I get the feeling that the industry is moving on from this whole volume-to-value thing and will need to find a new analogy to replace that foot-in-two-canoes business that everyone …

Bill Pomeranz, Managing Director at Cain Brothers, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., and David Johnson dive into the plight of senior living facilities around the country that haven …

Everyone complains about high drug prices. That is, when they’re not complaining about high hospital prices. So what are you going to do about it? Or, better yet, what can …

Health care providers suffer from a unique form of institutional irony: delivering institutionalized care in centralized, high-cost facilities impedes their ability to meet their communities’ expansive health and wellness needs. …

One of the best lines in Jaws comes from Brody after he sees the 25-foot great white shark for the first time. He slowly backs into the cabin, looks at …

Join us in downtown Chicago on Thursday, November 14 at 5:30PM at MATTER. Michael Allen, CFO of OSF Healthcare, will interview David Johnson about critical concepts in Dave’s new book …

In 1908, the Jewish Home for the Aged of the Northwest opened in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving eight residents. As the facility deteriorated, the local Jewish community raised funds and …

I got my flu shot on Oct. 21. (I’ll let you know how it worked out.) As I waited for my turn at our nearby immediate-care center, I explained to …

When you buy something and it doesn’t work, you take it back to the store (or more likely send it back to Amazon via your local Kohl’s) for a refund. …

On June 26th, 2019, American Academic Health Systems announced its intention to cease all medical activities at Hahnemann University Hospital by September 6th, 2019. With roughly 17,000 annual admissions, Hahnemann …

I love healthcare industry regulatory burden surveys. From an academic standpoint, I’m interested in the topic of competition versus regulation and how each affects how healthcare markets function—or not—for patients. …

Wyatt Ritchie, Managing Director at Cain Brothers, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., and David Johnson discuss the rise of urgent care clinics that are meeting market demand for …

4sight Health’s writers and authors have published 57 blog posts, commentaries, podcasts and videos on 4sighthealth.com from January through June of this year. The topics are as varied as the …

In most markets for most goods and services, you get what you pay for. The more you pay, the better the goods or the services. Hence, the expression, you get …

On September 23rd, the seven healthcare lobbyists listed below sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) and the House Committee on …

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  I get the point of the expression. But, I didn’t fully appreciate how it applied to healthcare until I read …

With open enrollment about a month away at most businesses that offer health insurance benefits to their  workers, it’s time to look at what employers are doing and not doing …

As wary consumers, we’ve come to expect upselling. Need an oil change? Looks like you need a new air filter and radiator flush, too. That sports coat looks fantastic on …

NEJM Catalyst Article for September 19, 2019 David W. Johnson, MPP Amy Compton-Phillips, MD Hospitals used to be at the center of the health care universe. Today, new business models …

Football season is upon us, and you’ll be hearing coaches at every level—high school, college and pro—talking about “getting back to basics” or “stressing the fundamentals” or “blocking and tackling.” …

What convinced a former Peace Corps volunteer and healthcare investment banker like me that the U.S. healthcare system (the System) requires revolutionary overhaul? It really came down to just one …

The later in the day that you see your doctor you’re more likely to get the flu, get colon cancer and get hooked on prescription pain killers. OK, that’s a …

“Practicing at the top of your license” and “upskilling your workforce”are two popular healthcare buzz phrases right now. As account-hungry consultants breathlessly will tell you, when medical professionals spend their …

Everyone in healthcare is “all in” on a lot of things these days, and two things that are at or near the top of that list are social determinants of …

In an August 1st commentary published in the Washington Post, columnist Catherine Rampell asks an intriguing question of the Democratic presidential candidates promoting a Medicare-for-All health insurance program: “Will your …

As US healthcare consolidation continues, innovative corporate buyers (strategics) and private equity investors (sponsors) are partnering to accomplish increasingly complex transactions. Such deals can create win-win arrangements that serve market …

You might have heard about this on the news. A new study is out that says employer-sponsored health insurance is getting really expensive.  (How expensive is it?) Hmm. May your …

Medicare accountable care organizations say they’re doing a lot to manage and coordinate the care of sick beneficiaries. But a new study says the ACOs don’t have much to show …

