Some doctors are treating patients and then waiting to be paid through those patients' personal-injury lawsuits, which can be much more lucrative than billing through insurance, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Between the lines: These "lien doctors" have been around for years, but recent legal and policy changes have led to the practice becoming more common, including in California, Florida, Colorado, Texas and Georgia.
Providing close follow-up care from a team of clinical and social workers to the sickest, most vulnerable patients does not reduce hospital readmissions, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes.
Why it matters: Many doctors and scholars viewed this approach as a promising way to improve care and save money, but it doesn't appear to do either.
In 2017, U.S. insurers and providers spent $2,497 per capita on administration — nearly 5 times more than the $551 spent per capita in Canada, which has a much more heavily socialized system, according to a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Why it matters: We're all paying this through our premiums, out-of-pocket costs and taxes.
New lawsuits allege that large hospital systems have illegally billed federal health care programs after making improper financial deals with doctors as a way to control where patients get care.
Why it matters: Hospitals that own physician practices capture more referrals and therefore more money than their competitors — but potentially skirt federal law and inflate the cost of care for everyone in the process.
America's mental health care system is in dire need of an overhaul, but the any real specifics are largely missing from the 2020 debate about health care.
Why it matters: Suicide and drug overdose rates continue to rise, and the U.S. faces a shortage of mental health providers and a lack of access to treatment.
