SCOTUS and ACA Day 3 Part Deux: Medicaid Expansion

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Here is the audio for ‘Florida vs. The Department of Health and Human Services’. Here is the transcript. We are actively searching out the submitted briefs and will post them once found. [Editor’s Note: I invite anyone who may have direct access to post them here in the comments section; …

SCOTUS Audio and Transcript: National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Day 3 is no disappointment. The core argument by Florida AG Clement is that if the  individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, absent the severability clause, must fall. Judging from the robust engagement of AG Clement, including an interesting line of questioning from …

The Affordable Care Act: Day 3 at SCOTUS

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH It’s deja vu all over again! The theater circa 2010 at the Senate Finance Committee via the reconciliation process that delivered unto us the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the framework enabling the accountable care industry, is in play again this time at the Supreme Court of the United …

SCOTUS and the ACA: Day 1

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Perhaps the hearing of the new century thus far? The Supreme Court of the United States takes up the challenges submitted with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. From the social media ‘journalism domain’, two hashtags received the predominant volume of tweets tagged to the event; they …

They Shoot Horses’ Don’t They?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH Some may remember the movie ‘They Shoot Horses’ Don’t They‘ [caution: a rather graphic depiction of an exit]. The plot borrowing from the humane ‘taking them out of their misery’ [post injury] if you will, albeit in the context of certain determined dance partners ‘desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and the …

That’s Not an ACO!

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH One of the last ‘super PHOs’ standing circa the blood bath, grand ‘risk push-back’ and subsequent unwinding of many physician/hospital JVs of the 90s, Advocate Health Partners (aka @AdvocateHealth) and it’s aligned payor partner, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (aka @BCBSIL) went public with their commercial ACO results …

The Braintrust of Accountable Care aka AMGA Descends Upon San Diego: Who Knew!

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH In a chance conversation with my friend, fellow ‘healthtweep’ and patient empowerment co-conspirator Dave DeBronkart, aka @epatientdave, I learned yesterday that AMGA aka @theAMGA was holding their annual meeting in San Diego. This is perhaps the largest concentration of ‘doers’ in the accountable care movement. Many participated in the landmark …

[Re-post] The ‘Medical Aggregators’: Are We Entering Round Deux?

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH [Originally written by @2healthguru on June 1, 2010 at 11:00 AM] First a little historical context: For those with a healthcare ‘event horizon’ slightly more seasoned than the current health reform ‘conversation’, you might remember the initial round of aggregation in medicine lead by disruptive nameplates such as MedPartners (now …

ACO’s: It Ain’t Just About ‘Health IT’

By Gregg A. Masters, MPH We’ve been somewhat on an unexpected hiatus since HiMSS 2012 in Las Vegas, but are now back with intent to assimilate and interpret the subtext or tea leaves driving the transformation towards accountable care. I will leave that update to another blog post, but for now, a quick comment on …

Rebuttal and Comment to ‘NYT Op Ed: Emanuel Editorial is Irresponsible and Naive’

By Vince Kuraitis Zeke Emanuel’s editorial in the New York Times — The End of Health Insurance Companies — really got my blood boiling. It’s irresponsible and naive. Former Obama advisor Emanuel “predicts”: By 2020, the American health insurance industry will be extinct. Insurance companies will be replaced by accountable care organizations — groups of …