Category: Health Care
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Probably a Coincidence – COPN, the Monopolization of Health Care and the Marginalization of the Poor
by James C. Sherlock I have been asked many times about how freer markets in healthcare can coexist with our need to treat the poor. I will try to briefly cover some of the complexities of the answer to that question. And I will show that of all of the government healthcare control systems, COPN…
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COPN Scores a Kill
by James C. Sherlock More than eleven months ago I wrote an essay titled, “The Legal Corruption of (Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need) COPN.” That system needs overhaul, not adjustment, and the people of Hampton Roads need help. The Governor needs to lead in both efforts. Today I offer the third in a series (first…
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A Horse Built by a Committee
by James C. Sherlock Updated Jan 31 at 8:46 AM Virginia’s Attorney General has offered a bill to create a new state bureaucracy to handle the opioid settlement money about to flow into the Commonwealth to support prevention, treatment, and recovery. It is going to be a lot of money. The state opioid settlements will…
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DePaul Hospital’s Closing Presents a Unique Opportunity for Hampton Roads
by James C. Sherlock Not too long ago, before the decline of the malls and COVID, the healthcare community coined what they called the Nordstrom Rule. The meaning was that if you wished to optimize profits in your healthcare business, build it close to a Nordstrom. The theory was that Nordstrom had already done the…
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Better Angels
by James C. Sherlock “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address, March 4, 1861 DePaul Hospital Closing The DePaul Hospital closure announcement…
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Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics
by James C. Sherlock Jim Bacon commented yesterday upon a study underwritten by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) that said Virginia hospitals were getting shortchanged by health insurers, and that the insurers were charging too much to consumers. We can’t stand still for that, can we? It may have been published in support…
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Why Are Nursing Home Workers Refusing to Get Vaccinated?
by James A. Bacon A large percentage of nursing home workers in Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area have declined to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Their wariness, reports The Washington Post, arises from “online misinformation about the vaccine” and “historical mistrust of the medical system of which they are a part.” Forty-eight percent of…
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Virginia Hospitals Demand More Transparency — for Healthcare Insurers
by James A. Bacon Annual health care spending per person in Virginia is slightly below the national average — about $10,800 per person compared to $11,600 for the nation as a whole, but most of that advantage is eaten up by higher insurance costs, finds a new study by the Altarum Institute that was underwritten…
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Biden Ups Vax Plan. Will Northam Be Ready?
by DJ Rippert Joltin’ Joe. President Joe Biden increased his planned administration of the Coronavirus vaccine from 100 million doses in his first 100 days in office to 150 million doses. Given that the United States is already distributing around one million doses per day Biden almost had to increase his plan if he wanted…
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We Finally Made It
by James C. Sherlock We finally made it to where we were inevitably headed. From Becker’s Hospital Review four hours ago: “States ranked by percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered: Jan. 25″ “… As of 6 a.m. EST Jan. 24, a total of 41,411,550 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., and 21,848,655 have been…
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Unintended Consequences of Minimum Wage Hikes
by James C. Sherlock Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, contributed an op-ed titled Home health workers at risk without legislative action this morning in the Virginian-Pilot. They will be surprised to read that I agree with every word. And that I would go farther. Unintended consequences in the government economy Lucas…
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Lacshrecse Aird Offers a Road to Nowhere
by James C. Sherlock Jim Bacon today posted an important essay. If you have not yet read it do so. This essay builds upon it. Del. Lacshrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, has offered a joint resolution, apparently destined for passage, that would: “Expand(s) the charge of the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Health Equity to address…
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How to Take a Flawed Healthcare System and Make It Worse
by James A. Bacon The House Rules Committee has passed a resolution that recognizes racism as a “public health crisis” in Virginia. To remedy alleged systemic racism, HJ 537, submitted by Del. Lacshrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, would expand the charge of the Virginia’s Office of Health Equity to ensure that state health policy is analyzed “through…
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The Deadliest Nursing Homes in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock (updated Jan. 20 at 2 PM) Today I have assessed the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services COVID-19 Nursing Home Dataset to determine the deadliest nursing homes in Virginia measured by COVID death rate of residents from Jan 1, 2020, through Jan. 3, 2021. The results are profoundly disturbing at several levels. There…
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Virginia’s Mass Vaccination Effort and Health Facilities Inspections — Troubling Evidence
by James C. Sherlock Updated Jan 19 at 2:55 PM If you’ve been wondering why Virginia has fumbled its rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, consider this: The Virginia Department of Health. As of one week ago, the Virginia Department of Health had not yet developed a vaccination plan. From a presentation, “Virginia Department of Health…