Friday, February 25, 2011

Foreign Perspective on US Health Economics

I write for a financial newsletter on  Mergers and Acquisitions.   The M&A market during the first two months of 2011 has been sizzling. And the world markets have been watching the U.S. closely. Goldman Sachs, fueled by   bail-out bucks has fueled predatory acquisitions by huge IT internet social media concerns of startups and sizeable going concerns.

Mr. Eric Paternoster

Foreign analysts,SVP Eric Paternoster gave a presentation at the 2010  Infosys Analyst meeting……about the Healthcare Economy in the United States.In health care, hospitals are merging to form large health systems. This movement is occurring  because of realistic fear  of governmental mandates to form ACOs and the necessary capitalization of digital transformation, new administrative requirements for reimbursement, and operational considerations about outcomes, quality improvement and fear of rampant destructive competition. Regulators are hot at work determining which mergers will cross the line of FTC regs. It’s a great time for lawyers.

The reality of the finances are that even if American Medicine is not nationalized, by defacto, large monopolistic organizations are blooming.

 

Physicians need to keep up with these seemingly non health related issues, because it will effect both small and large practices, alike. At the end of a given day, tired, exhausted, financially depleted, overwhelmed, discouraged and depressed physicians may just roll over and go with the flow. In the stream of daily activities of  physicians, malpractice worry's, CME requirements, credentialing requirements patient care, Medicare worries, declining reimbursement, and the overall intrusion of insurance companies, demands for better outcomes, and general interference in their responsibilities for patient health and lives, who would not roll over, or change careers.

The malaise has trickled down to medical students, just beginning what used to be a privilege of authority granted only to those with ultimate responsibility for patient welfare. Today we are faced with demagogues in health care, the Sebelius’, the Berwick’s, the health care foundations, and all those wannabees who are sabotaging health care with politically correct statements. They come, they go at the end of the day we are left with the remains.

 
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