Latest Thinking on Healthcare from Regional Leaders

There is much noise out there in healthcare right now and keeping a pulse of what is going on nationally, regionally and locally has never before been more important. Earlier this week, MedMan attended the Idaho Healthcare Summit in Boise. The keynote speaker was Idaho’s Republican US Representative Mike Simpson. As was expected, he spoke about the ins and outs of the republican healthcare bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA). He made two points very clear, the republicans needed to take a step in some direction and it ended up being a very imperfect step. He made it clear that this act would not become law as is, that it would undergo a large amount of change as it goes through the senate, and that if hypothetically he had to vote on the AHCA as it is to become law, then he would oppose.

Also speaking at the Healthcare Summit was MedMan's board member Ted Epperly, MD, FAAFP alongside physician leaders from St. Luke’s Health System, Blue Cross of Idaho and PacificSource, a Northwest Health Plan. The panel’s topic was the transition of fee-for-service to value-based payments. Dr. Epperly’s analogy of reimbursement compared to NBA players’ salaries was impactful. He made the point that if we paid professional basketball players for just the shots they took and not for the ones they made or for being a good member of the team then we would just have a whole lot of people lobbing shots from all over the place and we would get nothing of any real significance.

MedMan continues to insert itself in what’s most current in the healthcare industry. If you are aware of a conference that we should be at or perhaps speak at, please let us know.