Menu
The Goodman Institute Health Blog
  • Home
  • Authors
    • Devon Herrick, Ph.D.
    • John C. Goodman
  • Popular Topics
    • Affordable Care Act
    • Consumer-Driven Health Care
      • Cost of Healthcare
      • COVID-19 and Public Health
      • Doctors & Hospitals
      • Public Insurance
      • Policy & Legislation
    • Direct Primary Care
    • Drug Prices & Regulations
    • Health Economics & Costs
    • Health Insurance
    • Health Reform
    • Medical Tourism
    • Medicare
    • Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
    • Telemedicine
  • Goodman Institute
  • Contact
The Goodman Institute Health Blog

Category: COVID-19 and Public Health

WSJ: Hospitals Try to Improve their Poor Image

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Devon Herrick

It’s hard to imagine enjoying a hospital stay, however hospitals are trying to improve the patient experience. Back when I worked for a hospital the executives would bristle when someone joked that the daily room charge in a hospital cost 10 times the daily room charge in a nice hotel. The ratio is probably closer to 30 times now. Despite the massive price increase, hospitals still don’t excel at hospitality.

+

CDC: Paid Sick Leave Would Reduce Foodborne Illness Outbreaks (Probably Not)

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Devon Herrick

I met a doctor years ago who told me he didn’t like to eat in restaurants due to fears of catching foodborne pathogens. He worked in a community health setting and frequently treated food service workers with infectious diseases. He thought too many of his food service patients were fairly lackadaisical about taking their medications and too often worked when they should call-in sick. Apparently he was on to something. A new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found one of the causes of foodborne outbreaks at restaurants are food service workers handling food while they are ill.

+

AMA: Don’t Let Pharmacists Initiate Care for Covid Patients

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Devon Herrick

Have you called your primary care provider lately asking for an appointment? If so it was probably farther away than you had hoped. The national average wait to see a physician is 26 days. Once you see your doctor he or she is probably cordial but somewhat hurried. The average doctor-patient encounter lasts from 10 to 15 minutes, but that figure is probably skewed by Medicare patients who require longer appointments than average. There is a significant shortage of physicians.

+

Fraud Alert: Unsolicited Covid Tests Sent to Seniors, Bill to Medicare

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Devon Herrick

When Covid first began to spread it was difficult for patients to obtain Covid tests without going to an emergency room. When tests first became widely available there were drive-through testing centers with lines that snaked for blocks. When my wife began to feel ill in January of 2021, I made her an appointment for a Covid test at a Walmart Neighborhood Market pharmacy. The soonest appointment available was eight days away. We pulled up to the drive-through window and a pharmacy technician gave us the sealed swab and instructed my wife how to use it. My wife sealed it in the appropriate bag and deposited it in an adjacent laboratory collection box outside the drive-through. The results were relayed to us by phone a day or two later.

+
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 51
  • Next

For many years, our health care blog was the only free enterprise health policy blog on the internet. Then, when the NCPA closed its doors, the health blog stopped as well.

During this five-year hiatus no one else has come forward to claim the space. So, my colleagues and I have decided to restart the blog in connection with the Goodman Institute. We invite you and others to use this forum to share your views.

John C. Goodman,

Visit www.goodmaninstitute.org

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 13 other subscribers

Popular Topics

©2023 The Goodman Institute Health Blog | Website by Lexicom