Articles 1 to 10 of 66
Adverse To Whom? Insurance Company Fears of 'Adverse Selection' May Be Unfounded
For decades, insurance companies have been pricing policies based on the belief that adverse selection comes into play among their customers. Adverse selection is what happens when the people who need protection most -- those, for example, with the greatest health problems or worst driving records -- buy lots of coverage. But Michael Keane, professor of economics at the W. P. Carey School of Business, says there are no empirical data proving adverse selection. In fact, insurance companies often benefit from "advantageous selection," because the people who are the best risks also are their best customers. In reality, those who need lots of coverage often do not buy it -- usually because they don't understand the offerings. Policy makers and political leaders who are trying to reform healthcare should take note, Keane says.
Troubled Times Magnify Health Care Supply Chain Manager's Role
When times are good, expansion plans, future investments and revenue growth are the focus points in most industries. But during down times, organizations scrutinize spending. The current economic crisis is hitting the health care sector as hard as other industries. The result: shuttered private practices, squeezed hospital operating margins and many non-clinical jobs getting the ax. So what does this mean for health care industry supply chain managers? In an attempt to usher in supply chain efficiencies and shape a healthier bottom line, clinicians, executives and others are now more ready than ever before to listen to their supply chain managers. A panel of industry leaders addressed the topic at the third annual Leadership Summit on Health Care Supply Chain Management hosted recently by the World Health Care Congress.
Regina Herzlinger Makes the Case for Change in Health Care
Regina Herzlinger has been dubbed "the Godmother of Consumer-Driven Health Care," and without question she is a revolutionary in her field. It was Herzlinger who pulled back the curtain to reveal the unraveling of managed care, and who predicted the rise of consumer-driven health care and health care-focused factories. What would this forward-thinker have to say about alternatives to the current single-payer-by-employer health insurance system? Probably not replacing it with a similar single-payer-by-government health insurance system. Herzlinger recently delivered the Second Annual Health Economics and Policy Lecture at the W. P. Carey School.
Medicine Gets Personal: Sidney Taurel Discusses Tailored Therapeutics and the Future of the Drug Industry
The future of the pharmaceutical industry lies in its willingness to share scientific information, tailor drugs for individual patient groups and have the courage to walk away from some therapies in order to improve outcomes in other areas, says Eli Lilly and Company chairman of the board Sidney Taurel. Addressing the Economic Club of Phoenix recently, Taurel expressed excitement at the possibilities ahead for new ways of developing medicines that cut costs and more precisely target which patients will benefit.
Health Reform and the Election, Part 4: Challenges Posed by Healthcare's Different Kind of Market
The market for health insurance is different from other markets. Government is heavily involved and would become more so under reform plans now being debated. Information often is shielded from participants, whose behavior can be far from transparent. Experts agree that health insurance markets need to be closely watched, as health care reform assumes a place on the national agenda after a new President and Congress are elected in November. Part 4 of our series on health care issues in the presidential election examines this complex market.
Health Reform and the Election, Part 5: Covering the Uninsured
About 46 million Americans -- 15 percent of the population -- do not have health insurance, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Approximately $100 billion would be needed to provide them with coverage. Can we afford it? And where would the money come from? Experts discuss the issues in Part 5 of the Knowledge@W. P. Carey series on health care and the election.
Health Reform and the Election, Part 3: One Candidate Would Mandate Employer-Provider Insurance, One Would Not -- But Who Really Pays?
In the third and final presidential debate on October 15, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain spent some time discussing health care -- an issue which, in spite of increasingly dominant concerns about the economy -- still seems to matter a great deal to American voters. In Part 3 of a series on health care reform and the election, experts at the W. P. Carey School separate fact from politics in the issues surrounding employer mandates.
Health Reform and the Election, Part 2: Does Choice Have a Place?
There's no doubt about it: Americans want choices. In education. In mail services. And in health care, too -- even if the government is picking up the tab. In Part 2 of a series on health care reform and the election, experts at the W. P. Carey School and in the broader community discuss the issue of a single-payer health care system versus one that offers individuals the power to choose from a variety of insurers.
Health Reform and the Election, Part 1: McCain and Obama Promise Lower Health Care Costs, But Are Their Plans Realistic?
Forty-seven percent of registered voters say that health care is an extremely important consideration in their vote for president, according to a June CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Not surprisingly, then, both presidential candidates have outlined proposals to reform the nation's health care system. Central to each proposal is a plan to lower health care costs. In the first part of a series about health care issues and the election, experts say actually achieving lower health care costs (or even slower increases in costs) may be easier said than done.
Diagnosing the Adoption of IT to Make Health Care Healthier
Last year, Dennis Quaid's anguished visage was splashed across the tabloids. Like many Hollywood stories, this one revolved around drugs. But it wasn't the usual A-list overdose or contraband possession. Instead, Quaid's newborn twins were mistakenly given two doses of Heparin rather than Hep-lock. The dosage was a thousand times stronger than it should have been, nearly killing the babies. For anyone who's ever had a doctor handwrite a prescription and marveled at its illegibility, the issues that Quaid faced and which Michael F. Furukawa, an assistant professor in the School of Health Management and Policy at the W. P. Carey School of Business, addresses seem self-evident. But the problem is not just a pharmacist dispensing an incorrect drug or a nurse administering too much of the right one. The health system abounds with medical mistakes. Some have minor effects; some are fatal. Together, they add up to a very real problem.
