When telephones began to appear in American homes and businesses physicians were one of the early adopters. As health insurance began to spread patients became more reluctant to pay out of pocket for services not covered by their health plans. For their part, health insurers were reluctant to reimburse for services outside the usual and customary practices. At some point midcentury doctors stopped routinely talking to their patients on the phone because nobody wanted to pay them for the service. If you stop and think about it nothing could be more inconvenient – and antiquated – than having to make a doctor’s appointment to record routine health information. What if your car speedometer could only reveal your speed once you pulled back into your driveway, and then only one snapshot in time during your most recent trip. Over time payer reluctance to reimburse for telemedicine began to slowly change and covid accelerated the transition.
Author: Devon Herrick
Medical School Graduates Spurned by a Residency: Not a Match Made in Heaven
Today is Match Day 2024 for recent medical school graduates hoping to snag the residency program of their choice. This week the National Resident Matching Program (Match) informed 50,413 medical school graduates whether they matched to their preferred program or have to wait another year (or give up).
ERs are Still Overpriced Despite Fewer Surprise Bills
A few years back a Johns Hopkins University study on emergency room prices found they were outrageous. I mean, who knew that hospital emergency departments overcharge? The study looked at 12,000 billing records for emergency medicine doctors nationwide. Researchers found patients were charged 340 percent more, on average, than what Medicare pays for the same service. Charges ranged from 1 to nearly 13 times what Medicare’s fee schedule.
Yale: Low-Income Medical Students Under-Represented in MD/PhD Programs
Researchers at Yale University did a study of prospective students applying to MD/PhD programs. It found (as if this is news) that these programs do not attract a wide diversity of students, especially from lower-income backgrounds.
Between 2014 and 2019, applicants from families with higher household incomes were accepted at increasingly higher rates, a trend not found among other income brackets.
Yale researchers lament the lack of diversity in MD PhD programs, which is decreasing slightly.