Maverick's Update

Change is bad. Sudden change is even worse. Let’s say, hypothetically, you put your phone through an entire washing machine cycle. Even if you love your clothes smelling like a smartphone, the price tag of a new phone without a trade-in is shocking. Jerry Seinfeld must have trouble with change too. He did all that solid tv work – he even managed to get Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, and Sarah Silverman on his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee show. But Jerry is going back on tour to relive his stand-up days. Change in the health care system is challenging too, so we talk about that in the One Thoughtful Paragraph.

Some news about changes in the health information policy space — we will let you decide if it is good or bad:

• At least 22 health systems are charging fees to respond to patient’s electronic messages if they require medical expertise and take longer than a few minutes to answer. John Hopkins, for instance, started charging $10-$50 on July 18, 2023, for responding to patient messages in the patient portal MyChart. More here.
• Microsoft and Epic are getting very serious about integrating conversational, ambient, and generative AI into the EHRs ecosystem so that everyone’s doctor will be using AI as part of their medical record system soon.
• Cigna plans to eliminate prior authorization requirements for hundreds of procedures in its commercial health plans. This decision comes three months after the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Republican Committee members launched an investigation into the alleged inappropriate automation of coverage decisions. United Healthcare announced the same thing two weeks ago.

One Thoughtful Paragraph