Digitization and globalization of medical knowledge will double every 73 days by 2020.[1] When a patient enters an exam room, they will likely encounter a “Dr. Know-it-All” or come prepared …

American workers increasingly wear scrubs, not overalls or store uniforms.(1) In late 2017, healthcare surpassed manufacturing and retail to become the largest employer in the U.S. economy. 19 million people …

Healthcare providers can no longer ignore the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) in the exam room. Even John Snow considered community assessment factors to identify the source of the cholera …

Many health systems and hospitals operate as Not-for-Profit (NFP), mission-oriented organizations that do not pay sales, excise, property or other taxes. In exchange, NFPs must publicly report the level of …

Everyone, including me, is always on employers to do more to improve the healthcare system in the U.S.  We’re on them to use their healthcare purchasing power and insured-lives market …

As the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) prepares to vote on the Lowering Health Care Costs Act, the issue of surprise medical bills will take center …

I write a lot about what healthcare organizations and companies do, and I make educated guesses on why they do what they do based on my experiences, industry knowledge and …

A new Viewpoint in the Journal of the American Medical Association said states are trying, but largely failing, to control through various regulatory tactics the prices paid by private health …

More on the what and the why of employers and behavioral health, and what both mean for remaking the nation’s healthcare system into one where outcomes matter, customers count and …

It’s a great time to go to medical school and become a doctor. Ignore all the manufactured angst from organized medicine and opinion polls of aging physicians who say they …

Historically, health systems have delivered acute care services in hospitals and ambulatory facilities. Their business models centralize care delivery in expensive settings to optimize their operations and revenue. In avoiding …

The National Institute of Mental Health says 46.6 million adults suffered from some form of mental illness in 2017. Of those, 57.4 percent didn’t receive any mental health treatment for …

And you thought changing patients’ health behaviors was going to be hard. Try changing physicians’ drug prescribing patterns. That’s the lesson from a new study in Health Affairs that reported …

The Healthcare Affordability Index (Index) is a simple and powerful metric for assessing the impact of rising healthcare cost on American living standards. The Index measures the relationship between the total …

As it has in the last three presidential elections, healthcare is emerging as a decisive political issue in the 2020 election. Unlike in those previous elections, however, universal health insurance …

Healthcare is one of the most if not the most regulated industry in the U.S. While its businesses like to blame overzealous bureaucrats for all the red tape, the current …

“We must begin by asking it, ‘What is losing?’  Losing is a disease. As contagious as polio.  Losing is a disease. As contagious as syphilis. Losing is a disease. As …

American healthcare patients are demanding more price transparency, affordable services and quality care. Why are they not receiving it? How can healthcare organizations listen to consumers and set themselves up …

The lack of affordable medical care isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon. It’s a serious problem across Europe, according to a new report from the World Health Organization. WHO’s report identified …

Single-specialty medical practices are the front door of American medicine. Dentists, Dermatologists, Ophthalmologists, GI doctors, ENT doctors, Internists, Gynecologists, Obstetricians, Urologists and their “retail medicine” counterparts provide high volumes of …

On a cold Minnesota morning in January 2018, Fairview Health Services CEO James Hereford addressed Twin Cities business executives regarding healthcare IT and innovation. (1) With an advanced degree in …

Does “pro-business” equate to “pro-market”? Or is crony capitalism blurring the line in the healthcare industry? How can consumers tell if they are being treated fairly? There are two types …

When your phone company or your cable provider offers you a new and innovative service plan, your immediate thought is that you’re going to end up paying more for less. …

Raghuram Rajan’s new book The Third Pillar provides an insightful framework for understanding the interconnected relationships between the three pillars of modern society: governments, the markets and local communities. An …

Tomer Shoval, CEO & Founder of Simplee, discusses how his relentless focus on the customer created a payment platform for health systems that actually increases customer satisfaction and improves financial …

When two competing companies merge and get bigger, a common worry of their customers is whether the quality of service will suffer as a result. Should patients worry about the …

One state’s attempt to control healthcare costs by using “affordability standards” ended up limiting increases in commercial health insurance payments to hospitals and doctors without any changes in utilization or …

