Primary Care is a Loser
The perennial “loss leader” mentality for primary care is an absolutely LOSER framework, strategy, and concept for a service that is so fundamental to the health of our society. Blake Madden is a great follow on X as he regularly surfaces good insights into care delivery as part of his Hospitology Newsletter. He recently highlighted […]
The Mirage of Value-Based Payments: A Provider’s Perspective
I have always appreciated the Commonwealth Fund who puts out some solid research on primary care. One of their recently published papers caught my attention: “Why Primary Care Practitioners Aren’t Joining Value-Based Payment Models”. They thoughtfully consider several points: The current dominance of fee-for-service (FFS) stifles Value-Based Payment (V
Not Awesome: Healthcare is No Longer Available on Aisle 3
There has been plenty of coverage of Walmart’s recent decision to shutter its healthcare centers and telehealth services as the world’s largest retailer pulls back from its foray into Primary Care. This follows hard on the heels of Walgreen’s $6bn (!!!) writedown of its investment in VillageMD, having closed or planning to close hundreds of […]
Authentically Human: A conversation with artist Marc Hemeon
This interview was conducted on February 19, 2024, while a mural by professional artist Mark Hemeon’s original work was being installed at our Crossover location in San Clemente, CA. Mark is one of the most thoughtful, creative, and interesting people I know and has always been animated by the emotions of creativity. In this interview, […]
Allostatic Load and Anti-Fragility
On a recent trip, I forgot my phone, couldn’t access wireless, my computer battery died, my connection was delayed, I only had one chapter left in my book, no time to grab food during my layover, and when my delayed flight landed everything was closed. While these were all minor events, the wave of accumulating […]
The Price for Life, The Universe, and Everything
One of the hardest things to understand in healthcare is pricing. Look at any health service bill (or more appropriately “This is NOT a Bill”) that you receive. You will see a price, the discount, the allowed amount, fractionalization of the services you received, endless itemizations, and my personal favorite “Lunar Monday Adjustment” (JK). Pricing