Kaiser Identifies and Ranks 10 Highest-Price Markets for Health Insurance and Determines that Lack of Competition Is One Contributing Factor

Pathologists may be surprised to learn that the nation’s highest-cost markets for health insurance include Colorado ski resorts and rural regions What do the 10 most expensive U.S. health insurance markets have in common? According to a story published by Kaiser Health News, the 10 highest-priced markets are characterized by lack of competition among doctors, hospitals and insurers. That will probably not be a surprise to most clinical laboratory managers and pathologists, particularly if they...

Kaiser’s Ranking of 10 Least Expensive Markets for Health Insurance Contain Surprises and Show Where Prices for Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Testing May be Cheapest

Study by Kaiser Health News and NPR shows that Minnesota, Northwestern Pennsylvania, and Tucson, Arizona are among the least expensive health insurance markets in the United States Are you lucky to live in one of the nation’s 10 lowest-cost markets for health insurance? Researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation published a study that identifies the 10 regional markets in the United States where health insurance costs are the cheapest. Pathology groups and medical laboratories serving these...

Pathologists Are Included in the Updated CMS “Physician Compare” Website

Medicare officials continue to work toward improved transparency in provider outcomes Medicare officials are making progress in their efforts to help patients “shop” for doctors, including pathologists. It has gone live with a new website called “Physician Compare.” This website offers many search functions not previously available. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put up the new website to fulfill one mandate of the healthcare reform law, known as the Patient Protection...

Come 2012, Clinical Pathology Laboratories Will Need to Support Accountable Care Organizations

New Federal Mandate Will Make ACO-Based Provider Networks Responsible for Improving Quality and Cutting Costs Pathologists and clinical laboratories are positioned to benefit from the provision in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that is intended to reduce the cost of healthcare. It is the provision which authorizes the use of  “accountable care organizations” (ACOs) and will be triggered in 2012. Accountable care organizations are not yet a well-defined concept. ACOs are recognized to have...

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams’ Heart Surgery in the U.S. Triggers Debate on Healthcare in Canada

In recent years, Newfoundland pathology lab’s errors involving breast cancer testing made headlines Once again, Newfoundland finds itself in the headlines about healthcare. This time it is not about breast cancer testing problems in its pathology laboratories. Instead, media reports are trumpeting the disclosure that Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams had quietly left the country earlier this month to undergo major heart surgery in the United States. Danny Williams’ decision caused negative...
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