I couldn’t help but chuckle while watching the President-elect’s third press conference in as many days last week. Like the first two, the third also focused on the economy. It was the day before Thanksgiving and we were about to find out the man almost 67 million people voted for was about to name former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the head of a special economic recovery advisory board, with University of Chicago economics professor Austan Goolsbee to serve as the board’s staff director and chief economist. Read »

Even though it will cost millions of dollars and the process is likely to be disruptive, U.S. healthcare finds itself at a critical juncture, faced with the choice of embracing a new, expanded code for diagnostics and billing, or…Well, there is no other choice, really. ICD-10 needs to replace ICD-9. Period. Proponents, including the American Health Information Management Association and the American Hospital Association, say doing so will usher the healthcare system into the 21st Century. The government agrees and wants all of healthcare to get onboard by Oct. 1, 2011, although an actual conversion date won’t be set until Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service consider feedback that is flooding in from all sectors of the industry. Alas, there’s the rub. Read »