An ongoing feud between independent physicians and hospital administrators in Naples, Florida, exploded last month, damaging the trust between the community, providers and the health system. (1) The furor centered …

I mean, what did you think was going to happen? A new study says big Blues plans that went for-profit dramatically raised their premiums right after their ownership conversions. The …

The Healthcare Affordability Index (the Index) is a simple and powerful metric for assessing the impact of rising healthcare cost on American living standards. The Index measures the relationship between …

It’s not your imagination or the self-serving forecast of a healthcare consultant angling for your business. Fewer people are seeing their doctors in person in a physical office. It’s a …

In rapid succession at the end of 2018, CVS closed its $70 billion acquisition of Aetna and Cigna closed its $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts. The consolidated companies are …

Death, taxes and employer-sponsored health insurance. We know the first two are certainties in life, and new research again confirms the assurance of the third. Researchers from the School of …

Much has changed in healthcare over the past 25 years. A lot has changed in healthcare over the past 25 minutes. But one thing hasn’t changed, and that’s the public’s …

In 1952 at the tender age of 25, Elizabeth became the Queen of England upon the death of her father King George V. The popular Netflix series “The Crown” depicts the …

Everyone sees what they want to see in the latest figures on national health expenditures released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this month. Most people see …

Competition good. Regulation bad. That’s my caveman summary of HHS’ manifesto released on Dec. 3 on how to improve the quality and safety of patient care while simultaneously lowering healthcare …

Over 200,000 Americans have died since 2000 due to opioid overdoses.[1] That’s equivalent to all of Salt Lake City[2] disappearing from our country. The epidemic is destroying communities throughout America, …

If you’re looking for a sign that we’re truly approaching a watershed moment in healthcare innovation, look no further than the people whose job is creating new medical technologies that …

Jim Harding, Founder & CEO of MultiScale Health Networks, joins David Johnson for Episode 13 of Market Corner Conversations. Jim discusses how he applied his experience as a serial tech entrepreneur …

We’re at a branch point in healthcare’s evolution. We’ll learn soon whether disruptive innovation is the product of individuals or organizations. When we find out, we’ll know the best path …

Patient office visits to primary care physicians are down. Patient office visits to nurse practitioners and physician assistants are up. But switching to NPs and PAs from doctors isn’t saving …

For health systems, the day of reckoning is near. A recent Morgan Stanley report states that over 1,000 of the nation’s 5,000+ hospitals are currently weak or at risk of closing. …

Yet another report shows that fee-for-service medicine is hard to kill. This time the culprits are a lack of faith in value-based reimbursement by clinicians and a lack of trust …

The U.S. healthcare system will not change the way it delivers care until it changes the way it pays for care. Perverse incentives riddle fee-for-service payment (FFS) and lead to …

Wide variations in what providers charge for the same medical services are notorious. But providers are not acting alone. They’re aided and abetted—and some would say coerced—by health plans whose …

Far from pulling the plug on fee-for-service medicine, commercial health plans continue to give it CPR. A new report says well over half of commercial health plan payments to providers …

A new study reminds us that the squabble between providers and payers over coverage of unnecessary emergency room visits should be more about patients and less about who pays who …

Every picture tells a story. So does every chart in the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual employer health benefits survey. Here are 10 small stories from Kaiser’s latest survey that collectively …

All hospitals say that they want to engage patients in their own medical care. But even the best hospitals are making it difficult for patients to access their own medical …

Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago economist, joins David Johnson to discuss the key components of capitalism that encourage innovation rather than creating paralysis in markets. Listen to his thoughts on …

The news cycle in healthcare seems to be following the news cycle in politics. Twenty-four hours is now 24 minutes if not 24 seconds. With that in mind, let’s hit …

If you paid your kids to clean their rooms and keep them clean, would they? If you stopped paying them, would they keep cleaning their rooms because they realized that …

On Friday, June 29, near the zero hour, a federal judge ruled [1] that Kentucky’s Medicaid waiver approved by the CMS could not go forward on Sunday, July 1 as …

Amitabh Chandra, economist and the McCance Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, joins David Johnson for Episode 10 of Market Corner Conversations. Chandra shares his path form labor economist …

