Who needs SCOTUS?
I stood at the steps of the Supreme Court on Monday, March 26th for the first day of oral arguments debating the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. It was wild…
Accountable Care Organizations: The Promise and the Peril (Part 2)
Last week I wrote about Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) which are entities formed by physician groups and hospitals to improve the quality of care their patients receive and th…
Not sure about health reform yet? Volunteer in a free clinic!
I have been volunteering in free clinics in Virginia for the last 6 years. I worked in the Fredericksburg, VA free clinic last night, and realized that almost every patient I c…
Accountable Care Organizations: The Promise and the Peril
For the past two days I’ve been hearing what people really think about Accountable Care Organizations (ACO). The Brookings Institution and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Po…
Why Accountable Care Organizations Will Be Powerful and Necessary
One of the most talked-about provisions under the Affordable Care Act is the Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, scheduled to begin in 2012. Under this progra…
Real, not Ryan, Market-Based Reform
On my census right now is a 70-year-old who has spent about a quarter of the past few months in the hospital due to COPD exacerbations. Thing is, her COPD isn’t that bad when y…
Chronic Disease Management: Key to Reducing Healthcare Costs
Sometimes statistics on the prevalence of diseases are hard to believe. However as family physician in private practice, I know from direct experience that serious chronic diseases e…
