Perspective
Perspective is a weekly blog from Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the 黑料正能量 Association, that explores the most important issues facing hospitals and health systems.
While telehealth use has skyrocketed these last few years, our laws have not kept up.
All hospitals and health systems provide an oasis of care, compassion and healing to the patients and communities they serve.
Cyber criminals are probing the defenses of health care providers every second of every day. Health care continues to be the number one targeted critical infrastructure sector as bad actors attempt to breach patients鈥 private data, phish for sensitive information and attempt to extort ransomware鈥
As we move into fall and winter, we know the viruses that cause respiratory disease will usually circulate more heavily in communities. Already, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it expects this year to be similar to last year when we saw higher than normal numbers of鈥
As we鈥檝e seen from recent media reports, Congress 鈥 and especially the House right now 鈥 continues to struggle to put together a plan to keep the government funded and avoid a potential shutdown that few want to see.
Hospitals are places of healing, health and hope. They strive to create safe spaces for the patients and communities they serve and the dedicated team members who work there each and every day.
With only 11 days that the House and Senate are in session together before the fiscal year concludes, much of the attention in Washington is on how Congress will fund the government and whether there will be a government shutdown.
Fair competition has always been the driving principle of our nation鈥檚 economy. This includes health care, and it鈥檚 the reason the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, more commonly known as the 鈥淪tark Law,鈥 has been on the books for decades to protect the Medicare program from the inherent conflict of鈥
Trends in health insurance coverage are driving an increase in medical debt: these include inadequate enrollment in comprehensive health care coverage and high-deductible and skinny health plans that intentionally push more costs onto patients.
For years, many commercial health insurers treated coverage for mental health or substance use disorders (SUD) very differently than for medical and surgical benefits.