Five Star Patients

In his fiction novel "The Rainmaker", John Grisham writes about an insurance company that systematically denies all claims for cancer treatment. The carrier forces its ailing members to engage in years-long battles of pre-authorizations, denied claims and never ending appeals. All the while, simply hoping the patient will just die before any expensive treatment is provided. A far-fetched work of fiction? Maybe not so far-fetched. If you've been paying attention to any medical claims lately, you'd swear it's harder than ever to get paid for your hard work these days.

How Health Insurers Have Made Appealing Denials So Complicated Health insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings, and internal emails expose the system and its harm.

40% of people polled would be willing to pay more for "better healthcare". Seems we still have a ways to go.

Patients Would Pay More for Convenient Care Access, Clinical Quality A new survey from YouGov and AKASA found that patients are willing to pay more for convenient care access, like quicker appointment scheduling and access to locations closer to home.

Self Service is coming to healthcare. At least for the registration part. Probably won't help with wait times though!

Self-check-in kiosks to play bigger role in health care facilities Self-check-in kiosks allow greater workflow efficiency for providers and staff, reduce costs and safeguard protected health information.

This group's wiped out $6.7 billion in medical debt, and it's just getting started Nonprofit RIP Medical Debt buys up unpaid hospital bills plaguing low-income patients and frees them from having to pay.

Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles.

Trump’s Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds Those walking away free were facing years in prison for crimes of “unbounded greed.”

Biden's pandemic plan: 10 things to know.

Biden's pandemic plan: 10 things to know President Joe Biden signed 10 executive orders to combat COVID-19 spread Jan. 21 and shared a 198-page pandemic response plan Jan. 21, reports The Washington Post.

We remember those we have lost.

You wouldn’t think that healthcare and the restaurant business have much in common, unless you work in healthcare! See if you can spot any familiar customers in the stories below.

The Customer Is Not Always Right Customer entitlement at restaurants is at an all-time high, making work unsafe and unbearable for many in the industry. The way we think about hospitality needs to change.

Dr Fauci's advice for getting through this COVID mess alive.

Take It From an Expert: Fauci’s Hierarchy of Safety During COVID In a new interview, the nation’s top infectious disease expert tells us how to survive the coming months and describes how hard it is when people still insist the coronavirus outbreak is “fak…

We're going to look back at this holiday season and ask ourselves, "Were we part of the solution or were we part of the problem?"

Advice for the holiday season: 10 clinicians weigh in. Below are 10 clinicians' opinions on what Thanksgiving and the holiday season should look like this year, as compiled by Becker's. Below are 10 clinicians' opinions on what Thanksgiving and the holiday season should look like this year, as compiled by Becker's.

Hang in there, this won't last forever, but we're not done quite yet. And we all need each other.

I’m with the doctor on this one.