The severe shortage of sodium chloride 0.9% IV bags and other saline bags due in large part to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria on pharmaceutical plants in Puerto Rico offers one of the more unsettling recent examples. (The commonwealth manufactures more pharmaceuticals for the United States than any of the 50 states or any foreign country.)
Are you ready to be unreasonable this year? Or would you rather continue to bet on the healthcare status quo, that is, on a hospital-centric system? Or, is being “unreasonable” actually more reasonable?
Recently, the Wall Street Journal, in a front page article, addressed the pending acquisition of Aetna by CVS Healthcare.
The piece focused on the panic that the deal is causing many healthcare players. They’re concerned over the combination of a giant retail delivery platform, the CVS stores, with the health insurance, managed care, and huge patient database of Aetna.
There are around 48.3 million surgeries performed in ASCs per year, and 70 percent were associated with the digestive system, musculoskeletal system, integumentary system and nervous system, according to a report from the CDC.
The 2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reduces the base unit value for screening colonoscopy from 5 to 3, this represents a 40% reduction in base units for the procedures that translates into an estimated 28% reduction in reimbursement, based on an average of 7.2 units billed.
