News You Can Use – August 2024

This month’s episode of “News You Can Use” on Healthcare NOW Radio features news from the month of August 2024.

The show that gives you a quick insight into the latest news, twists, turns and debacles going on in healthcare with my friend and co-host Craig Joseph, MD (@CraigJoseph) Chief Medical Officer at Nordic Consulting Partners and myself, where every diagnosis comes with a side of humor. We hope you stay curious, stay engaged, and keep seeking the truth in healthcare in a world that thrives on information.

Buckle up as we dive into the ER of excitement, the ICU of irrationality, and the waiting room of wacky wisdom in this month’s show that features a review of:

• Systemness and Round Trips
• The Epic UGM
• Payer management and rent controls
• Epic research Cosmos and Heart Disease
• EMR voter registration

A Conversation Starter, Not a Conclusion

This month we delve into the latest findings from Epic’s research on the Cosmos study, specifically focusing on heart disease among aging populations. We both acknowledge our own experiences as “aging old boys”, and discuss the nature of this data and the results that are published from this. As we point out – this is more of a conversation starter and not peer-reviewed research. We take issue with their summary and conclusions noting this is at best correlation:

Patients with an average LDL below 90 mg/dL have an increased likelihood of being diagnosed with a myocardial infarction (MI) compared to those with an average LDL of 100-109 mg/dL.
Patients prescribed statins whose average LDL is below 80 mg/dL have an increased likelihood of coronary artery disease (CAD), while those without a lipid-lowering medication prescribed have an increased risk when their LDL is below 100 mg/dL. All studied patients, regardless of statin use, have an increased likelihood of an MI or a CAD diagnosis when their average HDL is less than 50 mg/dL, compared to patients with a higher average HDL level.

Craig reviews the recent Epic UGM meeting and some of the interesting announcements and even more on the Cosmos data and the percentage of the population now with a record in the Epic EMR database.

We review the recent lawsuit by 8 states focusing on price fixing in rents for landlords with the product from RealPage, noting this sounds a lot like the way Multiplan works in healthcare for the pricing of clinical procedures.

And we close dispelling more fake data surrounding the kerfuffle of EMR’s facilitating illegal voter registration with Not-ER (they are not).

We hope you enjoy our take on the latest news and developments in healthcare and want to help you keep untangling the web of information, dodging the sensational pitfalls, and emerging victorious, albeit a little dizzy, on the other side. In the end, the stories we uncover, and the discussions we ignite, all shape the narrative of our shared future. We want to hear from you especially if you have topics covered or questions you’d like answered. You can reach out directly via the contact form on my website, or send a message on LinkedIn to Craig or me.

Until next week keep solving healthcare’s mysteries before they become your emergencies.

This article was originally published on the Dr. Nick – The Incrementalist blog and is republished here with permission.

News You Can Use gives you a quick insight into the latest news, twists, turns and debacles going on in healthcare with Dr. Nick and Dr. Craig and where every diagnosis comes with a side of side-splitting humor. Your hosts are Dr Nick a long-time host, innovator and healthcare wizard who can prescribe a digital dose of innovation to cure even the most ailing operational inefficiencies. And Dr. Craig Joseph is the healthcare guru who can diagnose both patient and software glitches with equal precision, making sure hospitals run smoother than a well-oiled robot doc.

So buckle up, because we’re diving into the ER of excitement, the ICU of irrationality, and the waiting room of wacky wisdom.

Stay curious, stay engaged, and keep seeking the truth in a world that thrives on information. Because in the end, the stories we uncover, and the discussions we ignite, they all shape the narrative of our shared future.

And keep laughing at the absurdity, keep rolling your eyes at the headlines, and keep spreading the news like your favorite gossip. Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be the breaking news story we’re all talking about!

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