NCQA-BBQ: It is to laugh

So, got this in email the other day:

"A new ratings system created by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) provides consumers with a more accurate picture of how health insurance plans perform in key quality areas."

That's (mildly) interesting, but what were those "key" areas?

Oh:

"[C]linical quality, member satisfaction and NCQA Accreditation Survey" [emphasis added]

Are you kidding? One third of the metric is itself?

How does that work?

More importantly, though, is the self-delusion that consumers actually care about these kinds of things:

"Oh sure, Anthem has a terrific rate, $100 a month cheaper than Humana, but Humana ranks 3 spots higher on NCQA, so I'll go with them."

Said no one, ever.

It's similar to the experts who claim that folks inadvertently "leave money on the table" by not choosing a health insurance plan that offers cost-sharing in addition to premium subsidies. There's a reason, and it's not ignorance of the program.

It's human nature.

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Wellness vs Privacy

Are you kidding me?

"Houston required employees to tell an online wellness company about their disease history, drug and seat belt use, blood pressure and other delicate information."

And the best part (for certain values of "best")?

"The company ... could pass the data to "third party vendors"

Oh goody!

Of course, employees could opt out, no problem.

Wait, what?

"[B]ut only if they paid an extra $300 a year for medical coverage."

So the vendor sells employee info, and employees that take a pass get dinged for $300?

Exit question: how much cash does each employee get for the re-selling of their private health info? Oh, they "save" $300 on insurance?

Seems legit.

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68,000 and Counting

The miracle and wonderment of ICD-10 has been blogged on before, but now that day is upon us. At

midnight September 30 someone will flip a switch and ICD-9 coding will be no more and will be replaced by ICD-10.

Sounds so simple, doesn't it?

The updated system has about 68,000 codes, essentially an expanded dictionary to capture more of the details from a patient's chart.

How precise? Get nipped feeding a bird, and the codes can distinguish if it was a goose or a parrot. Have a bike accident with one of those horse-drawn tourist carriages? Yep, there's a code for that, too. - Post Bulletin

What color was the goose?

The government says this will make life better and improve quality of care.

When has anything turned out the way the government promised?



#ICD-10  #healthcare  #medicalinsuranceclaims

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ICYMI: Kaiser Foundation Lies

The lying liars at the Kaiser Family Foundation want us to believe that:

"Since 2008, average family premiums have climbed a total of $4,865."

And this, while they "calculate that deductibles have risen more than six times faster than workers’ earnings since 2010."

Now, how do we know that they're telling fibs?

Well, who ya gonna believe, KFF or:

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