Practice Management

It has long been known that demographic factors affect health and mortality. That poverty is bad for one's health should surprise no one. The difficulty in determining the proper intervention is that poverty is itself correlated with factors that affect health unambiguously, e.g., smoking, education level, and obesity

Generally, PE firms in healthcare are looking to cash out within 5-7 years, and hope to achieve a 20-25% annual return (on equity, not assets). A good deal of this return comes from using leverage (i.e., debt). Interest payments increase on average 300% following a PE buyout.

Evidence that ML can be effective towards better understanding of molecular biology came recently when neural networks (NN's) were found to predict protein folding structure better than the physical models that had been developed over a span of more than four decades. Can machine learning (ML) speed up our understanding for a broader class of problems?

I had the opportunity to read an article from the American Bar Association about the use of Emojis as evidence in courts. The article brought up a number of very interesting potential issues related to Emojis.

Recently there was a report in a publication received mostly by Orthotic and Prosthetic (O&P) providers (mostly orthotists, prosthetists and pedorthists) that created quite a stir for several podiatrists They thought based on this story, that the sky was falling and that DPM's were no longer going to be able to provide certain DME services in 17 states where licensure requirements are in existence.

What are the Goals of the 21st Century Cures Act? Make Patient Data Requests Easy and Inexpensive Allow Patients, Doctors, and Health Care Systems to benefit from a vibrant application marketplace. Improve Patient Safety Prevent Information Blocking

Here’s a fun fact that is wreaking havoc in practices with a large volume of patients over 65, especially where facility work (SNFs, assisted living, nursing homes) is involved: Enrollment in Medicare Advantage Plans has DOUBLED over the past decade It has been reported so far in 2021 that approximately 43% (up from 39% in 2020; see graph below) of the 63 million individuals who “have Medicare” actually receive their benefits via an Advantage Plan. And just when you thought you were finished updating patient insurance information in January and February, if those Medicare Advantage patients decide that the plan they chose was not the right fit and they want to go back to traditional Medicare, they have until March 31st to do so.

As COVID numbers start an uptick, private insurers are making additional changes to their coverage policies.