In 1993, the health insurance industry funded the legendary “Harry and Louise” campaign to mobilize public opinion against the Clinton healthcare reform proposal. The strategy worked. Despite enormous investment of political capital, …

Shortly after publishing Market vs. Medicine: America’s Epic Fight for Better, Affordable Healthcare in June 2016, I met with my former investment banking colleague, Jullia Quazi. Jullia arrived with a very funny story …

Part I of Superhero Healthcare identified several bright spots within American healthcare where liberated caregivers deliver appropriate, efficient care to engaged patients; where the interests of health companies and their customers align; and where compassion, …

On March 22nd, Mission Health in Asheville, North Carolina announced its intention to sell its seven-hospital not-for-profit (NFP) health system to HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest for-profit healthcare system. The …

For too long, the “Social Determinants of Health” (SDH) have been the big elephant in the exam room. While no one denies that a diabetic living alone in a food …

There are more “suits” in downtown San Francisco each January for JP Morgan’s annual healthcare conference than the rest of the year combined. Heavy rain drenched San Francisco on January …

 In the mid-1800s, English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill developed “Utilitarianism,” a framework for making moral decisions. In Mill’s formulation, an action achieves optimal social utility when it …

Today, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and I along with Aaron Glickman published Measuring the Burden of Health Care Costs on U.S. Families in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). …

Hitting the Sweet Spot for Patients and Providers The United States is experiencing a demographic tidal wave. Baby Boomers are turning 65 in record numbers and that trend will accelerate …

4sight Health’s inaugural episode with Paul Walczak, the CEO from NuVista, a remarkably innovative post-acute care company coordinating value-based delivery in southern Florida that achieves superior outcomes at very low costs. …

Nature thrives on symbiosis. Its many ecosystems would not exist without important relationships between sometimes strange bedfellows. The oceans’ most colorful coral reefs, for example, are often found in clear …

In a March 29th New York Times article, author Elizabeth Rosenthal chronicles America’s dystopian system for coding and billing medical treatments. Rosenthal concludes that the medical-billing system itself is a …

by Kristin Carey and David W. Johnson Competitive markets drive innovations in business efficiency and strategy. Twenty-five years ago, Big Pharma companies did little outsourcing. Fortified by robust cash flows …

Last September, Massachusetts-based Steward Health Care System announced that it would sell its 9 hospitals to Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust (MPT) for $1.2 billion in a 15-year sale-leaseback transaction with …

Rome wasn’t built in a day and didn’t collapse overnight. After centuries of growth, prosperity and domination, the Roman Empire began a long slow decline at the peak of its …

by David W. Johnson, James Moloney and Carsten Beith   There’s a battle outside and it’s ragin’ It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls For the times they …

It was hard not to feel sorry for Mylan CEO Heather Bresch as she sat for an extended CNBC interview on the morning of August 25th. Clearly on the hot …

Bring out the Xanax. Anxiety among Obamacare supporters is skyrocketing. The bad news just keeps coming. Aetna has joined UnitedHealthcare and Humana in announcing plans to exit almost all public …

In an iconic 1984 commercial for Wendy’s hamburgers, the diminutive octogenarian Clara Peller and two friends are eating hamburgers at the fictional “Home of the Big Bun.” Disappointed by their …

The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) released its annual report of healthcare prices last month. To no-one’s surprise, HCCI found huge variation in commercial prices for 240 common medical services …

Hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky gave the business world its most over-used strategic metaphor, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”  In healthcare, …

Market Corner Commentary for January 13, 2016-Manipulating Demand: Paying Patients for Lower-Cost Care In October, Planet Money aired a podcast with the intriguing title “Pay Patients, Save Money.” Their report …

Market Corner Commentary for August 19, 2015 (disruption)-Individual Mandate: Are You Up for N=1 Healthcare? Yogi Berra famously observed, “The future just ain’t like it used to be.”   In N=1: How …

Market Corner Commentary for August 12, 2015 -King for a Day: Winning Strategies in Post-Reform Healthcare-(#Quality Outcomes) Great leaders ask great questions. Banner Health’s CEO recently wrote and asked me, …

The “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975 was Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier’s second championship fight. In 1967, Ali refused conscription as a conscientious objector. He was convicted of draft evasion, …