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We are pleased to announce the release of a new feature: providers who claim their profiles can now leave responses to online reviews on their profile. There have been times when providers have written in with additional details regarding a review. Previously, there was no way for providers to publicly respond, leading some providers to feel that the system was one-sided in favor of patients. Now, however, providers can leave public responses, giving them a chance to add additional context.

We are pleased to announce the release of a new feature: providers who claim their profiles can now leave responses to online reviews on their profile. There have been times when providers have written in with additional details regarding a review. Previously, there was no way for providers to publicly respond, leading some providers to feel that the system was one-sided in favor of patients. Now, however, providers can leave public responses, giving them a chance to add additional context.

As others have noted elsewhere, providers should be careful to not release any private health information.

Kaiser Health News reported that Walmart is steering its workers (and dependents) towards higher-quality imaging centers. Apparently, "some academic research has found mistakes on advanced images such as CT scans and MRIs can reach up to 30% of diagnoses" -- very high compared to the 3%-5% that the article reports that typical radiology practices experience. While patients can still choose to go to other imaging centers, they end up paying more.

Kaiser Health News reported that Walmart is steering its workers (and dependents) towards higher-quality imaging centers. Apparently, "some academic research has found mistakes on advanced images such as CT scans and MRIs can reach up to 30% of diagnoses" -- very high compared to the 3%-5% that the article reports that typical radiology practices experience. While patients can still choose to go to other imaging centers, they end up paying more.

Interestingly, the article reported that Walmart found out about the discrepancy in error rates when they heard back from certain treatment centers that patients were misdiagnosed or recommended the incorrect procedure. Diagnostic mistakes can be very expensive, and can have a huge impact on quality and length of patients' lives. If the details are indeed as laid out in the article and if the quality designations are accurate, it sounds like there can be a tremendous opportunity for both cost savings and better outcomes for patients.

Naturally, providers that are not on the list would be concerned. It would be great if the healthcare community developed and adopted transparent quality metrics that could be published throughout the industry to help consumers decide which medical centers and hospitals to visit.

NPR published a piece about rising deductibles. The author makes the point that while many people have health insurance, the deductibles have been rising quickly over the last "dozen years," to the point that people put off medical care despite having insurance. The piece also reported on the results of a poll that found that 20% of respondents depleted savings into order to pay medical bills.

NPR published a piece about rising deductibles. The author makes the point that while many people have health insurance, the deductibles have been rising quickly over the last "dozen years," to the point that people put off medical care despite having insurance. The piece also reported on the results of a poll that found that 20% of respondents depleted savings into order to pay medical bills.

The overall cost of medical care continues to rise, and people look for ways of curbing the effects. The monthly health insurance premium is one area that can look attractive, but if not coupled with enough money to cover the deductible (e.g. with a health-savings account), the policyholder can be in for

a very unpleasant surprise. American society increasingly hears about and experiences the continued increases costs of health care (whether through insurance premiums or through deductibles) and Democratic politicians have gained favor among many voters for their pledges to do something. Perhaps the industry is ripe for a change.

In response to the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been disseminating information about payments and gifts that companies give to providers, starting around 2014. Payments and gifts could take many forms, such as an honoraria for speaking, ownership stakes in joint ventures, or even simply meals. CMS has been releasing subsequent data annually. We are pleased to announce that earlier this week, we released our first integration of this data with provider profiles on our site.

In response to the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been disseminating information about payments and gifts that companies give to providers, starting around 2014. Payments and gifts could take many forms, such as an honoraria for speaking, ownership stakes in joint ventures, or even simply meals. CMS has been releasing subsequent data annually. We are pleased to announce that earlier this week, we released our first integration of this data with provider profiles on our site.

The Physician Payments Sunshine Act was passed in response to concerns that pharmaceutical and medical device companies might be unduly influencing doctors to prescribe certain medications or devices, even when such prescriptions might not be in the best interests of the patients.

You can see the source data via CMS' OpenPayments site. While CMS' site has interesting tools to explore the data through different angles, it lacks the functionality of a general doctor finder website. We believe that this data can be helpful to patients in potentially uncovering conflicts of interest, and that this integration is a more natural way for patients to learn more about their prospective providers.

Kaiser Health News reported on Medicare eliminating an extra facility fee that it has paid out for services performed in clinics that are owned by hospitals. The extra facility fee was not paid out for the same services performed in otherwise similar clinics that are not owned by hospitals.

Kaiser Health News reported on Medicare eliminating an extra facility fee that it has paid out for services performed in clinics that are owned by hospitals. The extra facility fee was not paid out for the same services performed in otherwise similar clinics that are not owned by hospitals.

The original thought was that hospitals have to maintain a higher capacity for medical care, and so services performed at hospitals should be compensated more than the same care performed at clinics. For example, if a complication arose during a procedure at a clinic, the patient could be sent to the hospital for further treatment. Hospitals then saw this extra facility fee as a means of further enriching themselves and proceeded to buy clinics, imposing that fee on services performed at those ancillary clinics. This differential in payments made it more difficult for independent clinics to compete.

Medicare's elimination of the facility fee ("site neutral payments") might even the competitive field and slow down the consolidation of clinics into larger hospital networks. However, some hospitals are probably still buying clinics to help secure referrals to the hospitals themselves.