Blog

At DocSpot, our mission is to connect people with the right health care by helping them navigate publicly available information. We believe the first step of that mission is to help connect people with an appropriate medical provider, and we look forward to helping people navigate other aspects of their care as the opportunities arise. We are just at the start of that mission, so we hope you will come back often to see how things are developing.

An underlying philosophy of our work is that right care means different things to different people. We also recognize that doctors are multidimensional people. So, instead of trying to determine which doctors are "better" than others, we offer a variety of filter options that individuals can apply to more quickly discover providers that fit their needs.

Growth in telehealth

by jerry on April 25, 2020

Undoubtedly, the current pandemic has reshaped many facets of our lives. Many of us, for example, are now working remotely instead of working out of a traditional office. Some doctors, likewise, are also seeing their patients remotely, as Kaiser Health News reports in a piece about the growth in telehealth during this pandemic.

Undoubtedly, the current pandemic has reshaped many facets of our lives. Many of us, for example, are now working remotely instead of working out of a traditional office. Some doctors, likewise, are also seeing their patients remotely, as Kaiser Health News reports in a piece about the growth in telehealth during this pandemic.

Medicare has been rife with fraudulent claims. Telehealth opens a new vulnerability towards fraud, although the benefits of telehealth in this current crisis may very well outweigh the cost of fraud.

Just as this pandemic might reshape wider attitudes about work, it might also reshape how payers feel about telehealth.

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Ban on some surprise medical bills for now

by jerry on April 19, 2020

For those worried about medical bills in the context of the current pandemic, Kaiser Health News highlighted some potentially welcome news that the Department of Health and Human Services may have banned all surprise medical billing from providers who accept money from Medicare. There is some question as to whether how broadly people should interpret the condition of receiving emergency funds to fight the pandemic.

For those worried about medical bills in the context of the current pandemic, Kaiser Health News highlighted some potentially welcome news that the Department of Health and Human Services may have banned all surprise medical billing from providers who accept money from Medicare. There is some question as to whether how broadly people should interpret the condition of receiving emergency funds to fight the pandemic.

What might happen is that some patient will still get a surprise medical bill, and a lawsuit might ensue. It might then be up to a jury or a judge, followed by the opinions of appellate courts, to decide which interpretation to take. Hopefully, by then, the worst of this pandemic will be behind us.

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Improved pricing navigation

by jerry on April 11, 2020

We have continued to work on improving the site and have just released a feature to help organize procedures on the pricing tab for profiles that have procedure data from Medicare. For example, if someone were looking at X-rays, that person could drill down into different categories of X-rays rather than simply seeing all of the various X-ray procedures in a seemingly random list.

We have continued to work on improving the site and have just released a feature to help organize procedures on the pricing tab for profiles that have procedure data from Medicare. For example, if someone were looking at X-rays, that person could drill down into different categories of X-rays rather than simply seeing all of the various X-ray procedures in a seemingly random list.

We also released a feature to show how the current provider's procedure count compares with procedure counts from other nearby providers, giving users more context as to whether a specific procedure count is high, low, or average for the area. We continue to work on a variety of features; if you have any feedback, please let us know.

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Public policy complexity

by jerry on April 04, 2020

Media is currently filled with information about COVID-19. Tampa Bay Times highlighted some previous decisions by Florida's state government that appear to now come back and haunt it during this pandemic: reducing budget for the public health department. The article recounts how Florida was concerned about outbreaks as far back as 2005 and had increased funding accordingly, but had pulled back in more recent years.

Media is currently filled with information about COVID-19. Tampa Bay Times highlighted some previous decisions by Florida's state government that appear to now come back and haunt it during this pandemic: reducing budget for the public health department. The article recounts how Florida was concerned about outbreaks as far back as 2005 and had increased funding accordingly, but had pulled back in more recent years.

The article helps illustrates why funding for public good can be difficult when the benefits are not immediately tangible. Most of Florida probably indeed wishes they had a better public health department right now, but the decision is not always clear after years of not hearing news about outbreaks. The situation might be compared to buying earthquake insurance in an earthquake-prone area: the decision obviously seems very wise in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, but for someone who has paid for insurance for fifteen years and has never had to use it, the decision is less clear. Similar to insurance, some public health benefits cannot be easily restarted once an adverse outcome occurs (e.g. the current pandemic). Funding across state and local governments for public health will likely increase in the coming years, perhaps only to be reduced in years of quiet as certain politicians and administrators try to be more budget-efficient.

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When politics get in the way of policy

by jerry on March 28, 2020

There's policy as envisioned, and there's policy as implemented. The latter can be especially problematic when the administrator of such policies has to support policies that s/he does not agree with. Kaiser Health News reported on how the current White House administration has undermined elements of the Affordable Care Act by, for example, reducing advertising for health insurance options during open enrollment. States like California have tried to blunt such impact by spending their own advertising dollars.

There's policy as envisioned, and there's policy as implemented. The latter can be especially problematic when the administrator of such policies has to support policies that s/he does not agree with. Kaiser Health News reported on how the current White House administration has undermined elements of the Affordable Care Act by, for example, reducing advertising for health insurance options during open enrollment. States like California have tried to blunt such impact by spending their own advertising dollars.

However, the article highlighted what seems like might be purposeful desire of the White House administration to spite the state of California by denying the managed care organization tax, "a surcharge on the managed-care plans that provide coverage to about 10 million enrollees on Medi-Cal, California's public health insurance program for low-income people." California expected their request to be approved -- similar to how Michigan's request was approved -- but California's request was instead denied. At stake appears to be roughly $2 billion in revenue for Medi-Cal. Arguably, California and other states should have found a way to make up for the shortfall before the tax expired, but if so, there is a question of fairness in that it is unclear why Michigan's request was approved. We often think about the government setting neutral policy and sometimes forget that real human beings are involved, who might make decisions that undermine the stated policy.

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