In Massachusetts they eventually came to the conclusion that Washington will come to if President Obama is re-elected: that the only way to rein in health costs would be to assert government control over doctors and hospitals. Forget about those greedy health insurance companies. Now, it’s time to place government’s “boot” on the neck of the providers.
Under the new law, all Massachusetts doctors, hospitals, and other providers must register with a new state bureaucracy as a condition of licensure. Yes, if you are any kind of health care provider in Massachusetts, you now belong to the state- that is, if you want to actually earn a living in your field. The new “state bureaucracy,” not unlike the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) in ObamaCare, will have a lot to say about what providers do each day as it tracks and reports their financial performance, price and cost patterns, state-sanctioned quality measures, market share, and other statistics.
As WSJ indicates:
…Massachusetts takes 360-degree surveillance and converts it into a panopticon prison. An 11-member board known as the Health Policy Commission will use the data to set and enforce rules to ensure that total Massachusetts health spending, public and private, grows no more than projected gross state product through 2017, and 0.5 percentage points lower thereafter. (And Paul Ryan’s Medicare projections are unrealistic?)
According to the new law, no registered provider is permitted to make “any material change to its operations or governance structure,” without the commission’s approval. In addition, the commission has the authority to rewrite the terms of provider contracts with insurers as well as payment levels and methods if they are “deemed to be excessive,” to police providers who exceed benchmarks, and demand “performance improvement plans” of those providers found to be spending too much money on patient care. Providers who consistently spend above the authorized amount on patient care can be fined $500,000 for disobeying the rules of the commission, an amount that the uber-liberals of the state believe to be a mere pittance of a penalty.
All ur labor belong 2 us. Itz 2 hard 2 get a photo ID.
Meanwhile, in the UK, fat cannibals get gastric bands while the elderly are placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway.
Richard McEnroe on August 19, 2012 at 11:00 am said:
Well, that's more doctors for the rest us, but it's gonna suck to be MA…
Rick Caird on August 19, 2012 at 2:23 pm said:
That's about right. Watch for new practices to be set up just outside the state's borders. Why would any medical professional want to work for the politicians rather than themselves or their patients?
DarthLevin on August 20, 2012 at 6:28 am said:
Hands up all those who see this ending well… hands up… … anybody? anybody?
Steve In Tulsa on August 21, 2012 at 6:22 am said:
This is how democrats for industries offshore. Doctors will certainly be leaving the state. When you put bureaucraps in charge you will go bankrupt. Bureaucrats only know how to destroy business and jobs.