I found that one of my posts here did not appear. Must have something to do with the 4th of July. Or perhaps it is much like our disappearing reimbursements. This week we are facing the lastest 'crisis' contrived by our inadequate incompetent legislators and administrators. They never seem to be in sync.
It now appears that many physicians have announced they will not be accepting new medicare patients as of July 1st. This is the annual battle of the SGR formula. If you don't know what that is, I am sure you can google it. That would be a better learning experience than my giving the answers away here.
The lastest evaluation of CEOs reimbursement packages for Payors revealed the following
When: 2007
How: Based on analysis of compensation of top executives of S&P 500 companies. Median total compensation was $8.8 million for executives overall, and $9.1 for CEOs of six publicly traded health plan CEOs.
Where: Everywhere there is concern among stockholders that compensation may have no relationship to performance. So far in 2007, publicly traded HMO stocks are up about 15%, from a mean of 53 to a mean of 61.
Who: Total compensation is said “not to be out of line by Wall Street standards,” and included the following health plan CEOs.
• H. Edward Hanway, Chair and CEO, Cigna, $25,839,777
• Ron Williams, Chair and CEO, Aetna, $23,045,834
• Dale B. Wolf, CEO, Coventry Health Care, $14,889,823
• Stephen Hemsley, $13,164,529
• Mike B. McCallister, President and CEO, Humana, $10,312,557
• Angela F. Braly, President and CEO, Wellpoint, $9,094,771
• Jay M. Gellert, PRESIDENT AND ceo, Health Net, $3,686,230
The WSJ states that these figures are not out of line when compared to other industries. So medical and hospital care is just another industry. Personally I cannot compare a pencil pusher that sits at meetings, gives speeches and worries more about his companies profit figures and equate it with a surgeon's worth, or a primary care provider's abilities to care for patients.
Next time you want your hernia repaired or your cataract removed, or your heart defibrillated....make an appointment to see the payor's CEO.....(don't trip over the golden parachute on your way in.