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).
Category: Devon Herrick
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.
Another Example of How Hospitals Employing Physicians Harms Patients
In the game of who can gouge patients and employer health plans more, hospital systems are mailing their physician employees’ patients ominous news, hoping to force insurers to pay more for services. Your physicians likely do not share in any higher fees, although you may have higher cost sharing for their services. I have yet to get such an email or letter in the mail, but I have read several articles over the years when various Dallas-area hospital systems talk to the media about dropping BlueCross of Texas or something similar.