Wisdom. Applied.

Medical groups must understand the direction of the societal wind. You might like it. You might hate it. Either way, it is still windy.

In a move reminiscent of prohibition-era crime fighter Eliot Ness, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a coordinated enforcement action against 345 alleged healthcare criminals, including over 100 physicians and other licensed (for now) healthcare professionals, in 51 judicial districts.

We used to joke about the name of Midway Hospital, an acute care hospital in L.A., saying that it was midway between life and death. An anesthesiologist, commenting on my theme that inpatient care is becoming outpatient care and that the center of outpatient care isn't the hospital but the freestanding facility, in his case the ASC, told me that I was missing an element in the analysis.

Another week, another hospital closes. Well, at least one. This is a popular topic because each additional hospital closure underscores the risk for physicians and medical groups that don’t spread risk. The lesson applies to both hospital-based and office-based physicians, although not necessarily equally.

It is a crime, a violation of antitrust law, to conspire to allocate a market, thus driving up the price. It is particularly egregious when the conspiracy involves the market for medical care for cancer treatment.

When I was a kid, I had a Gumby. (Did you have one, too?)

Many medical groups, certainly many hospital-based groups but, increasingly, even office-based groups, view themselves as simply providing a “service” for the hospital.

Hiring for skill is not even half the battle for your group – the price of admission.

In reality, the “CEO” never really owned his business. He was simply its caretaker. He just realized it a bit too late.

Recently, I saw an article in The Wall Street Journal about pandemic economics and work-life balance.

To succeed in business, you have to focus on sufficiently satisfying, that is, satisficing, the needs and expectations of your customers and on reminding them of that fact.

There is a crisis. But it’s not the one you’ve heard about. It’s time to fix that. It’s time to change the conversation. But to do that, you have to change the frame.

There’s lots of advice out there suggesting single track “cures” to the cash crunch that many medical groups and facilities are experiencing as a result of the coronavirus economic crisis.

Double your felony, Double your sums. Oops we got caught, Now we’re jailhouse bums.

Is an MSO right for me? How about a CIN?

This is a perfect metaphor for the false belief that there’s a strong foundation holding up the structure of your group. In reality, the truth can be much different.

Walmart is famous for its slogan “Save Money. Live Better.” It’s no surprise that the slogan is aimed at the customer. But what about the supplier?

Evolutionary psychologists say that the reason we see a stick on the trail ahead of us as a snake is that it’s far better for our survival to see sticks as snakes than snakes as sticks.

Super Bowl commercials garner all sorts of buzz for being “creative,” but creativity isn’t selling. Listen below to find out how this concept applies to your medical group.

Today, employers reward for the value you create. The factory worker, whether in what is readily recognized as a factory or one which looks to outsiders, like a medical clinic or hospital, who simply shows up on time, does what he or she is told (you know, follows protocols) and then clocks out at the end of the shift, creates no real value in comparison with the next worker.

Uniforms send a message to others. A uniform can create tainted uniformity among its wearers, uniformity of thinking and uniformity of action.

What’s a laptop cost? How about $1,040,000? Nope, it’s not the world’s first quantum computing MacBook. It’s just a regular old one. Heck, it’s even used! Listen to Mark explain the costs of unsecured devices.

The coronavirus has closed their office doors, but the U.S. Department of Justice is still prosecuting healthcare crimes and extracting painful settlements.

The tides of healthcare ebb and flow like the width of men’s ties and the political affiliation of Michael Bloomberg.

Listen to Mark as he discusses that it’s not the people that you have to fire that ruin your organization; it’s the people you should have fired but didn’t.