AJMC in the Press, August 5, 2016

Press mentions continue for a 2015 study in The American Journal of Managed Care on the cost of waiting in the doctor’s office. The Heartland Institute cited the findings by Kristin N. Ray, MD, MS, and her co-authors in a feature about primary care physicians who were eager to learn about a payment model called direct primary care. Improving the patient experience in primary care is getting more attention; as Ray et al found, the average opportunity cost of $43 to visit the doctor exceeds the cost of most co-payments.

This week’s InFocus blog, “Getting Ready for Bundled Payments in Cardiac Care,” was featured on Healthcare Informatics. Editor-in-chief Mark Hagland appreciated insights from 2 healthcare consultants and the leader of cardiac care for New Jersey’s Lourdes Heath System, who observed that when looking for savings, it’s all about transitions of care. “First of all, discharge processes remain largely suboptimally managed at most hosptials today,” Hagland wrote. “To put it very bluntly, under ‘pure’ fee-for-service payment, the incentive is to let patients go and come back again.”